Mount Carmel:
A spiritual stronghold of the northern Essene movement. A place spoken of in reverence by ancient Egyptian Priests, a place where Pythagoras (the father of mathematics and philosophy) studied, the place of the Oracle and Altar of Elijah the Prophet, a place where Yeshua (Jesus) is said to have been taught and a place whence a remnant of Hebrew speaking followers of Yeshua inspired the formation of the Catholic Carmelite Order.
Essene - An ancient term of the sect of Judaism which birthed, raised and then followed the Master - Yeshua (Essene Jesus). Noted for their vegetarianism, communal living and healing art practices.
Nazorean - Denotes those under a special vow of holiness wherein one's whole life is consecrated upward toward purity and perfection. Nazorean were also noted for their abstinence from social drinking. Essene villages near Mount Carmel were filled with Nazorean, hence the village name of Nazareth.
Yahshua - Phonetic spelling of Yeshua.
Ha Mashiakh - The Messiah, The Anointed or The Christ, the title of Yeshua in his role as anointed Savior.
The Nazarenes of Mount Carmel consists of men and women of high moral character, dedicated to studying and teaching the ancient mysteries of the higher aspirations of the soul and applying the Nazorean teachings of Jesus, the Nazorean. There were anciently two branches of Essenes - the Ossaeans and the Nazorean. The southern Ossaeans were known as the B'nai-Zadok, or "Children of Zadok." The northern Nazorean were known as the B'nai-Amen, or "Children of God."
The B'nai-Amen lived in and around Nazorean Temples such as the one on Mount Carmel and the smaller one in the Essene Quarter of western Jerusalem (now known as the "Church of the Apostles, or Cenacle).
The Nazorean had no intentions on the main Jerusalem Temple or in restoring its animal sacrifice cult. The Nazorean abhorred all animal sacrifice and rejected, as forgeries and fictions, all Jewish scriptures that encourage such barbaric practices. The Nazorean also had a different calendar than the Qumran B'nai-Zadok, a different set of scriptures, a different "Teachers of Righteousness," and a different and more positive attitude toward marriage and women.
The purpose of this article is to provide evidence that YAHSHUA (JESUS) WAS PRIMARILY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ESSENES OF MOUNT CARMEL IN NORTHERN ISRAEL, not the Essenes of Qumran in Southern Israel. Certainly, Yahshua and the Northern Essenes had ongoing contact with their brethren in the South, but he was not "raised and trained at Qumran" like many in the modern Essene movement believe. This article will clear up that misconception. In the course of doing so, we will touch on various related items, some of them quite fascinating: We will learn of the lifestyle and traditions of the mystical Essenes of Mount Carmel; we will uncover the truth about "Nazareth" and how that word relates to the term "Nazarene"; we will name the likely location where baby Yahshua was taken for protection from Herod; and we will learn esoteric details about the baptism of Yahshua by John. All of the above is related to, and will help support, our central thesis: YAHSHUA (JESUS) WAS RAISED AND TRAINED BY THE ESSENES OF MOUNT CARMEL IN NORTHERN ISRAEL, not the Essenes of Qumran in Southern Israel.
Before turning our attention to Nazareth and the Essene community at Mount Carmel, let us identify a third Essene community which was the probable sanctuary of the holy family when they fled to Egypt: THE ESSENE COMMUNITY OF THEREPUTAE AT LAKE MAREOTIS. You will recall that Mary and Joseph took baby Yahshua to Egypt to escape Herod. And we know from the writings of Philo, a Jewish philosopher who lived about 2,000 years ago, that there was indeed an Essene community of "theraputae" or "healers" at Lake Mareotis, in Egypt. Almost certainly, that Essene community was the place of sanctuary enjoyed by the Essene holy family.
