ROMAN AND ORTHODOX EASTER
A Different View of The Celebration of Easter
I grew up Greek Orthodox, was an Altar Boy, President of our GOYA Youth Group, and a follower of the Christian belief system that I was born into and raised by. This weekend, the Orthodox Christians will celebrate the annual anniversary of a physical resurrection from the dead, by Jesus Christ.
This, is Orthodox Easter (and the Spring Equinox) ... according to the ancient Julian Calendar. The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC (708 AUC), and was a reform of the Roman calendar. Ultimately the calendar was changed again. This time by St. Gregory and is called the Gregorian Calendar ... still followed today, but not by the Orthodox. This is why last Sunday was Easter Sunday for the rest of the non-Orthodox Christian Followers, and this Sunday is Easter Sunday for the Orthodox.
For me however, after many years of research and deep study, along with centered prayer, and meditation, I left behind the literal and historical teachings of todays Christianity, and have found solace in the ancient allegorical, esoteric, and metaphysical interpretations. I have acquired a library of study and research materials that include all world religions, philosophies, and metaphysics. I became a Seeker of Spiritual Truth ... And it's been an amazing journey of discovery. It obviously isn't the path that many have taken, but for me ... It's been enlightening to say the least.
I can tell you that I definitely made the rounds over the years. From Orthodox Christian, to non-denominational Bible Fellowship, to even all-out atheism. Then ... I kept going. I kept looking. I KNEW that voice inside me was the voice of Truth ... And there was a force that went beyond what has been presented as Literal, and Historical ... I knew there must be something more. Beyond the surface exoteric teachings. I was after the very foundation of ALL world religions and spiritual paths ... BEFORE man added his own personal label to it. The names, locations, and details have been altered, but like a bubble at the bottom of a pond ... The Truth rises to the surface eventually.
I came to the same conclusion that Jesus had tried to explain, and that is that ... God - Source ... is the entirety of the universe, which is ONE universal living organism that we happen to call God - Source Energy. We are ALL part and parcel of this collective Source. And the Spirit and Spark of God - Source is within me ... just as Jesus had said before he was turned into another in a long history of Godmen ... This time by Rome, and ultimately worshipped as the entirety of God in the flesh - actually REPLACING God, with a man. The Truth is that all are equal, all are ONE RACE of humans joined together in consciousness and community here on Planet Earth. We breathe the same air, drink the same water, and stand upon the same terra firma.
Once we awaken to this fact, we then become HUman. HU is the ancient Egyptian God who spoke the world into existence (The Word) ... And MAN is ancient Sanskrit (Manu) meaning MIND. Therefore, to be human, is to be the Mind of God. Universal Law states that God is Mind ... And that all of creation is mentalism. All is energy ... Even matter. This, cannot be disputed. Place a rock under a microscope and you will see living cells. The inanimate, is animate at a cellular level.
My personal relationship with the Universe, or God, has never been greater than it is right now. The unifying and underlying consciousness of all things is connected thorough the Christ Consciousness. I had found the Truth, and it had made me free. Just as Jesus promised among the ancient scriptures of the Bible. Far too much to get into for one article, but I wanted to move on to the main point.
Astro-Theology And Celestial Origins
Astro-Theology, is pretty much a self-explanatory word. It is Theology that is based upon celestial knowledge. Astrotheology is the combination of two Greek words: Astro (from Greek, from astron - asteri where we get "star") and the Greek word Theo (Theos which means God - Source).
For example, translated CORRECTLY from the original Greek, the opening verse of the Book of John (1:1) Would read:
"In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with Theos, and the Logos was Theos."
Rather than how it is translated today:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
This LOGOS (or Word) ... was NOT Jesus, or a book called "the Word of God." Among ancient Greek Philosophy and Theology, this LOGOS/WORD meant "the Divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning." Essentially, the Mind, becoming manifest as matter. The WORD was the ARCHETYPE ... the template of all that is.
The concept of Astro-theology is vastly ancient, as ancient as mankind itself. Past civilizations had one religion. That religion was based on the understanding of the Astrological movements of our solar system and the connection and influences that each planet has on each other and beyond. After all, there were no movies, TV, or Internet back then to occupy their time. They obsessively watched the heavens and nature, and made note of all repeating patterns.
This celestial knowledge is the basis and origin for all of of our Myths, Legends, Fairy Tales, Nursery Rhymes and Folk Lore. It is also the Pure Science developed by the very enlightened, wise and ancient priesthood that left behind for us scrolls, tablets, hieroglyphs, symbols, and the Holy Books of all world religions. The language was heavily veiled in allegory and symbolism and much of it was deliberately done to keep the higher Truths from the masses. Such powerful knowledge in the wrong hands would be disastrous. Remember that "myth" was not as we see it today. Today we think of myth as a fable, or somewhat of a story. But the true meaning of the word MYTH (MYTHOS in Greek) means that there is a Truth behind what is being said. Joseph Campbell said it best, and I paraphrase here: "A myth is something that never was, yet always is."
Among Christianity, most of the Christians and believers in “the Christ” grew up from childhood being taught a “literal-historical” understanding of the “Jesus Story” which we find in the New Testament. They had, and have no concept or knowledge that archaeology has proven today that the earliest believers in “the Christ” never understood “Jesus Christ” as a just one human who walked the hills of the Galilee. They understood deeply the Divine Concept of “Jesus (the) Christ” not in a literal sense but in an “allegorical” manner ... for more than 10,000 years before the New Testament Roman concept of a physical and literal - historical Jesus.
