Hate has she gotten against the leather phylacteries and love for the wearing of wreaths of myrtle. - of Miryai, Secret Teachings
Hate has she gotten against the leather phylacteries and love for the wearing of wreaths of myrtle. - of Miryai, Secret Teachings
TO PENETRATE THE MYSTERIES, to bless with a good conscious, to be great and yet empty, to return to stillness and be forgiving, to be compassionate and to deliver all people, to do good deeds and help people reach the other shore - these are the great benefits of our Path of cultivation. To calm people in stormy times, to help them understand the nature of things, to maintain purity, to nourish all things, to respect all life, and to answer the needs of those whose beliefs come from the heart - these are the services the Order can offer. - from a Chinese Stelae, 781 A.D.
 

Intro
Gods- Fourfold God
Prophets- Yeshu, Miryai, Mani....
Prayers- 4 times daily
Scriptures- Thomas,Philip, Secret Teachings, Kephalaia, Pistis Sophia
Principles- Vegan, permaculture, ahimsa
Practices - Meditation, Devotions, Puja, Study, Fasting, Teaching, Service.
Rituals - Gnostic Baptism & Mass
Teachings - The Mythos
Organization - Structure, Levels
Members- Cybercommunity & Ashram
Calendar - Liturgical lunar calendar
History- Ancient Gnostic Streams
Links-Commonalities & Critiques of Other Religions
Mani site -  Site dedicated to Mani
Forum- Nazorean Forum


Order of Nazorean Essenes

Introduction to the Order of Nazorean Essenes  [O:N:E:]

What is the Order of Nazorean Essenes?
An Order that seeks to resurrect an ancient system of gnosis based on the hidden teachings of Yeshu (Jesus), Miryai (Mary), and Mani (Manes).

How does this Order seek to resurrect such teachings?
By carefully collecting, purifying and implementing the ageless teachings found in the priceless scrolls of the Order.

What are these "priceless scrolls"?
The Canon of O:N:E: consists of three levels of texts. The first and foremost is composed on ancient Nazorean writings translated out of Aramaic, Gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadhi discovery, and Manichaean texts.

What are the practices of this Order?
The foundational pillars are five - a vegan diet and lifestyle, daily communion, weekly fasting, initiations, and support of monastic institutions.

What is a vegan lifestyle?
A life of compassion and concern which seeks to limit the amount of consumption and harm resulting from living ones life on this earth.

How can we live without cause harm?
Our food, clothing and shelter choices have repercussions felt around the globe and extend even into our interplanetary ambitions. When we choose a non-compassionate meat diet, it affects starving people in other countries where this meat is produced at their expense.

How does the raising of meat contribute to their hunger?
Some say it takes 16 times more land to produce the same amount of meat food as vegan food. If we eat an all plant diet, then we open the way for 15 other people to have sufficient nourishment. There are always starving children somewhere on the earth and the Order seeks to be conscious of this.

Do the Order's ancient scrolls teach to do this?
Yes, the Manichaeans were ardent vegans who promoted a simple and compassionate lifestyle that did minimum damage to the ecosystem.

How important is the vegan lifestyle to the Order?
It is the basic requirement and principle that binds all members of the Order together. New members must forever leave behind a non-compassionate diet and lifestyle before they may become full members.

How is membership obtained?
Membership is obtained by taking the Fourfold Refuge and registering as a Refuged Member with the Order. This opens the door for participation in the programs of the Order. 

What are the benefits of membership?
Exposure to the ancient enlightening teachings of Yeshu, Miryai and Mani; opportunity to receive Nazorean Empowerments, and opportunity to be of loving service to others.

Are there different levels to the Order?
The Order is threefold: the outer Order of Listeners and Perfect Listeners (Shamaya & Shamanaya), the Monastic level of Elect (Zadiqaya), and a third level of the Elect of the Elect (Zidqa Bhira).

