What's interesting about Elchasai is that he is interpreted by ancient writers to have provoked the schism between the Essene sect and its Nazorean branch. The association of the Nazoreans with the Sabian baptizers, the Mandeans and later Manichaens is undeniable. The locus connected the Transjordan region through Edessa, Nisibis on to Assyria and Arbela is also without any controversy.
Elchasai, via Hippolytus's own record of Albiciades of Apamea, is a celestial giant paired with the female Holy Spirit. The name, in Aramaic, means "Hidden Power" and the uncontroversial conclusion is to interpret this as a version of Metatron as the second power in Heaven. Elchasaite beliefs, via their revelation, are ordinary Judeo-Syrian eschatology. A coming celestial war resulting in the redemption of Earth for the sake of those who keep righteous and pure according to the laws of Moses.
As a parenthesis, the entirety of proto-Islamic tradition fits rather cleanly within this Syrianized general interpretation of Jewish Christianity. Elxai is the hidden imam. I wonder of Syriac ksy can resolve as chres after brought into Greek? I leave that to the crossword puzzle solvers.
Christianity is intimately associated with the following elements:
- Baptism
- Revelation of the Eschaton
- The Transjordan region and Galilee, that is, located in the realm of Herod Philip.
Both through the Dead Sea Scroll and numerous Roman sources, we know that the Nazorean baptizers are associated almost exclusively with Transjordan Batanea (Gilead) in an arc ending at Adiabene/Arbela. Josephus records a historical James, but there's no mention of Paul. In terms of historicity, the Jewish Christian Syrianized baptizers represent the clearest continuity from whatever the origins of this movement was than anyone else.
We do not know the origins of Gnosticism. Generally speaking, we can call it a syncretism of Middle Platonic philosophy and Jewish theology. However, that does not clarify its precise origins and evolution.
In tracing the history of Transjordan Batanea, and the influences upon it, I have uncovered a series of political turmoils. Irrespective of my own reconstruction of events, the region is clearly witnessing a syncretism of Jewish, Syrian, and Babylonian beliefs sufficient to create Jewish Christianity. Therefore, until someone else chooses to attempt a reconstruction, I will have to work with my own theories and assume they are as accurate as they can be for now.
We have the possibility that the House of Onias in Egypt transfers to Batanea, and then syncretizes Judeo-Egyptian beliefs with Babylonian due to the suzerainty of Babylonian Zamaris over the area. In interpreting what Judeo-Egyptian beliefs would be, we are saying that Onias preserved a divergent tradition from the Sadducees. We are also saying that it would very likely contain Egyptian esoterica and in context be very Middle Platonic.
In the 30s AD we have a political conflict which upon reconstruction can be interpreted as Herod Antipas attempted to reconquer Judea. Herod Philip, his neighbor, brother and rival, dies with very convenient timing upon the start of Antipas's intrigues and conflict with the Nabateans. Armenian history claims that the Babylonian Jews are involved against Antipas.
I propose, quite confidently, that Herod Antipas was a major sponsor of the Pharisees, and the rabbinical tradition may very well stem from him setting them up as sages over his Galilean kingdom at Tiberias. It is possible that Herod Philip's domain was experiencing a divergent religious awakening in response to the syncretism between Judeo-Egyptian and Judeo-Babylonian (Enochian?) beliefs. It is here we see the beginnings of the baptizer cult, also perhaps the split of the Nazoreans from the Essenes. We also see a Samaritan Great Awakening.
By the reign of Herod Agrippa, in the 40s AD, we see a political conflict where Agrippa seems aligned with Jewish Adiabene, while sponsoring the House of Boethus against Ananus. This represents a continuity of the conflict between Antipas and Philip. The conflict ends with Agrippa's death probably by poisoning, and the "death" of Lazarus (Eleazar Boethus). Two years of persecution by Tiberius Alexander, nephew of Philo, against James and Simon follow. This ends with the famous famine in Jerusalem which is famously alleviated by the treasury of Adiabene via Helena.
It is not clear who Ananus exactly is. His house is dominant in Roman Jerusalem, holding the office of High Priest, during the conflict between Pharisees and baptizers. Gamaliel, via Gamala, implies a geographic connection to the domain of Philip. Later, Martha Boethus marries Jesus of Gamala, reinforcing this notion. I have no evidence for this, but I strongly suspect that "Judas of Gamala" was Zamaris of Bathyra. We see (a different) Philip son of Jacimus (James?) son of Zamaris attempting to defend Gamala during the Jewish War, which is the notable final stand of the Babylonian Jews of Batanea.
Biblical scholarship has derived a rivalry between Annas (Ananus) and Lazarus (Eleazar Boethus)
Because Ananus ben Ananus kills James, but later includes Jesus of Gamala (m. Martha Boethus) in the provisional government of Jerusalem, one might interpret a factional realignment occurred after the 40s. Here, the Boethusians and Gamalans align with the Ananians, whereas the radical sectarians who venerate James continue in another direction.
