AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS

THE THEORY OF HIS MARRIAGE HAS NO BASIS

As one interested in the life of Jesus, I read with curiosity, the news of a book on Jesus' so called marriage to Mary Magdalene. The book,the news said, will be called, The Lost Gospel: Decoding Ancient Text that Reveal Jesus' Marriage to Mary the Magdalene. It was authored by media producer Simcha Jacobovici with a professor, Barrie Wilson. Simcha was known to be a peddler of misguiding theories, earlier trying to promote an ossuary as containing the bone of Jesus' brother,  James, by developing a documentary that claimed to unveil the Jesus' family tomb, and by claiming to have uncovered the nails used in Jesus' crucifixion. All proved to be hoaxes. The astounding 'revelation'  in the book is, Mary Magdalene was the same as Virgin Mary. Now the New Testament scholar Grey Carey has assessedthat the Lost Gospel is neither lost nor a gospel. It is an ancient Jewish novel, Joseph and Aseneth, a simple novel, ands so, there is nothing to decode.

The Crucifixion by Giotto (C.1320).First image of Jesus

Even the theory of his marriage is not new. It is there in the Gospel of Philip, which is part of the Nag Hammadi texts. Nag Hammadi is a city, in Upper Egypt,on the west bank of the Nile,where a collection of 12 leather bound papyrus texts were found in 1945, which form the Gnostic gospels. If we piece together the life of Jesus in India, it will become evident that he belonged to a sect,which led a yogic life,abhorring the life with women. Jesus Lived in India, by Holger Kersten, is an important book, but no mention is made in it about an important text, The Crucifixion by an Eyewitness, along with some other books.

The Crucifixion, an old parchment, was found while excavating an ancient house, in the antique city of Aquila in Naples, in 1810 by Commissioners of Arts of the French Army. The house which was owned by the Essenees earlier was later occupied by  Grecian friars. This document was published in German in 1873, and a copy found its way to a Freemason in Massachusetts, and got published in English in 1907. A copy was brought to India by Swami Abhedananda from the US in 1921. Abhedananda was a contemporary of Vivekananda in the same Mission-a far superior genius in Phiosophy than Vivekananda. The latter always kept the other at a distance. I have read the 1o volumes of Collected Works of Vivekananda, but has read only three volumes of the total 24 of Abhedananda. I found these first at the home of Perumbadavam Sreedharan, the writer, at Thamalam, Thiruvananthapuram, and bought them from Kolkata, later.

Nag Hammadi Scrolls

The Crucifixion was written by an Esseneer, member of the Essenees monks sect, of which Jesus was a member, to a friend in Alexandria, just 7 years after the execution. The document contains the death warrant of Jesus, prepared by the Governor of lower Galilee, Pontius Pilate. It orders the first Centurion, Quilius Cornelius to lead Jesus to the place of execution. The witnesses who signed condemnation of Jesus are four: Daniel Robani, Joannes Robani, Raphael Robani, all Pharisees, and Capet, a citizen. The warrant says, Jesus shall go out of the city, by the gate of Struenus.

To me, all this is amazing, and confusing, too. The authenticity of this document has been questioned on the grounds that the original is claimed to be in Latin, and it was found as parchment. Latin is not a probability and ancient documents were in papyrus. The writer has used the four gospels, and the exclusion of super natural in the text is modern.

The Crucifixion affirms Jesus didn't die on the cross. He was restored to life through tender and careful nursing of the influential Joseph of Arimathea, and the Physician Nicodemus. Jesus fell into a death like trance and as Esseer brothers were conversant with the medical sciences interfered. The Crucifixion is silent on what happened to Jesus after he was rescued. It is assumed that the silence was because of the instruction of the Order. The later life of Jesus was claimed to have found recorded in the Hemis Gompa monastery in Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, in 1887 by the Russian traveler Nicholas Aleksandrovich Notovich.

