Josephus gave three philosophical sects of Judaism during the time of Christ: Pharisees,
Sadducees, and Essenes.
Josephus told of the third sect of Jews, the Essenes, that they consisted of two orders.
These two orders were alike in �their way of living�, �customs� and �laws�, but differed
in the �point of marriage�, meaning that one �order� was celibate and the other allowed
marriage.
The ancient author who said there were 7 sects of Judaism was Epiphanius, in his
book, Panarion.
The two Essene orders, mentioned by Josephus, that were different in their view of
marriage were the Ossaeans; and the �Nasaraeans,� which is Epiphanius� term for what
Josephus called �another Order of Essenes...differ from them in the point of marriage.�
The order which practiced celibacy was the Ossaeans, and the one in which marriage
was practiced, was the Nasaraeans.
The Essene prophecy which foretold the coming of the Messiah can be read in Matthew
2:23: �He shall be called a Nasorean�.
.
Around 100 AD, according to Epiphanius in his Panarion, there lived an Ossaean
prophet, by the name of Elxai, who was married, and was accepted by both the Ossaeans
and the Nasaraeans. He �introduced� the �oaths� to the substances of salt, water,earth,
bread, heaven, aether, and wind; with seven �witnesses�: sky, water, holy spirits, angels of
prayer, the olive, salt, and earth. Thus, Elxai, by being married, differed from what
Ossaeans were in Josephus� time, celibate; and could have indicated a change in the
position on marriage by the Ossaeans at this time.
The four sects who embraced Elxai and his �doctrine of Christ, vegetarianism,
encouraging marriage�, and the rejection of the �..false Law of Moses� were: the Ossaeans,
the Nasaraeans, who were either his contemporaries or came before him; and the Ebionites
and the Nazoraeans who came after him.
Epiphanius, in his work, Panarion, states it was �unlawful� for the Nasaraeans �to eat
meat or make sacrifices with it�, thus they were strict vegetarians. With the concurrence
with Matthew 2:23, that the Messiah was a Nasorean, then one can conclude that Yeshua
was a strict vegetarian.
Epiphanius stated the Nasaraeans believed in Moses and that he had received �this
law�, not implying �this law� was �The� �Law of Moses�, as is stated in Exodus; but
�some other� law. He also related that the Nasaraeans �claim that these Books (of
Moses) are fictions, and that none of theses customs were instituted by the fathers.� Thus,
Yeshua also rejected the �Law of Moses� because he too was Nasaraean.
Yeshua would have found nothing in common with modern day Judaistic beliefs and
practices since all of these are founded on the Mosaic Laws of the Old Testament, which
Yeshua, being Nasaraean rejected as �fictionous forgeries�.
Epiphanius stated that the Ossaeans and the Nasaraeans were alike in their rejection
of the �Law of Moses�, both branches would thus have not followed modern Judaism.
Epiphanius described the relationship between the Nasaraeans and the Ossaeans as
�closely connected�.
The name of the monastic level of the Ossaeans was the �Beni-Zadok� meaning the �Sons
of Zadok� or �Children of Zadok,� this comes to us from �certain Dead Sea Scrolls�
which have been the remaining evidence of this ancient Essene sect.
The Nasaraean monastic level was known as an Essene mystery school and it was centered mostly in the Mt. Carmel area, this being the location of the ancient Northern sect.
The "Nasaraean" or Nazarene branch was known in this area around Mt. Carmel, and in a section of Jerusalem, called the Essene Quarter.
The southern branch, the Ossaeans, were the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Likewise, the northern Order, the Nasaraean left their texts also, these were
found in the Nag Hammadi Library discovered in Upper Egypt during the late 1940�s.
The Beni-Zadok lived in Qumran, east of the Jerusalem Temple.
The Beni-Zadok were an all-male monastic order, awaiting the day they could return
to the Jerusalem Temple, and again offer animal sacrifice. The Carmelite Monstic order, a co-ed order,
lived in and around the Nasaraean Temples, either on Mt. Carmel or the smaller temple in
the Essene quarter of western Jerusalem. These two monastic orders also followed totally
different calendars, different scriptures, different �Teachers of Righteousness,� and the
Camelite Essenes had a different and more positive attitude about women and marriage than
the Beni-Zadok.
The historical references that mention the deeper monastic order of the Ossaean Order
are found in the �Manual of Discipline,� one of the original 7 Dead Sea Scrolls discovered
in Cave 1 of this monastery�s ruins at Qumran.
The Temple Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls were not in synch with the Nasaraean
Essenes doctrines because it advocated future animal sacrifices, and it also contained the
�Teacher of Righteousness�� version of the Law of Moses, which the Nasaraeans did not
accept.
The Ossaean Qumranites were vegetarian only on a temporary stance because of their
inability to sacrifice animals at the Jerusalem Temple.
The Ossaeans� goal was to eventually recapture the Jerusalem Temple and slaughter
animals, however, it was because of their prophet, Elaxi, that this hope for their future was
changed, and from that time on they adapted an �eternal vegetarian stance.�
The two Dead Sea Scrolls that perhaps had their origins with the Nasaraean sect
were the �Damascus Covenant� and the �Manual of Discipline.�
The two Dead Sea Scrolls that were totally alien in nature to the peace abiding
Nasaraeans were the militaristic �War Rule,� and the �Temple Scroll.�
Historical references to the deeper monastic Order of the Nasorenes are found in the
Book of John the Baptist, one of the ancient scriptures of the Mandean sect.