If this is true, then perhaps the House of Ananus and Boethus combined ideologically after 45 AD. For reference, I consider the Simonianism of Samaria to be a legacy of the great awakening caused by Simon Boethus coincident with the baptizer movement. The actual Boethusians end up going a different direction, while the Samaritans stay on the same path, thus Simon Magus becomes associated with Samaria.
The story of Lazarus's resurrection could provide symbolic context for the sectarian evolution occurring. The Judeo-Egyptian Christ of the Boethusians as a Nazorean (Babylonian) entity is being reborn as an Essene, Carmelite/Pythagorean figure. A rebirth into the correct teaching.
I associate the Poppaean family of Rome with the Alexandrian Jews, and so I have wondered if their "House of Menander" in Pompeii might have been a place of exile for the Boethusians or even Eleazar. Here, under Alexandrian tutelage, Boethusian esoteric teachings are corrected. Thence, our Gnostic teacher "Menander". All that aside, if we choose to bring proto-Simonian thinking back under a more secular, philosophical framework, we might begin to see the elements of what becomes Valentinian thinking.
A key ideological element which may have been part of the Boethusian school (proto-Simonian, proto-Christian) is the idea of a broken world. The idea is not exclusive to Judaism. For instance, the Syrian environment among "Abrahamics" would carry the legacy of defeated Neo-Assyria. The kingdom of Adiabene itself can be linked to a reemerging Assyrianism. This also coincides with ascendant Syrian religion featuring the Solar Trinity, which becomes the basis for Neo-Platonism. Among Eastern Jewish Christians, there is no neglect for astrology and an Enochian respect for the patterns of the stars. The "wicked angels", an Enochian concept, are the enemies of Elchasai, which will be defeated by his host in the final celestial way. The continuity with Enochian literature is plain and uncontroversial.
Plotinus's critique of Gnosticism, though possibly ill-informed, seems to emphasize a belief that while the world is imperfect, the celestial realm remains perfect. The repair of the world is limited to the work to be done in mortal life, whereas the Gnostic rejection of the world seems to include the celestial realm as well. Enochian and Jewish Christian ideas seem to align more with Neo-Platonism, for obvious reasons, than Gnosticism.
Assyrianism also tells us who our Metatron might be. There is too much speculation on this to be helpful, but we can connect Enoch to Asshur, the hidden one, who has parallels in Egypt's Amun or Atum, all of whom serve as the root of the tree of life and the father of all. I observe that the sr root exists in Asshur, Osiris and Sirius as well.
The Egyptian tradition has many parallels to the Assyrian/Canaanite. Pharaoh is the incarnation of the hidden one, and is the world soul or pillar around which society revolves. There is considered to be a connection between celestial patterns and civilizational duties. Seasons bringing floods and dryspells. Workers planting or harvesting in conjunction with the movements of the stars, animal life following the seasons as well. Pharaoh being the Earthly master reflecting the invisible celestial master driving the patterns above.
In the Egyptian tradition, calamity and disorder on Earth would have to be caused by the uprooting of Pharaoh from his rightful position. If Pharaoh's authority is established, and the correct priestly procedures are followed, then Earth will again prosper in line with the patterns of heaven.
In Enochianism, it's rebellious angels above, and the nations which worship them as gods and follow them below, causing the disease of the world. This remains consistent with the later Eastern Jewish Christianity.
However, within Middle Platonism we have a divergent concept which leads to the anti-materialism of Gnosticism which Plotinus argued against. We must again focus on locii. Middle Platonism originates in Canaan/Phoenicia. This is near the Carmelite school which is legendarily associated with Pythagoras. Whatever Plutarch is doing in Delphi, there would have to be parallel explorations in Judea and Egypt.
It appears that Middle Platonism takes a building skeptical consensus and synthesizes it into an anti-material view. The philosophical difficulty to prove anything as absolutely true becomes a flaw within matter itself. The Carmelite focus on spirit (a kind of psychedelic pantheism) provides an ecstatic solution to this problem. Plato's forms take on a spiritual characteristic, and then these spirit obtain a religious purpose: to give mankind a path out of the constraints of the material. This is the milieu in which Philo is interpreting Jewish theology. Building a heavenly hierarchy ruled by the Jewish God as the true Monad.
I have assumed that the Ananians were Philonics. The only evidence for this lies in Josephus describing the teacher of Izates of Adiabene, Ananias, as anti-circumcision (bringing him into conflict with Eleazar - Boethus?). The concept of a Jewish, rather than Pauline Christian, opponent of circumcision is remarkable. However, if one considers the Alexandrian Jews, there is an easy case to make for the construction of a secular, philosophical, universal Judaism which can proselytize Romans. A vague Middle Platonism wrapped around Torah. This "Pauline" position of Judaism would represent a lost sect which Josephus fails to mention. One so casual about the law. The best understanding I can imagine is that in the downfall of the Hasmoneans, the Sadducee sect transitioned over to Philonism. This somewhat works in consideration of rumors of priestly heritage for Philo's family, and that of Josephus. If we interpret second century BC Sadducees as Hasmoneans (i.e.: Book of Daniel literary orbit), then first century BC Sadducees would be Ananian Philonics. This would place Ananus as probably a distant Hasmonean nephew, where in the aftermath of Herod Archeleus and the two Judas revolts, Rome defers to the Alexandrian Jews in placing the High Priest. One must wonder how Philo and Annas would be related.