It is the biggest Himalayan Monastery, 45 kilometers from Leh, situated at a height of 12000 feet. Notovich, the Belarusian Jew, claimed to have browsed through 84000 scrolls of manuscripts, on the life of Isa and wrote, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ. Max Muller exposed his claims by writing to the Monastery. In 1899, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed wrote Jesus in India refuting the claim Jesus was in India, before Crucifixion. But Swami Abhedananda, in 1922, went to the same monastery, found the scrolls, and wrote in Bengali, Kashmere-o-Tibbate. This is also not mentioned in Kresten's book. Abhedananda's claim was questioned by Richard Hooper in 2012. In 1975, Susanta Kumar Chattopadhyay went to Hemis to make a documentary, and wrote an article in 1978. He has not recorded, seeing the scrolls.

Notovich

The group which claims Jesus was in India argue that Jesus, after crucifixion, escaped to Kashmir traveling from Tibet, visited Benares, Gaya, died in Kashmir, and was buried at Roza Bal in Khaniyar. Viceroy Lord Irwin visited it in 1930. Two books, Jesus died in Kashmir by Andreas Faber-Kaiser and Did Christ Live and Die in Kashmir? by Iqbal Kaul, find no mention in Kresten's book. Academics who do research have a tendency not to reveal the names of the primary books they used in Bibliography, while even mentioning the pedestrian- I don't know whether this is the case with Kresten. He has been accused of re-packaging old claims, by some scholars.

Jesus was not a well known person during his time. Philo the Alexandrian historian, who died about CE 50, didn't know him. Flavius Josephus the historian, who wrote Jewish Antiquity, born in CE 37, mentioned Jesus' execution, in just a few lines, without referring the Christians. Jesus was born in Nazareth, a small town of Galilee, about the Roman year 750. The name Jesus was an alteration of the popular name Joshua. Around CE 28 (1st year of the reign of Tiberius), the reputation of Johanes or John the Baptist spread in Palestine. Born in Juttah, on the Eastern shore of the Dead Sea near Hebron, he looked like a Yogi, clothed in Camel's hair, eating locusts and drinking wild honey. He was Jesus' Guru, in the Essenees Sect, the abode of which was near John's birth place, on the Western shore of the Dead Sea. King Herod, who was troubled by the birth of Jesus, belonged to the Sadducee sect, nopposed to the sect of Jesus. After his death, the artisan parents of Jesus escaped from Egypt to Galilee. The Evangelist Luke mentions the decree of taxation, as reason for their escape to Nazreth-the taxation, historically, happened only later. Luke says the taxation was decreed by Caesar Augustus, when Cyrenius was the Governor of Syria,during King Herod's reign. But Cyrenius was appointed to this Office, long after the death of Herod.

Hemis Monastery

The Gospel of Mathew and Luke  is silent on Jesus' childhood, except the mention of his visit to the Temple,with his parents, to take part in Passover, at age 12. It was the age in which Jews were capable of participating in sacred rites. When the parents went home, he was missing. They found him in the Temple on the third day, arguing with the scholars. Three women always accompanied him: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, wife of Chuza, one of the stewards of Antipas and Susanna. For 18 months, he avoided going to the Temple or Jerusalem. At the Feast of Tabernacles of CE 32, his relatives pressed him and he went almost alone, far away from the Caravan. The feast, established by Judas Maccabeas, in memory of purification of the Temple, after sacrileges of Antochius Epiphanes, usually fell at the autumnal equinox. It was also called the Fealty of Lights because, lamps were lighted in houses for eight days of the feast. A Dipavali. It was his farewell to Galilee, an area inhabited by Essenees and so despised by the opposite faction of Pharisees. From there, he went to Peren and to the banks of the Jordan river.

The next day, Sunday March 29, he descended from Bethany to Jerusalem. His enemies decided not to catch him on Friday, the beginning of Passover, fearing an outbreak, on his arrest. He won't be arrested at the Temple too. So, it was decided to arrest him on Thursday, 02, April. Judas of Kerioth sought him everywhere.The Passover was to commence next day evening, with eating the Paschal lamb-for the next seven days, only unleavened bread was eaten. So,his last meal was not the ritual feast of Passover, as the Church wants us to believe. It is owing to the error of a day in reckoning. Though the first three Gospels say Judas betrayed him for money offered by the Pharisee priests, the fourth says that on the occasion of the meal in Bethany, Judas was indignant at the anointing as an unnecessary extravaganza,that he carried the purse and acted the thief in that Office. It was nightfall when they left the room. They passed through the valley of Kedron, and Judas kissed him, the identification sign to the enemy camp. Peter drew his sword and wounded the ear of Malachus.nThe rest is history.