What is the difference between these?
Membership in the Order is prerequisited upon being a vegan and having at least a mild interest in the teachings and programs. Perfect Listeners live as many deeper principles as their responsibilities allow. Monastics are fully focused on implementing and studying all facets of the program. The Elect of the Elect concentrate on guiding the Order and insuring its purity and survival.

Is the Order Christian?
No, but the Order considers itself a continuation of the Teachings of Yeshu (Gnostic Jesus) and Miriam, the Nazorean Buddha-Messiahs, and sees itself as a restoration of original Christianity before its corruption.

What do you mean corruption?
We teach that original vegan Christianity was called Nazoreanism and that it flourished in rural Palestine until 135 AD when the Roman supported form of Pauline Christianity officially replaced it.

What is Pauline Christianity?
A departure from the original thrust of Nazorean Christianity, a mixture of  original gnostic teachings with Jewish superstitions and the prevalent Roman religions of the time.

Is all modern Christianity Pauline?
Inasmuch as it is an evolution of the original tampering of a once perfect system, yes!

If the system was so perfect, why was it tampered with?
Ingenious man is always figuring out a way to alter and make easier that which requires great effort and discipline. The original teachings were simply too difficult and too spiritual for the many new converts of Paul who sought to hold onto their Roman lifestyles and habits. Rather than adapt to their religion, they chose to adapte the religion itself. This process is ongoing and is reflected in various modern attempts to revamp and recast this Teaching in other forms.

Whas Paul then evil?
We see Paul as having a function in the overall scheme of things, but his school is not our school, nor are his teachings our teachings.

What do you mean?
Modern Christianity, based as it is primarily on Paul, teaches salvation via trust in the blood of Jesus. Nazoreans hope for full godhood achieved by becoming godlike. Godliness, in our teachings, can come only through much hard work, discipline and help from on high. Simple confession and belief is not enough to cause true character change.

Does the Order then address the evolution of character?
Most definitely, for its various levels of initiation, vows and disciplines are all designed to slowly evolve the lower nature and wed it to the higher nature.

What is the higher nature?
It is the Pearl of Great Price, the Nishimta soul, which lies dormant in the heart of all true sons and daughters of the Living Ones above.

How is it awakened?
Gradually, through constant exposure to enlightened writings, sanctifying rituals, and deep meditation and prayer.

Are these things fostered in the Order?
The Order exists to promote all practices and procedures which heighten understanding and lend themselves to the growth of Wisdom and Compassion. As in Buddhism, enlightenment is the goal, not blind faith.

Is the Order then Buddhist in orientation?
Our Apostle Mani fully embraced Buddhist like teachings and successfully harmonized them with traditional Nazorean Christian teachings. We seek to do the same.

Aren't the methods of Buddhism different than those of the Christian model?
Buddhism's emphasis on personal responsibility and enlightenment is only opposed to false Pauline Christianity which promises so much for so little.  Gnostic Christianity is easily merged with the teachings of all enlightened ones, including Buddha.

What place, then, does Buddha hold in the Order's teachings?
The Paraclete is the third member of the Nazorean  "Trinity", corresponding to the Holy Spirit in Pauline Christianity. Anciently, our Order taught that this Parclete incarnated as both Buddha and as our Apostle Mani. (We understand the Buddha to have been represented by the legend of Shenrab Miwo, not Sidhartha of India.)  One should be careful, however, and avoid interpretting the Teachings of the Order in a Christian framework. The Order is not Christian!

Incarnated twice?
Yes, for multiple incarnations are not only possible, but are required of those charged with guiding the spiritual destiny of humankind.

Can Christ incarnate again?
If and when He or She so chooses. Our scrolls mention multiple incarnations of both Yeshu and Mani. As the spiritual guardians of our Order, these teachers have the responsibility to return to help us whenever the need is great and the time is ripe.

Does the Order have any specific teaching on this?
The tone of the Order is ever expectant of incarnating Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Not specifically a "Christ", especially as understood by Christians, but anyone who comes in His and Her Name. No such claimant can rest on past laurels, however, but must spiritually prove themselves afresh in this new incarnation, for by their fruits they shall be known.