This is where the 45AD capture of the Boethusians by Ananians provides the genesis of Gnostic thinking. There are two elements:
- Ananian/Middle Platonist = Material substance is unreliable, really wicked in fact; Yahweh and Logos are reliable and good
- Boethusian/Enochian = Through the dominion and intercession of the hidden one, High Priest of Heaven, that which is broken in the world as the source of wickedness, shall be repaired.
The Gnostic element was on philosophy, Gnosis, as salvation. Not ritual or material rule. However, Philo clearly relays, in his embassy, the ideology that tokenizes the health of Caesar as symbol of spiritual health via righteous and orderly material dominion. With good and responsible governance, there is room for people to learn philosophy. Therefore we know that Philo interprets the material and political through a lens whereby spiritual health promotes philosophy, and philosophy is the path to salvation.
We should also assume idiosyncratic elements of Egyptian Boethusian inner teachings would be in harmony with Judean Middle Platonic esoterics (angelology etc.)
Theudas is the teach of Menander in the sense that Ananias (Paul) teaches Izates (Theudas), and "Menander" is claiming to carry on the Boethusian tradition which has now branched into Jamesianism. So, "Menander" is being claimed away from the Eastern Jewish Christians both in his past and in his future. That is, Ananias is being presented as the teacher of Theudas (rather than Eleazar, who ended up being the greater influence). Second, Menander is presented as the successor to Theudas (rather than the Jamesians).
As I have claimed, the Kitos revolt in the West leads to the end of Jamesian radicalism, leaving room for the dominance of Ananian "Christianity". We assume, as ever, that the Bar Kokhba revolt provoked the Pharisees to build a parallel rabbinical tradition that decisively rejects what the Ananians and Eastern Jewish Christians had done to Judaism. It also provoked Roman Ananian "Christians" to create an independent Christian literature.
Thus, we have the following geneologies:
- Carmelite esotericism + Platonic skepticism = Middle Platonism
- Philonism finds room to insert Jewish theology quite easily into Middle Platonism, thanks to the spiritual openings made by the Carmelite tradition
- Syncretism between Egyptian and Babylonian ideas, under a Jewish lens in the Transjordan, creates eschatological asceticism.
- Judean politics shuffles the deck, leaving the Eastern Christians to syncretize more with Babylonian and Syrian paganism, while introducing Christian elements into Philonism
- The Kitos aftermath both reinvigorates Eastern Jewish Christianity, while cementing Gnostic Pauline Christian Judaism in the West.
Meanwhile, in the East, Christian influence is emphasizing eschatological revelations and the need for works of righteousness and purity.
Enter Tatian, an Eastern Christian who "discovers" the Gnostics' gospels in Rome. Tatian brings these East and develops an emphasis on historicity. Truth, rather than coming through philosophy or prophecy, comes through historical fact. This was particularly popular in the East, and the reason would likely be due to the incessant syncretizing seen in sects such as the Quqites or even within the Book of Elchasai.
I would thus propose that it was through the wind blowing from the East, that skepticism about Gnostic ideas shaped Christianity in the West. The East emphasizing works and righteousness, asceticism, the future eschaton, and the importance of building an exoteric, earthly church that can wield social and political influence.
The "Gnostic" texts we have representing very late counter-reactions to anti-Gnostic catholicization. Some of this conflict being obscured by the documentary destruction of the Imperial church in its efforts to create trinitarian orthodoxy.
Thus:
- Western Christianity was always Gnostic, the insertion of Christian revelation (formerly eschatological) into Philonic Middle Platonism. Curiously these developed the first gospels, and its birth should be attributed to 136 AD as a reaction to Bar Kokhba.
- Eastern Christianity was Jewish, but syncretic (i.e.: emphasizing astrology and baptism). It's birth should be attributed to the end of the Kitos War in 116AD, and it is the ancestor of Islam.
- Tatian, unaware of the context, is the specific catalyst who brought the Gnostic gospels to Syria, where they profoundly changed Eastern Christianity, and then via Syria this emergent false-history religion blows back into the West, combatting Gnosticism. Finally, through other political and philosophical influences, this is shaped into trinitarian orthodoxy by Imperial Rome.
It's likely that the Gnostic Roman Christians looked to the events surrounding the Boethusians, including Theudas, for historical fodder to mix with their mythological types.
The historical early alleged Christians who venerated James, being the only movement entitled to be labelled as Christians in the first century, were totally wiped out during the Kitos War. Thus, Islam and modern Christian traditions derive from the reawakening and "new remission of sins" attendant to the revelations of Elchasai.
But hey I'm just a worthless idiot schizophrenic. For what its worth, I only do this for fun, and because no one seems to be talking about this particular concept of historicism.