There was a reluctance by the Catholic Church to release the Dead Sea Scrolls to the public because, in western civilization for the first time since the Albigensian rising in France in the 12th and 13th centuries, there has been a flood of information contradicting the doctrines that have defined Christian orthodoy for the last eighteen hundred years and the orthodoxy of Judaism for a couple of millenia longer.  The Albigensians knew probably through reading Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, Epiphanius' Panarion, and some, the earliest church fathers of the vegetarian and egalitarian Ebionite lineage, and no doubt other sources that no longer exist, perhaps even through reading the Ebionite Gospel itself, that Jesus and the inner core of what we call Christianity were vegetarian, including James the brother of Jesus upon whom authority had been conferred by Jesus to arbitrate controveries after his death.

    The majority of Christians martyred by Rome were killed precisely because they refused to sacrifice to the emperor, that is to the totalitarian authority of Rome, or because they refused to eat the animals sacrificed by Rome. As Frend lets us know in his Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church some of the martyrs were actually dressed up as Ceres, goddess of grain, or Saturn, god of the harvest or the cornucopia of fruits, vegetables and grains. In other words, most of the earliest martyrs were definitely associated with vegetation, and therefore with the original vegetarian covenant.

    When Jesus said "I came to fulfill the law," he meant that he was returning to the original true covenant of Genesis 1: 29-30, not the bogus, poorly written, nonsensical and brutal covenant of Genesis 9: 2-3, which was obviously made up by people in the hire of cattlemen seeking the profits of selling the flesh of their sacrificed animals.

    The early Christian martyrs were the actual followers-to-the-death of Jesus and James and the Essene, Ebionite, Nazorene spiritual community.  Had they followed Paul's injunction to eat whatever was in the marketplace, they would not have been martyred.  They chose, as Jesus did when he cleansed the Temple, to say No dramatically to animal sacrifice.

    The "Epistle to the Hebrews,", though obviously a rewritten document expressing a christology, the deification of Jesus, a  notion which was totally repugnant to the earliest followers of Jesus, as well as the atonement, the notion that Jesus ransomed himself to save the rest of humanity.  The Epistle cleverly combines the atonement with Jesus' mission as seen in chapter 10, and sees Jesus as the Lamb of God whose sacrifice is to end the sacrificial system of the Jews.  The Epistle states clearly that it was Jesus' mission to abolish the animal sacrifices, and those passages are certainly in the vegetarian tradition, as is the "Book of Revelations" affirming no sorrow or death for any creature in creation when there is heaven on earth.

    Though it links the doctrine of the atonement with the message, the  Epistle is a strong clear call against animal sacrifices and explains the rationale behind the early martyrdoms in a manner that Paul's epistles never can, for Paul's epistles are the very apotheosis of equivocation and a chameleon-like accommodation to his audience.  Paul says all are to obey Caesar, when the martyrs did just the opposite.  Paul defends omnivorism, eating all things in the marketplace, but "Epistle to the Hebrews" attacks the bloody practice of animal sacrifices that underlies carnivorism, and a number of the early followers of Jesus were martyred precisely for not eating the animal sacrifices of Rome.  Thus, they did not at all follow the false teachings of Paul, who was well described as an apostate by James the brother of Jesus in his "Ascents of James," a work no longer extant but described by Epiphanius of Salamis in the 4th century.

        Christian scholars have known for a millennia and a half that James the brother of Jesus was vegetarian--vegan even--as Eusebius quoting Hegissipus informs us.  And Clement of Alexandria of the second century tells us that Matthew who wrote the Gospel of the same name ate seeds, nuts and vegetables, and no meat.  St. Epiphanius' Panarion describes the earliest followers of Jesus as Essenes and Nazarenes, both of which were vegetarian. The Clementine Recognitions and the Ebionite Gospel denounced by Epiphanius both portray Jesus and Peter as well as James and John the Baptist as vegetarian Nazirites speaking against the animal sacrifices. Plentiful evidence demonstrates that numerous Jews of Jesus' time, following the lead of the Jewish prophets against animal sacrifice, were themselves vegetarian and, like the Essenes regarding basic human needs, were egalitarian as well, sharing all things communally.