When the holy family returned from Egypt after Herod's death (this Herod was succeeded by his son, also called Herod, who was later to behead John the Baptist and assist in the crucifixion of Yahshua), we are told they settled in Nazareth. As you can see on the map, Nazareth is very near Mount Carmel, the headquarters of the entire Essene movement. However, in those days, there was no town called "Nazareth"; rather, it was simply a cooperative village of Essene "Nazarenes". We read in The Armageddon Script:
"... historical evidence that it (Nazareth) existed at the time is entirely lacking. The tradition almost certainly goes back to the fact that the family were members of the Nazarene sect of the Essenes. This group seems to have become the dominant one on Carmel, to the point where the word 'Nazarene' came to be applied to the Northern Essenes in general. It is possible, of course, that the Essenes had a camp in the vicinity of the modern Nazareth."
Thus, the term "Jesus of Nazareth" was originally "Yahshua the Nazarene", and a "Nazarene" is a "Northern Essene" associated with Mount Carmel. Which is why in the New Testament Book of Acts, the early Christians' are referred to as "the sect of the Nazarenes." The sect of the Nazarenes was considered a dangerous cult by the governmental authorities; and the orthodox Jews agreed, declaring in the New Testament: "Nothing good can come from Nazareth" [the Nazarenes]. (To avoid confusion it should be noted that the New Testament reference to Yahshua being booted out of a synagogue in his "home town" of "Nazareth" is NOT a reference to the Nazarene commune; rather, the synagogue in question was the ORTHODOX Jewish Synagogue located in the same territory as the Nazarene commune. When Yahshua of the despised "Nazarene cult" entered that orthodox synagogue, picked up the Isaiah Scroll and read a Messianic prophecy -- AND THEN DECLARED HIMSELF TO BE THE FULFILLMENT OF THAT PROPHECY -- the orthodox Jews were outraged and wanted to kill him on the spot.)
Epiphanius, the Catholic Bishop of Constantia in the fourth century, wrote a book called Panarion in which he described and denounced various non-Catholic Christian groups. In that book he admits that in his own day -- the fourth century -- there still existed "Jewish Christians" called "Nazarenes" related to the ancient order of Essenes. Epiphanius admits also that the original followers of Yahshua were "known as Nazarenes" and that "the sect of the Nazarenes existed prior to the birth of Jesus". But rather than admit the obvious -- THAT THE NAZARENE SECT OF HIS DAY WAS THE DIRECT DESCENDANT OF ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY AND THE TRUE CUSTODIAN OF THE TEACHINGS OF YAHSHUA -- Epiphanius denounced them as heretics because their teachings were not in line with Catholic dogma! What were the Nazarene-Christian doctrines that Catholic Bishop Epiphanius found so heretical? They were:
The Nazarenes -- both the ancient Judaic Nazarenes and the later Christian Nazarenes -- WERE STRICT VEGETARIANS;
The Nazarenes believed that the Old Testament books of Moses had been falsified by the fallen orthodox Jewish priesthood and corrupt kings; they believed that Moses indeed gave the true Law, but that the true Law had been removed from the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament attributed to Moses) and was preserved only in their own Nazarene scriptures;
The Nazarene-Christians claimed that they possessed the original New Testament of Yahshua, written in Aramaic, and it differed from the Catholic New Testament.
In reference to number one above, not only does Epiphanius admit that the Nazarenes "eat no meat", but modern scholars concur; Hugh Shonfield a predominant Jewish author agrees.
"There has been emerging ever clearer evidence that in the Galilean region an ancient Israelitish type of religion persisted in the time of Jesus, defying Judean efforts to obliterate it.... The name he bears, Jesus the Nazorean, has northern sectarian implications.... The name borne by the earliest followers of Jesus was not Christians: they were called Nazoreans (Nazarenes).... They were vegetarians and rejected animal sacrifices."
In regard to Schonfield's reference to the Nazarenes as "an ancient Israelitish type of religion... defying Judean efforts to obliterate it", it is important to note that the term "Judean" refers to southern Israel and especially the orthodox Jewish temple at Jerusalem. Like Schonfield, also demonstrates that the northern Nazarene-Essene religion was much more ancient and authentic than the orthodox Judaism that held power in Yahshua's day, pre-dating even the authentic versions of the several books of Moses (Moses was attempting to reestablish the Essene Nazarene religion after the captivity) and certainly pre-dating the falsified versions.