Jesus (Yeshua/Yehoshua in Hebrew) (Iesous in Greek) (Joshua in English) is based upon the Hebrew ineffable name of G-d ... "YHVH" (Yehova, Jehovah, Yahweh). The four letters (Tetragrammaton) are symbolic and literally mean GOD. Briefly, YHVH (Yod Hey Vav Hey) then had added to it, the Hebrew letter Shinn (S) (Meaning Saviour). This created the word-symbol "YHSVH" (Yod Hey Shin Vav Hey), or Yehoshua phonetically. This word has also been translated as Joshua, or in Greek ... Iesous, being translated as "Jesus" in English. Joshua and Jesus are the same word. The word literally means "God is Saviour." It was not so much a proper name, but a title and symbol. The same with the word CHRIST (Messiah, Krestus, Christos, Krishna, etc.). This was a title and meant "Anointed," among other symbols. It is THIS that St. Paul refers to when saying "I travail in Labour until the Christ be born in you."
Most all churches and denominations today take only literal interpretation, in every sense of the word when first approaching the New Testament scriptures, but if we study hard, and gather needed knowledge about the times and the people who generated these Ancient Divine Concepts ... we will find that beneath what we have assumed was a “literal” and “Historical" Jesus Christ, there lies a treasure of allegories, figurations, and symbolisms of the Sun, Stars, Constellations, and their path in the Heavens. This was also WITHIN us. The microcosm / macrocosm. After all, we ARE star stuff.
The Bible was intended to be read as celestial (Stellar, Solar, Lunar and Planetary) allegories and parables based on archetypes ... universal symbols of deeper esoteric Truths that have been veiled. Then and only then can it be explained without the need for Interpretation. It is OUR-story, as much as it is HIS-story. The Bible is not a book written by God, but a book written by men about, and of their observance and concept of God ever present in the celestial heavens ... in annual recurring cycles.
The Eternal universe, regenerating itself, from within itself. A constantly recycling infinite mass of energy of which all of us are within, and a part of. Not as individual members ... things ... but as ONE thing. Eternally bound by the consciousness that brings life to ALL things.
This has been a long article, but I must cover one more important thread so that we may understand the deeper meaning of the Resurrection of Christ without it having to be literal and historical. So now, we move on to a Gnostic view.
The Gnostic View of Christianity’s Resurrected Saviour
If you can bear with me for a few short paragraphs, I offer you a different view from what you have been raised to understand as New Testament Gospel. I’m sure you will find it to be very interesting, if not; enlightening.
For those of who are unfamiliar with the Gnostics, they were basically Christians who denied the bodily resurrection of Christ. Instead they believed Christ’s body was of a spiritual nature. In other words, the Gnostics argued that Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead in a literal physical body.
Mainstream Christianity considers this statement to be blasphemy. And here’s the scripture that they often use to put the final nail on the coffin of Gnosticism:
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 John 1:7)
Based on this scripture, the typical argument states that John was aiming this scripture at the Gnostics themselves since they denied Jesus was resurrected in a physical body. It must be rock solid proof, right? Nope. And here’s why.
Most Gnostics did not view any of the scriptures literally. As such, John’s statement is in perfect agreement with what a Gnostic would have believed. To the Gnostics, the resurrection story of Christ wasn’t about the literal man; it was about the spiritual awakening of the divine nature that can happen within each individual. This awakening happens while still yet in the flesh … while still here and alive in matter. So John’s statement rings true. Christ does come in the flesh ... OURS.
But this coming of Christ (the anointing - the Christ-ening) is the gnosis (mystical insight - knowing) attained by the individual going through a profound experience in higher states of consciousness. This entire process happens while being in a physical body. It is the born again experience of the spiritual nature which rules over the physical nature. This spiritual nature is the Christ.
This entire concept was taught among the Egyptian Mystery Schools and throughout the ancient world of spiritual mythology. The Christ (crestus -krishna - chrestos) is the begotten Son of God … the divine spirit/life force within every person. The breath that is the giver of life. Based only on goodness and righteousness, not self-serving as the base human ego is.
Based on this view, the words credited to the Jesus of the New Testament ring true. “The Kingdom of Heaven/God lies within you … and is at hand”
The “tomb” is your body … where the Christ awaits resurrection and release (hence, the empty tomb). The ancient Greeks said “soma - sema” meaning “body - tomb”. The “Son of Man” means son of mind (mind is MANU in Sanskrit and the origin of the english word man). When the ego remains attached to the natural man, it cannot be purified and transmuted into the spiritual Ego - higher Self. When it does, it once again becomes a “Son of God” as it was before the descent into a world of matter.
There are those who have said to me "you are bound for Eternal hell for your beliefs." I say, as many of the ancients have also said ... I am already in hell. The Underworld ... The lower realm found beneath the heavens (higher realm of consciousness). This place where my Divine Self is trapped with the tomb of the body. When we entered this physical realm, our Soul was buried. "Theosis" is our goal while here in the body. To become AS God, FROM God. To resurrect from the dead! and ascend into Heaven (Spirit). To be alive in Spirit and sitting at the right hand of the Father (Source). This is what it means to "walk with God" ... The God WITHIN. This is what it means to "pray unceasingly." THIS, is what the message of Jesus THE Christ was all about.
I will never tell you how or what to think … I only ask that you do.
Always remember …
Believe nothing.
No matter where you read it,
Or who has said it,
Even if I say it ...
Unless it agrees with your own reason,
And your own common sense.
~Buddha
Just a thought ...
Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.