The branches or suborders within the Essene Nasarene School at Carmel were those
of Jacob, and of Samuel (and Elijah).
The Nazarene branch was particularly the monastic order from the Mt. Carmel
Temple, they were �especially connected with the Essene Temple there.�
Now, I'd like to include more information on the Essenes according to the Edgar Cayce Readings; This particular reading was given for a lady who had an incarnation as the handmaiden of Mary, the mother of Yeshua, and was responsible for some of His early teaching:
"EC: Yes, we have the records here of that entity now known as or called [1010], in the present; as Josie in the Palestine experience and activities; together with the information which has been indicated through these channels.
In giving the biographical life of the entity Josie, much of those activities might be indicated that brought about those later relationships with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
As has been outlined from here, there were those special groups of individuals who had made some preparations for the expected activities that were to come about during that particular period; especially those of the Essenes who had chosen the twelve maidens to indicate their fitness. This choice was to be made by those selections indicated by the spirit, and Josie was the daughter of Shem and Mephibosheth that was among these.
This entity, Josie, was close to Mary when the selection was indicated by the shadow or the angel on the stair, at that period of consecration in the temple. This was not the temple in Jerusalem, but the temple where those who were consecrated worshiped, or a school - as it might be termed - for those who might be channels.
This was a part of that group of Essenes who, headed by Judy, made those interpretations of those activities from the Egyptian experience, - as the Temple Beautiful, and the service in the Temple of Sacrifice. Hence it was in this consecrated place where this selection took place.
Then, when there was the fulfilling of those periods when Mary was espoused to Joseph and was to give birth to the Savior, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the Way, the Truth, the Light, - soon after this birth there was the issuing of the orders first by Judy that there should be someone selected to be with the parents during their period of sojourn in Egypt. This was owing to the conditions which arose from the visit of the Wise Men and their not returning to Herod to report, when the decrees were issued that there should be the destruction of the children of that age from six months to two years, especially in that region from Bethany to Nazareth.
Thus this entity, Josie, was selected or chosen by those of the Brotherhood, - sometimes called White Brotherhood in the present, - as the handmaid or companion of Mary, Jesus and Joseph, in their flight into Egypt.
This began on an evening, and the journey - through portions of Palestine, from Nazareth to the borders of Egypt - was made only during the night.
Do not understand that there was only Joseph, Mary, Josie and the Child. For there were other groups that preceded and followed; that there might be the physical protection to that as had been considered by these groups of peoples as the fulfilling of the Promised One.
In the journeys to Egypt, little of great significance might be indicated, but the care and attention to the Child and the Mother was greatly in the hands of this entity, Josie, through that journey.
The period of sojourn in Egypt was in and about, or close to, what was then Alexandria.
Josie and Mary were not idle during that period of sojourn, but those records - that had been a part of those activities preserved in portions of the libraries there - were a part of the work that had been designated for this entity. And the interest in same was reported to the Brotherhood in the Judean country.
The sojourn there was a period of some four years, - four years, six months, three days.
When there were those beginnings of the journey back to the Promised Land, there were naturally - from some of the records that had been read by the entity Josie, as well as the parents - the desires to know whether there were those unusual powers indicated in this Child now, - that was in every manner a normal, developed body, ready for those activities of children of that particular period.
But do not interpret same in the light of childhood in thine own land in the present, - more in the light of the oriental. For, remember, Egypt as well as parts of Galilee were the customs and activities of those to whom the care of this physical entity was entrusted through that early sojourn in the earth.
The return was made to Capernum, - not Nazareth, - not only for political reasons owing to the death of Herod but the division that had been made with the kingdom after the death of Herod; and that there might be the ministry or teaching that was to be a part of the Brotherhood, - supervised in that period by Judy, as among the leaders of the Essenes in that particular period.
Hence much of the early education, the early activities, were those prompted or directed by that leader in that particular experience, but were administered by - or in the closer associations by - Josie. Though from the idea of the Brotherhood the activities of the entity were no longer necessitated, the entity Josie preferred to remain - and did remain until those periods when there was the sending or the administering of the teachings to the young Master, first in Persia and later in India, and then in Egypt again - where there were the completions.
But the entity, Josie, following the return, was active in all the educational activities as well as in the care of the body and the attending to those things pertaining to the household duties with every developing child. And Josie was among those who went with Mary and Joseph when they went to the city, or to Jerusalem, at the time of the age of twelve. It was thought by Joseph and Mary that it was in the care of Josie that He had stayed, when He was missed, in those periods when there was the returning to find Him in the temple.
Josie was with Mary throughout those activities. And is it any wonder that when there were those preparations of the body for burial that Josie was the one who brought the spices, the ointments that were to consecrate the preparations of this body for whom it had cared through those early periods of its experience in the earth?
Through that period Josie never married, and was known among the Holy Women throughout the period; coming and persuading the Mother, Mary, when there was the arrest, to come to Jerusalem.
The entity passed on through those periods of riots following the beheading of James, the brother of John."
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