Foot prints of Jesus/Roza Bal tomb

Jesus was brought to the Judgement Hall, adjoining the Tower of Antonia, next morning. He was whipped, but the Jewish law prohibited more than 40 lashes. Crucifixion was  not Jewish in origin. First known practice of it was by Persians, Alexander and his Generals brought it to the Mediterranean world, Egypt and Carthage. The Romans learned it from Carthaginians. It was reserved for slaves, inferior people. Hence Jesus was crucified along with two thieves. Otherwise, it was death by sword.

The place of execution, Golgotha has not been identified so far. The word means skull, so a place like a bald skull. It has to be somewhere between Kedron and Honnom valleys, north or north west of Jerusalem. It happened around 3'0 clock in the after noon. The first two gospels d0 not mention any of the 12 disciples were present. Several Galilean women were there. Among them three Marys: Magdalene, his mother, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Mark). The wonderful movie, The Gospel According to St Mathew (1964), by Pasolini, comes to my mind. His own mother donned the role of the mother of Jesus!

I was retelling the story of Jesus so far, to reach this moment, but the Fourth Gospel says two men performed the Office of the Embalming, winding it in linen clothes. The women provided spices and ointments. Both Mathew and Luke say the Body was taken safely by disciples to a secret hilly place,for embalming. So, Jesus didn't die on the Cross; it is there in The Bible itself. Do you apply ointments to a dead body?

Pilate

The term resurrection is symbolic. I have no intention to philosophize.

Jewish custom doesn't allow the crucified to hang on the Cross over night. In the letter of the Esseer in The Crucifixion, emphasis is given to Jesus' wound on the side. Nicodemus the Physician knew Jesus was not dead because if Jesus had died, the wound would not have bled for such a long time. Nicodemus sent Joseph of Arimathea, the influential, to Pilate, and he himself went to collect proper drugs,pretending he wanted to embalm the body.

The Eye Witness letter speaks about the wound above the hip. So, this wound was lower down than what is generally believed. No vital organs were damaged. The spear pierced only the skin. His feet was not pierced, as it was not the custom at crucifixions. The earth quake that happened then electrified Jesus' nerves. I want to underline the information that Joseph was sent to Pilate. For What? Of Course to facilitate the rescue operation.

During the life of Jesus, the Tau Cross, in the shape of, 'T', was used. We think Jesus carried the entire cross, seeing the myriad paintings. It was not so.The victim carried only the Platibulum or the cross arm, weighing about 110 pounds or 50 kilograms, to the place of execution. The Stipes, or upright post was permanently fixed there, and the Platibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the Stipes.

The victim was never nailed on the palms, the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrist, radial and Ulna. Luke the physician in his gospel, says that at Gethsemane, Jesus' sweat became drops of blood. In modern medicine, this is called Hematidrosis. Under emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can burst.

The crucifixion usually ended with crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs, which prevented the victim from pushing himself upward. The legs of the thieves were broken, but Jesus was spared, thus giving him a chance to survive. The line in the gospel of John, And immediately there came out blood and water, specifies Jesus didn't suffer suffocation.

Abhedananda

The bodily ascension of Jesus to heaven, in Mark and Luke is disproved by Paul's first letter to the Corinthians(15:5:50): Now this I say, Brethren,that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God,neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

The two disciples present, Mathew and John, doesn't mention, ascension. Bodily ascension is there in several Indian texts: for instance, Sundara Murthy Nayanar ascended to heaven from Thiruvanchikulam temple in Kerala.

Resurrection is an absurd theory propagated by the Church. It belittles sacrifice. If there is resurrection, there is no sacrifice through death. If Jesus resurrected, he fails in comparison with the sacrifice of Prometheus, who stole fire for the entire humanity from Olympus. Zeus chained him to a rock, so that vultures could eat his liver. Prometheus would have definitely failed to impress the world, if he had popped back to life, by resurrection. No sacrifice is compensated by resurrection. There is no martyrdom by resurrection. A martyr resurrects only in the minds of the humanity. It is better to think Jesus didn't resurrect, but he survived.