What do you mean by "anyone in Their name"?
The Order's understanding of the concept of "Christ"(i.e. Anointed One) is composed of both a  male and female element - Yeshu-Ziwa and Miriam-Nhura. Sometimes these incarnate together, as they did 2000 years ago, as Jesus the Nazorean and Mariam, and sometimes she incarnates separately or They send others in Their name, such as Mani. The Nazorean pantheon has 32 god and goddess Archetypes, most of which incarnate on earth when needed.

Does the Order teach the appearance of the anti-Christ and the end of the world?
Unlike mainstream Christianity, the Order focuses on internal rather than external happenings. Political figures and governmental upheavals are considered relatively unimportant since this earth is not considered the "footstool of God".

Doesn't the Bible teach these things?
The Christian Bible contains many preserved teachings of original Nazorean Christianity, but it also contains many falsehoods and many false interpretations exist of true passages therein. The Order looks to its own Canon of Scrolls for  formulation of its world view. These Scrolls speak of a great falling away and restoration, but not in the standard Christian sense. The Order absolutely rejects the Bible as authoritative or the revealed word of God!

So the Order rejects all global  end of the world scenarios?
Our Pistis Sophia, and other Manichaean  scrolls, speak of an eventual end to the world as we know it, but only after eons of time when all the elect have accomplished all they can accomplish here, Mars, and elsewhere and all the gatherable light is extracted. The "Last Days" idea is not supported.

What is to be accomplished specifically?
This material universe is seen as a school house for developing Pearls who have opportunity to use its darkness to refine their own light. By maturing in this world through service and spiritual practices, these developing pearls seek to advance ever closer to true deity hood.

And the ingathering of light?
This is done through unification of the mind which is helped along through certain practices which affect the physical as well as psychological makeup of humanity. Amongst these are alms offerings of wholesome food and the binding together of separate souls through ceremonial initiations and vows taken at holy altars.

How do alms offerings gather in light?
The Order teaches that the light essence of Yeshu and Miriam is diffused throughout all material creation but is extracted and concentrated in certain things such as fresh produce. By ritually consuming these reservoirs of light, one can consolidate them within ones own spiritual being, taking them back up to heaven when one dies.

Would not people and animals have more of this light concentrated in them than plants would?
Yes, but the light in animals is unharvestable, being too tightly locked into their individual souls. Their light goes with their escaping soul when they die, as it does in humans. The light in plants does not escape, however, but attaches itself to the souls of whoever eats them. This is an ancient Manichaean teaching.

So it is then impossible to collect the light locked in souls?
The light associated  with spiritual souls is in every way collectable, but this ingathering must come through eternally uniting these souls through perfect love and compassion. Through eternal vows that bind male and female together, their light may be jointly shared and returned on high.

But do we not die alone and thus need to regain heaven without a partner?
The more eternal aspects of reality are mind based. If you are one with another within the deeper stratas of your own soul-mind complex, then death cannot separate you. Likewise, if you abide alone and single in your own soul, then simultaneous death and ascension with a partner will accomplish very little. The unification of opposites, such as male and female, is an important key to understanding how light is transferred from this world to the next.

Does the Order then teach marriage as a way of salvation?
Marriage is one of the sacred sacraments of the Order and it is the unification of opposites, typified by the union of male and female, that is the sought after goal. Thus it is the eternal union of male and female elements iwthin the psyche, most perfectly illustrated  in the earthly marriage of Yeshu and Miryai, that lies at the heart of the Naziruthian system of enlightenment and purification. It does not discount true love between those of the same gender, however, but focuses on the symbolic male female union as an outer expression of the merger of anima and animus within.

Does the Order then understand Jesus and his female counterpart to be eternal mates?
They are the archetypal marriage couple above and the source of the inward impulse to unite, as explained by the Manichaean Myth of the advent of the Envoy and Maiden?