"The Nazireate sect existed long before the laws of Moses, and originated among... the people of Galilee... where was built Nazara, the present Nazareth. It is in Nazara that the ancient Nazoria or Nazireates held their "Mysteries of Life...."
New Testament used by the "heretical" Nazarenes -- we know that Epiphanius was especially disturbed by the Christology of the "Judaic Christians" (he uses the term "Judaic Christian" as a put-down; he seems to have forgotten that Yahshua and all the Apostles were exactly that: Judaic Christians!). Whereas Catholic dogma had decreed that Yahshua was part of the Godhead itself; "one with the Father, very God of very God", THE Nazarenes CHRIST OLOGY ALSO HELD THAT JESUS WAS, TO QUOTE FROM BOOK OF HEBREWS "CREATED SIMILAR TO, BUT HIGHER THAN, THE ARCHANGELS...THAT HE RULES BOTH THE ANGELS AND ALL THOSE THINGS CREATED BY THE ALMIGHTY." So the Nazarenes believed the same Christology as the Catholic Church. Just Bishop's like Epiphanius were sometimes blinded by his views on judean Christian doctrine. He could not see the trees for the forest.
Believe it or not, the rather exalted status given to Yahshua by Nazarene Christology -- that he was "created similar to, but higher than, the archangels", -- DID NOT GO FAR ENOUGH FOR CATHOLIC BISHOP EPlPHANIUS! Because the Nazarenes believed Yahshua was God, but they were considered in violation of the Catholic dogma that Yahshua as the Nazoreans keep all the Jewish feasts and that not being part. And we all know what the punishment for that type of heresy is complete irradication of their way of life and Holy Scriptures. Which was exactly the eventual fate of the Nazarene remnant that still existed in Epiphanius' time:
My reason for providing the above several paragraphs is to support my contention that YAHSHUA WAS A MEMBER OF AN ESSENE SECT CALLED "NAZARENES" AND THAT THE TERM "JESUS THE NAZARENE" REFERS TO THAT AFFILIATION AND NOT SIMPLY THAT HE LIVED IN A TOWN CALLED NAZERATH WHICH HE DID". When we link that information to the previously quoted material from The Armageddon Script -- that the Nazarenes were the Essenes of Mount Carmel -- we are face to face with the main thesis of this article: THAT YAHSHUA WAS PRIMARILY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ESSENES OF MOUNT CARMEL IN NORTHERN ISRAEL.
Let us now consider some interesting information about Mount Carmel. Even by its very name, it is clear that Mount Carmel has long been considered both a natural paradise and a sacred mountain: for the literal Hebrew meaning of "Carmel" is "garden paradise".
In fact, Mount Carmel was considered so holy that there were strict taboos against spilling any blood there, not only of people but also animals, AND IT WAS EVEN FORBIDDEN TO HARM A TREE OR DISTURB ANY OF THE NATURAL LIFE. These rules applied not only to the Essenes but also to anyone who climbed the holy mountain. Vulgar people were not permitted access to Mount Carmel. In The Religion of the Semites, by W. Robertson Smith, we learn:
"Yet some... of the old sanctity of whole regions survived... to a late date. Ianblichus, in the last days of heathenism, still speaks of Mount Carmel as 'sacred above all mountains and forbidden of access to the vulgar'.... The Taboos or restrictions applicable within these sacred tracts have already been touched upon. The most universal of them was that men were not allowed to interfere with the natural life of the spot. No blood might be shed and no tree cut down...."
Evidently, gardening was permitted as long as it was done in an environmentally sound manner, since Mount Carmel was famous for its vegetable gardens and fruit orchards as well as its lush, natural forest. However, permanent dwellings were not permitted on holy Mount Carmel -- they were considered too obtrusive to the natural environment -- AND SO THE ESSENE NAZARENE RESIDENTS OF THE MOUNTAIN ARE SAID TO HAVE LIVED IN TENTS (the tents were actually a type of yurt which is much sturdier and "home-like" than the typical American "tent", having a wooden frame and often more than one room).