   Hippolytus tells us in his Daniel that the earliest followers of Jesus wore the bindi or tilaka, the mark of victory on their foreheads, just as Hindus and Buddhists do. A study of the sign of the cross in Catholic sources reveals that it started with the cross on the forehead, which was expanded in breadth to include the whole upper body.
 
 

   This is the same Catholic Church, whose Pope Innocent III demanded that a Cathar vegetarian heretic eat a chicken and recant.  The Cathar heretic refused and was executed. To those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, this alone is evidence that the Pope's views on faith and morals are not infallible and in fact are sinfully fallible. This is the same Catholic Church whose Inquisitors executed gnostics and Shamanic people, users of psychedelics, throughout the middle ages, and whose persecution of such "heretics" continues today.

  However, in the early days of this same Church, in certain areas Catholics fasted from flesh sometimes two or even three days of the week.  And as Charles Berlitz affirms in his DOOMSDAY: 2000, when the year l000 approached, a number of Catholics throughout Europe released their food animals from captivity because of various eschatological scriptures, i.,e. scriptures relating to the final times, scriptures such as the "Revelations," and the Book of Enoch, upon which "Revelations" is based, stating that in the end times, when there is heaven on earth, there will be no sorrow or death for any creature.  The time for which creation had been groaning and travailing will have finally arrived, a time of peace for all flesh, when there is no oppression of any animal in creation, when there is no sorrow or death for any creature, and therefore the triumph of not just vegetarianism, but the most moral type of vegetarianism, veganism, in which no animal is oppressed for its eggs, dairy products, or honey or bee products.

   While vegetarian Shia Moslems attempt to live peacefully with other creatures so that their lives would be in harmony with the peace throughout creation, in keeping with the respect for all creatures seen, for example in Surahs 6: 38 and Surah 2: 204-206, their Sunni counterparts like the heretics to the vegetarian covenant of orthodox Judaism and orthodox Christianity all routinely slaughter animals.   And industry routinely abuses, displaces, injures and kills countless creatures daily, through its penetration of the earth's land, waters, and air.  Industrialists desiring scriptural justification for their exploitation of the creatures and environment quote Genesis 1: 26-28 asserting that humans have the right to subdue the earth and have dominion over other creatures, and Genesis 9: 2-3, affirming that other creatures are now to feel terror and dread of humans.

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The Ebionite Gospel explains why Jesus so frequently referred
to the Son of Man in the teachings of Enoch,
whose teachings forbid all bloodshed, whether of animals or humans.

   It is the crucial passages in the "Epistle to the Hebrews" which should have been spotlighted throughout the history of Christianity, and throughout the Christian realms.  It should have been regarded as the anchor for the ship of Christianity, whose gospels and epistles waver back and forth on questions such as carnivorism, animal sacrifices, and slavery.

    "Epistle to the Hebrews" is a strong clear call against animal sacrifices and explains the rationale behind the early martyrdoms in a manner that Paul's epistles never can, for Paul's epistles are the very apotheosis of equivocation and a chameleon-like accommodation to his audience.  Paul says all are to obey the emperor, and interpret Jesus' ostensible statement "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's" as supporting Paul's notion.  when the martyrs did just the opposite.  Paul defends omnivorism, eating all things in the marketplace, but "Epistle to the Hebrews" attacks the bloody practice of animal sacrifices that underlies carnivorism.

     Christian scholars have known for a millennia and a half that
James the brother of Jesus was vegetarian--vegan even--as Eusebius
quoting Hegissipus informs us.  And Clement of Aleandria of the second
century tells us that Matthew who wrote the Gospel of the same name ate
seeds, nuts and vegetables, and no meat.  St. Epiphanius' Panarion
describes Peter, who deferred to the vegan brother of Jesus, James), as
not only vegetarian, but speaking actively in the Temple against animal
sacrifices.  The Clementine Recognitions as well as the Ebionite Gospel denounced by Epiphanius both portray Jesus and Peter as well as James and John the Baptist as  vegetarian Nazirites speaking against the animal sacrifices. Plentiful evidence demonstrates that numerous Jews of Jesus' time, following the lead of the Jewish prophets against animal sacrifice, were themselves vegetarian and like the Essenes regarding basic human needs, egalitarian.
 