What Envoy and Maiden?
The ultimate source of love and attraction between male and female has traditionally been explained by our Order as a good thing implanted into humanity by wise Gods and Goddesses from the highest heavens. This was done by implanting subconscious archetypes in the subconscious mind of original humanity. This event occurred when Yeshu the Envoy, and Miryai as the Maiden, unveiled their beautiful form to the archons who first evolved humankind.

What is meant by the Archons that evolved humanity?
In the image filled understandings of our Order, the physical bodies of humanity were not created by a Good God, but rather, by more sinister forces working through the natural laws of evolution. The Good God subtly affected this process by implanting certain divine desires and archetypes into evolving humanity, thus paving the way for the souls eventual liberation from material confinement.

So the Order teaches that the body comes from dark forces, but archetypes from good ones?
There are both good and bad aspects to the body, and both good and evil archetypes to be wrestled with within. Through implementing the Orders' various programs the physical body can be purified somewhat and used a a tool for good, but ultimately must dissolve again into its material origins. The subconscious mind may also be used for much good, but must be purged of dark archetypes and drives typified by the demons in the Order's mythos.

Is the sex drive evil then, or good?
Depending on how it is used, for the qualifier is always the mind and heart. When used as a means to a good end, such as loving service and unification of sincere souls, the desire to unite is a healthy and good one originating on high. When the motivation is selfish and solely for sense gratification, then the sex drive becomes perverted and leads to division, not unification.

How does one tell if it is being used in a good or bad way?
If used in a loving and responsible way, the desire to unite is always a good thing. The goodness of how that desire is expressed depends on a variety of factors - the proper time and place, the proper person, and for the proper reason.  Intimacies inaugurated by holy vows at holy altars have the best chance of fulfilling this criteria. Improper unions, such as adulterous unions behind another's back, or of adults with children, can never be appropriate and always lead to greater selfishness and imprisonment in the material universe.

What of other material pleasures, such as a good meal or hot bath?
While in the body it is considered wise to tend to the needs of the body so that it can be a healthy vibrant tool useful in all spiritual work. Mortification of the flesh has its uses in training and tempering the expression of its desires, and so the Order promotes periods of fasting, celibacy, silence and other disciplines which help the pearl-spirit maintain its ascendancy over the flesh and the lower drives. These periods of abstinence are balanced with periods of regulated indulgence, such as feasts, marriage union, and other practices such as song and dance. The Order promotes the middle way, neither too much indulgence nor too much denial. The promise of transcendence comes through the subtle psychological  tension created by the balancing of certain opposites.

So the Order does not advocate severe asceticism?
The Order encourages periods of abstinence balanced with periods of regulated indulgence according to spiritual principles and the liturgical calendar. All matters are meant to be regulated by an evolved sense of  internal morals and ethics ultimately based on altruistic service to others.

What is the ultimate goal?
Full enlightenment and deification.

And what is the means to obtain such?
A careful adherence to all the laws and principles which pertain to the level one presently finds themselves on.

What are the laws and levels for the beginner?
Basic membership is founded upon an unwavering commitment  to a vegan diet and a relatively compassionate lifestyle with strong encouragement to keep all five pillars of the order - Alms offering, prostrational communion, weekly fasting, initiations and support of the Order's monastic program. Through these five foundational principles a pure ethical life in Yeshu and Miryai may be erected.

Peace to all . . .

More Questions on Nazoreanism

What is the the purpose of the Nazoreanism?
The primary objective of the Order of Nazorean Essenes is to make available the ancient system of Nazorean Enlightenment called "Nazirutha".

What does Nazirutha mean?
Nazirutha is a Mandaic, or Aramaic-Hebrew, term meaning Nazorean Gnosis.  Mandaic-Aramaic is an ancient middle eastern language once spoken by Yeshua, or Jesus, the Nazorean.

What is meant by "Nazorean gnosis"
Nazorean refers to the ancient people called the "Nazorayya". The term means "people of the Truth" or "those with secret knowledge". Gnosis is a Greek term which means personal acquaintance with the Truth.  Nazorean Gnosis is then a system of enlightenment fostered by the Nazorean people.