The eye witness account has a description of Jesus, in the form of a letter by Publius Lentulus, Governor of Judea, predecessor of Pilate: Jesus was noble,beautiful. His hair color was of ripe chest nut, shoulders was color of earth. Hair parted in the middle of fore head. Beard was thick, not long, but divided in the middle. He had the look of terror in grave eyes. When he refused to reprove,he terrified, when he admonished, he wept. He conversed seldom. In learning he was the object of wonder. He knew all science. He wore sandals. Went bear headed.

Josephus

This description tallies with the oldest portrait of Jesus, found on a tomb in the Catacombs, Rome. It also resembles the portrait of Jesus drawn by Giotto, the first by an artistm who lived during 1266-1337.

From the account, it is evident that Jesus was an Essenee together with John the Baptist. John used to be a Yogi in India.He practiced baptism,before he appeared in Galilee, according to Dr S Radhakrishnan. The Pharisees and Sadducees were popular at that time. Essenees was a small sect.

Why was Jesus crucified? It was a political act. There were no political ideologies then other than the politics of religion. He was punished because he vehemently preached Esseenism, against the religion of the pharisees and Sadducees. Sadducees were Epicureans, whereas, Pharisees were stoics. Jesus chided both: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Mathew 16).

In chapter 23,Jesus cries four times,woe unto them. He says: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye make clear the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

He considered the Pharisees the most vicious, cunning and dangerous of all Jews. While the Pharisees were full of hypocrisy and egotism, Sadducees denied the immortality of the soul and life afterwards. When the Pharisees and Sadducees went to John the Baptist at Salem, on the bank of the Jordan river, to be baptized, he refused by saying, O, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore, fruits for repentance (Mathew, Chapter 3,7:8).

Philo

King Herod, a Sadducee, was rebuked by John on several times, for Herodias, his brother, Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison (Luke, Chapter 3,19:25). Finally, John was beheaded.

One Jesus Ben-Pandera was stoned to death and hanged on a tree for blasphemy, according to Talamud, on the eve of a Passover, in the year of Jannaeus (BCE 106-79). He is considered the founder of Essenees. Flavius Josephus the historian, who lived both before and after the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus, has described elaborately Esseenism, as he himself had under gone three years trial of the Order. They were vegetarians, lived distanced from the masses and women. 

The places where the Essenees lived within Palestine, at the time of John and Jesus, were: Nazreth, the valley of Achor near Bethabara, the area around Castle Masseda, the desert at Ephraim, the Mountain at Igutha near Hebron, Bethania near Jerusalem, the valley at Thabor, the town surrounding Macheraus, where John was afterwards captive and beheaded at the command of Herod. Philo, Alexandrian Neo platonist, contemporary of Jesus, says that the Essenees numbered 4000.

If you have under stood the politics, the inference is simple: if there is a Gospel which says Jesus was married, it should be the handiwork of an enemy.

'

I am not sure whether the theory, Essenee evolved from Ishana, Siva, is just a figment of imagination. Christians in Kerala use the word, Nathan repeatedly, referring to Jesus. Natha, according to Swami Prajnanananda, is also Siva. Philo had written in his letter to Hephaerstion, Macedonian nobleman and a General in Alexander's Army: This is India, is called Yoga.

Reference:

1.Jesus Lived in India/Holger Kresten

2.Christ the Saviour and Christ Myth/Swami Prajnanananda

3.The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ/Nicholas Notovich

4.The Crescent and the Cross/Eliot Warburton

5.The Life of Jesus/Dr David Friedrich Strauss

6.Did Christ Live and Die in Kashmir?/Iqbal Kaul

7.Jesus Died in Kashmir/Andreas Faber -Kaiser

8.The Crucifixion

9.Eastern Philosophy and Western Thought/Dr S Radhakrishnan

10.Christianity and Mythology/J M Robertson 
11.Jesus,Buddha,Krishna and Lao Tzu/Richard Hooper 
12.A Physician's view of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ/Dr C Truman Davis

See my Post,RAYMUNDO PANIKKAR HAD HIS ROOTS IN KERALA