It is precisely because the Essenes of Mount Carmel did not build permanent structures on the holy mountain that no -- or very little -- physical trace of their presence remains for archaeologists to study. In The Armageddon Script, Lemesurier reports:
"To date, while there is certainly some... evidence of the Essenes' sojourn on Carmel, specific archaeological evidence... is lacking.... This is entirely to be expected, however, since one of the conditions... was that the people must live only in temporary shelters or arbours.... Even the Divine Sanctuary was to be no more than a 'Tent of the Presence' within its sacred enclosure."
While "vulgar" people were not permitted access to Mount Carmel, it was a haven for holy pilgrims from various countries. In The Life of Pythagoras written in the 2nd century by Jamblichus, we learn that the great sage Pythagoras, as a young seeker, visited the Essene sanctuary atop Mount Carmel:
"In Phoenicia he [Pythagoras] conversed with the prophets who were descendants of Moses.... After gaining all he could from the Phoenician mysteries, he found that they had originated from the sacred rites of Egypt. This led him to... Egypt. Following the advice of his teacher Thales, he left... through the agency of some Egyptian sailors, and landed on the coast under Mount Carmel."
Pythagoras then climbed Mount Carmel where he evidently received powerful teachings from the Essene Nazarenes; for when he returned to the ship, the sailors, who had hatched a secret plan to sell young Pythagoras into slavery, were mesmerized by his spiritual luminosity and unable to harm him. Whatever teachings Pythagoras had studied and practiced during his stay with the Essenes atop Carmel, they had obviously served to transform him!
HE HAD CLIMBED THE MOUNTAIN AS AN ADVANCED SEEKER; HE DESCENDED THE MOUNTAIN A MASTER. The sailors, reports Jamblichus, believed Pythagoras had become "supernatural". We know that Pythagoras went on to become a chief exponent of vegetarianism, reincarnation, fasting and sacred geometry -- all Essene teachings -- and that he and his followers wore only white linen garments, in the fashion of the Essenes of Mount Carmel.
We have seen above that no killing -- not even animals -- was permitted on Mount Carmel, and that ALL of Judaism was bound by that law, not only the Essenes. That made Mount Carmel the perfect place for the Essenes to create their international headquarters. In Spiritual Vegetarianism, Abbot George Burke supports that assessment:
"The aspect of their non-killing that most offended other Jews was the refusal of the Essenes to offer animal sacrifices in the Temple... so adamant were the Essenes on this point they established for themselves a Temple on Mount Carmel...."
A second reason that the Essenes chose Mount Carmel as their headquarters was its connection with one of their own forefathers, the great Essene prophet Elijah (Elijah and other Essene prophets had long used Carmel as their chief spiritual retreat but it was not until several hundred years later that the Essenes made it their international headquarters). Lemesurier writes:
"And now it was the turn of the Essenes to repeat the process yet again, and re-establish what they saw as the true worship of the New Covenant on their own sacred mountain.... Here at last the Teacher (of Righteousness) could start to give full rein to his gifts of prophetic intuition.... The northern mountains... were to be the general assembly area for the body of Essene refugees.... But out of their various groupings and ideologies a kind of 'core-group' must be formed to spearhead the movement.... Yet this core-group had to remain doctrinally broad-based enough to permit... members of all the various Essenic sub-groups to give it their allegiance. And there, almost miraculously, the answer suddenly swam into view: Mount Carmel.... It had been widely regarded as by far the most sacred mountain in the region since early Egyptian times. Far more than that, however, it had become the headquarters of the great prophet Elijah, whose cave on Carmel can still be visited today.... Like Elijah, as the sole true remnant of Israel, they too must now make their way to Mount Carmel.... And just as Elijah had rebuilt the 'altar'... on Mount Carmel with twelve stones - one for each tribe of Israel - so these Essenes likewise could hope to restore the true worship there.... There could no longer be any doubt among the Essene predestinarians that Carmel was their prophesied objective, marked out for them from even before time began."