What is the nature of this "enlightenment"?
O:N:E: teaches that the ultimate goal is a perfect and first hand knowledge of the Highest God and Goddess, which we call Hiya, or Life. Only a perfectly purified and enlightened mind has the capability of understanding the eternal depth and breath of the Great Life, or Hidden Living Ones.

Does the Order teach that all its members have the potential for enlightenment, or just a few?
O:N:E: teaches that Uthrahood, or perfectly enlightened Buddhahood, is the eternal right of all souls who have descended down from the height to gain experience here in this darkened imperfect sphere.

How is this enlightenment achieved?
O:N:E: does not restrict the possibility of enlightenment  to only its own members or only to those members fully following its program. It does teach, however, that the Naziruthian system of enlightenment promoted by the Order is one of the faster and more sure means of achieving this goal.

What is this system of Nazirutha composed of?
The Naziruthian program of enlightenment is 32 fold and consists of 32 well defined and graduated steps of initiation and understanding. Since the ultimate goal is a deep comprehension of Deity, all steps focus on this goal thru attempting to deepen understanding of various aspects or facets of these Hidden Living Ones.

Why are they called Hidden Living Ones?
At the ancient Nazorean temple center on Mt Carmel, monastics were called the Devotees of Amin. Amin is a term which means both Faithful One and Hidden One. The Hidden Living Ones refers to the hidden nature of the highest Deities which is veiled from humanity until they achieve perfect enlightenment, or Uthrahood.

What does Uthrahood mean?
In our ancient scrolls the term Uthra is used to denote a semi divine being full of light and power. The term is similar to the Buddhist concept of Bodhisattva.

Is the goal, then, to become an Uthra?
Utrhahood is one stage of the 32 stepped ladder that leads to ultimate perfection.

Does the Order believe that one becomes equal with God when this ultimate perfection is acheived?
Yes, for it is taught that all the offspring of our Heavenly Parents of Life have the potential to mature into the very image of their progenitors.

Is it really possible for a human to become a God?
This is considered not only reasonable, but highly likely, if one carefully follows the plan of such Gods to enlighten Their offspring.

So will all Nazoreans become Gods?
All Nazoreans, and even all sentient beings, have the opportunity to become Gods, but only a small few will take full advantage of such a possibility.

What determines who will make it and who will not?
O:N:E: teaches that ones' eternal destiny is fully and completely in ones' own hands. God does not arbitrarily choose who will be exalted and who will not.

But some people seem more intelligent, more capable, and interested in  following a spiritual program.
O:N:E: teaches that all are ultimately equal in potential, but that some have earned greater awareness and compassion through the choices they made in the past.

How can talents and intelligence be the product of ones own choices when some seem born with such blessings, or the very least, born into circumstances that develop them?
The Order maintains, according to the Law of cause and affect,  that blessings in this life are determined upon good deeds in former lives. We reap what we sow, but sometimes not until we are born into another life.

If we keep being born life after life, what is the purpose of becoming enlightened? Why not just enjoy oneself?
Most do choose to enjoy themselves, to one degree or another. It is the teaching of the Order, however, that this world is not our real home and that as soon as we come to grips with this fact we can begin making preparations for our journey home.

Does the Order teach that all humans are not really of this world?
No, the ancient scrolls teach that some are from the heights of heaven and some are of the earth.

What is the difference between the two?
Those of the earth are earthly, materialistic and worldly. Those of the heights, which we call Pearls, are aliens here. They may try to fit in for a while, or even many lifetimes, but ultimately they hear the "Call" and begin their long journey homeward.

Why do you say "long journey".
Dependent on how deeply they have indulged in earthly allures, awakening Pearls must deal with the karmic repercussions of the law of cause and affect. Every action creates reverberations which each soul is responsible for.  Part of the process of redemption is undoing the negative ripples, or at the very least, overwhelming them with good deeds.

Won't God wipe away all negativity if one fully repents?
In Naziruthian law each soul must pay for its own sins, no matter how grave. The Buddha-Messiahs help us help ourselves by teaching us the divine principles that allow us to heal ourselves from our own deficiencies.