Why were the martyrs martyred?

  The earliest followers of Jesus and early Christian monks  were vegetarian and egalitarian.  The majority of Christians marytyred by Rome were killed precisely because they refused to sacrifice to the emperor, that is to the totalitarian authority of Rome, or because they refused to eat the animals sacrificed by Rome. As Frend lets us know in his Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church some of the martyrs were actually dressed up as Ceres, goddess of grain, or Saturn, god of the harvest, god of the cornucopia of fruits, vegetables and grains. In other words, the earliest martyrs were definitely associated with vegetation, and therefore with the original vegetarian covenant.  The refusal of the earliest martyrs to sacrifice to Rome, or to eat the sacrifices, needs to be seen in context of the cleansing of the temple and the original vegetarian covenant. When Jesus said "I came to fulfill the law," he meant that he was returning to the original true covenant of Genesis 1: 29-30, not the bogus, poorly written and nonsensical covenant of Genesis 9: 2-3, which was obviously made up by people in the hire of cattlemen fabricating a divine sanction for the profits of selling the flesh of their sacrificed animals, and the flesh or fur of animals they would trap, hunt, snare, and fish.

  The followers of Jesus who were martyred, these Christians were the actual followers-to-the-death--of Jesus and James and the Essene, Ebionite, Nazorene spiritual community.  Had they followed Paul's injunction to eat whatever was in the marketplace, they would not have been martyred.  They chose, as Jesus did when he cleansed the Temple, to say No dramatically to animal sacrifice.

    The "Epistle to the Hebrews,", though obviously a document rewritten to include a christology and the deification of Jesus, both of which notions were totally repugnant to the earliest followers of Jesus, nonetheless sees Jesus as the Lamb of God whose sacrifice is to end the sacrificial system of the Jews.  The Epistle states clearly that it was Jesus' mission to abolish the animal sacrifices, and those passages are certainly in the vegetarian tradition, as is the "Book of Revelations" affirming no sorrow or death for any creature in creation when there is heaven on earth.  Vegetarianism was clearly the tradition of Jesus.  Many Christian ranchers, expecting Christ's return, released their animals when the year 1000 approached.

   Essene-Ebionite-Nazarene spiritual community, and the Pauline
Christians, knew otherwise.  Those following the original and inspiring
teachings of Jesus, James, John the Baptist and the real Peter, among
whose ranks some were martyred by Rome, were vegetarian and egalitarian, as were the Essenes, whereas the Pauline Christians accepted economic elitism, slavery, and carnivorism, and were therefore more conformable, acceptable, to Roman rule.
 

Why the Dead Sea Scrolls were held for over 40 years
by the Roman Catholic Church.

   There was a reluctance by the Catholic Church to release the Dead Sea Scrolls to the public because, in western civilization for the first time since the Albigensian rising in France in the 12th and 13th centuries, there has been a flood of information contradicting the doctrines that have defined Christian orthodoy for the last eighteen hundred years and the orthodoxy of Judaism for a couple of millenia longer.  The Albigensians knew probably through reading Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, Epiphanius' Panarion, and some, the earliest church fathers of the vegetarian and egalitarian Ebionite lineage, and no doubt other sources that no longer exist, perhaps even through reading the Ebionite Gospel itself, that Jesus and the inner core of what we call Christianity were vegetarian, including James the brother of Jesus upon whom authority had been conferred by Jesus to arbitrate controveries after his death.

   Pauline Christianity's assertions, on the other hand, that slaves were to obey their masters and humans in general were to respect all authority as divinely established, stand in dramatic opposition to the teachings of the spiritual community of Essenes, Ebionites, and those following the teachings of Jesus, James, John the Baptist and the real Peter, not the Peter of "Acts," all of whom believed that "no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6: 24.  Mammon specifically is Money, or any authority, such as the state, which centers on power and wealth (Money).

  There is no doubt that Jesus regarded no other authority but God as important.  Jesus upset the elders and priests and others profiting from the meat industry of his day, when he chased the animals who were to be sacrificed out of the temple.  He realized that he was literally putting his life on the line when he in that act was showing that he was reaffirming the original vegetarian covenant.