Since, as we have seen, it was taboo to build permanent structures on holy Carmel, the Essene Nazarenes created a yurt village with a "Tent of the Presence" as Temple. Again, this "tent Temple" was no small American pup-tent; it was a large, many-roomed Yurt. BESIDES THE IMPERMANENT STRUCTURES ON MOUNT CARMEL ITSELF, A COUPLE OF MILES FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN EDGE OF CARMEL THE ESSENE NAZARENES BUILT A LARGE VILLAGE OF PERMANENT STRUCTURES: "Nazareth." Here, at Nazareth, many Essene-Nazarene families lived next to the spiritual center atop Carmel, visiting it regularly. The priests and more hardy families -- those capable of "roughing it" -- lived in the yurt village atop Carmel.
With Mount Carmel as their base of operations, the Essenes began to prepare themselves for a spectacular event: THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH. In Spiritual Vegetarianism, Abbott George Burkes writes:
"Jesus of Nazareth was an Essene. Joachim and Anna, the parents of the virgin Mary, were both from renowned Essene families.... It was a long-standing tradition among the Essenes that the Messiah would be born into an Essene family".
"Essene prophets who were attuned to the will of the Almighty, by virtue of their Holy meditations and their lifestyle of Righteousness, prepared for generations for the arrival of the Messiah of Peace. Genealogies were consulted and candidates were chosen and raised to a holy life. Pure diet, free of the taint of death and blood as well as training in the Essene mysteries, brought forth children of a Holy nature, from which new candidates were chosen."
In this article I have cited the work of many respected scholars. Having demonstrated that my thesis is supported by mainstream scholarship, I now feel free to cite a more unusual -- certainly not mainstream -- source: the modern "seer", Edgar Cayce. Unlike many the predictions and revelations of Cayce have proven remarkably accurate. He even predicted the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Cayce died in 1945 and the scrolls were discovered in 1947). The "readings" of Cayce (he would go into a trance and provide information verbally that his assistant would write down) contain much information about Yahshua and his connection to the Essenes of Mount Carmel. In the book, Edger Cayce's Story of Jesus, edited by Jeffrey Furst, we read:
"... the Essenes... dedicated their lives, their minds, their bodies to a purpose, to a seeking for that which had been to them a promise of old.... Hence, there was the continued preparation and dedication of those who might be the channels through which this chosen vessel might enter through choice into this material realm. Thus in Carmel -- where there were the chief priests and leaders of this faith -- there were the maidens chosen who were dedicated to this purpose.... Among them was Mary, the beloved, the chosen one."
Again from Cayce:
"The Essenes were dedicated to their purpose and made holy Mount Carmel their headquarters. This was the original place where the school of prophets was established during Elijah's time...."
"Here, the Essenes prepared themselves for several generations to open as it were a door into this realm for the Messiah.... And he became known as Jesus the Nazarene, for he was of the Essenian sect of Nazarenes in the region of Carmel."
Even the Catholic monastic order of "White Friars" (they are vegetarian and wear white robes) currently established on Mount Carmel (they moved there in the twelfth century) assert that Yahshua was an Essene and was raised on Mount Carmel. These Catholic "Carmelites" learned these things from Essene monks that still survived on Carmel in the 12th century! It is from these Essene Monks that the Catholic Carmelites adopted vegetarianism and white robes. (The information in this paragraph is available from many sources including The Essene Christ by Upton Ewing, the Catholic Carmelites own history books, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition, vol. 5, pg. 358.)
I am confident that the reader will agree that my thesis has been amply demonstrated: YAHSHUA WAS A NORTHERN ESSENE -- a Nazarene -- PRIMARILY ASSOCIATED WITH THE ESSENES OF MOUNT CARMEL; he was not "raised and trained at Qumran" as some in the modern Essene movement mistakenly assert.