So for every evil act, either in this lifetime or the next, punishment is extracted?
Nazirutha does not teach that souls are punished by Deity, but that every action results in certain factors coming into play. By our thoughts, words and deeds our nature is modified and our destiny altered.

How is destiny modified?
By the sum total of our thoughts and actions, our nature is determined. When we reincarnate our horoscope reflects this. Its encoding creates for us a life filled with the experiences we need to overcome our personal weaknesses and vices.

So is one locked into suffering from ones karma throughout ones whole life, because of this horoscope?
No, for no matter what ones birth chart determines, there is always room to transcend all that is limiting. The Naziruthian system of enlightenment works with these factors and seeks to overcome the limitations of the birth chart.

How is this accomplished?
One of the first steps is the choosing of a new name, called a Malwasha, which is determined by the rising sign of ones birth chart. Around this name one can begin to build a new personality and destiny independent of ones birth chart.

How is this possible?
Nazoreans are eternal Pearls independent of their fleshy bodies. The horoscope only rules over the body, not the soul. The degree of its influence on the soul is determined by the extent the body is allowed to usurp dominion in ones life.

So is ones given name, the name of their body; and their Malwasha name - the name of their more eternal soul?
Exactly, and since the goal of Nazirutha is to overcome the influence of the body and accentuate the influence of the higher soul, the Malwasha name is meant to reflect this sought after goal and becomes the more important title.

How exactly is the one replaced by the other?
A personality, or cluster of personalities,  builds around ones birth name which is a reflection of ones enviroment, body and horoscope influences since birth. The new Malwasha name creates a fresh beginning and creates a focal point in the subconscious around which a new personality can begin to develop. The various Empowerments rites of the Nazorean system help develop and mature this new personality.

How is this done?
Through repeated rebirthings in the Naziruthian Watery Womb.  Each time one participates in the Maswetta  service, they are strengthening, or giving birth anew, to the existence of this tiny Malwasha seed. Other rituals correspond to its continual development. The third rite of bread and drink corresponds, for instance, to the breast fed new born who instinctually seeks to grow and mature into a more complete being.

So is Baptism, then,  the most important facet of Nazirutha?
It is only the first of 32 degrees of maturation. If a new born baby ceases  progressing immediately after its birth from the watery womb, it will never mature into a full adult. All the degrees of Nazirutha are equally important and have been bequeathed to us by Loving Heavenly Parents bent on maturing us into Their very Image.

So what is the most important facet of Nazirutha?
That we are Pearls cast down into a dark and hostile sea, that our true destiny is to return to the Parents of Life who originally bore us, and that we can return to Them  by following the Path of Our Returning, called Nazirutha!

Peace to all . . .

Hate has she gotten against the leather phylacteries and love for the wearing of wreaths of myrtle. - of Miryai, Secret Teachings

"The Nasaraeans - they were jews by nationality - originally from Gileaditis(Jordan), Bashanitis (Golan Heights) and the Transjordon (Jordan) . . .  They acknowledged Moses and believed that he had received laws - not this law, however, but some other. And so, they were jews who kept all the Jewish observances, but they would not offer sacrifice or eat meat.  They considered it unlawful to eat meat or make sacrifices with it. They claim that these Books are fictions, and that none of these customs were instituted by the fathers. This was the difference between the Nasaraeans and the others. . . (Epiphanius, Panarion 1:18)
..
Nasaraeans*, meaning, "rebels," who forbid all flesh-eating, and do not eat living things at all. They have the holy names of patriarchs which are in the Pentateuch, up through Moses and Joshua the son of Nun, and they believe in them - I mean Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the earliest ones, and Moses himself, and Aaron, and Joshua.  But they hold
that the scriptures of the Pentateuch were not written by Moses, and maintain that they have others. (Epiphanius, Panarion 1:19)
*Nasaraeans does not mean rebel, but Truth Keepers.
 


Order of Nazorean Essenes 2008 - All Rights Reserved

.