How different the western world would be now if the vegetarianism, the daily meditation, and the transformation of consciousness practiced by the earliest Christians had survived later modifications to Jesus teachings to make them more acceptable to a meat-eating pagan world. Im currently compiling historical references that trace an unbroken line of vegetarianism from the Buddhist influenced forerunners of Christianity, the monastic, contemplative Therapeutae (Thera Putta in Pali meaning Sons of the Elders or monks) near Alexandria, Egypt circa 250 BC, to their affiliates the Essenes (The Poor) in Israel, to the first century Jewish Christian Ebionites (also The Poor), through the Desert Fathers and other early church fathers up until the fourth century when the Pauline version of Christianity become the state religion of the Roman Empire and used that power to stamp out the practice of vegetarianism along with other heresies. Examples of pre-Roman Catholic vegetarianism extolled by early church fathers: It is far better to be happy than to have your bodies act as graveyards for animals. The unnatural eating of flesh meats is as polluting as the heathen worship of devils, with its sacrifices and its impure feasts, through participation in it a man becomes a fellow eater with devils. Clement of Alexandria (150 - 220 AD) The apostles embraced and persevered in a strenuous and a laborious life, with fasting and abstinence from wine and meat Eusebius (265 - 340 AD) In two separate manuscripts of the Old Syriac Gospels discovered in the 19th century and dating back to the second century, Jesus is quoted as saying: “Now beware in yourselves that your hearts do not become heavy with the eating of flesh and with the intoxication of wine and with the anxiety of the world, and that day come up upon you suddenly; for as a snare it will come upon all them that sit on the surface of the earth.” Luke 21:34 In later post Roman Catholic translations the eating of flesh is replaced by dissipation or surfeiting. There are other pre-Roman Catholic references to the Gospels that point to later alterations that made eating meat acceptable. For example, in separate references to the miracle of the loaves and fishes by early church fathers there is no mention of fish, only bread. Apostles specifically mentioned by name as being vegetarian were Peter, John, and Matthew. Also James the Just, the brother of Jesus, who succeeded him as the leader of the first Christians was described by St. Augustine (354 - 430) as follows: “James, the brother of the Lord, lived from seeds and plants and touched neither meat nor wine.” If it turns out that Jesus of Nazareth and his original followers were in fact vegetarians and taught vegetarianism as an integral part of the consciousness of compassion, what influence would that have on our modern world? Are we so hard-hearted that we could ignore even that? The following short video by Paul McCartney clearly demonstrates the enormous damage that the eating of flesh does not only to the poor animals but to our very souls if we participate in it. https://youtube/watch?annotation_id=annotation_576769069&feature=iv&src_vid=XPTniEYdetY&v=ql8xkSYvwJs&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutube%2Fwatch%3Fannotation_id%3Dannotation_576769069%26feature%3Div%26src_vid%3DXPTniEYdetY%26v%3Dql8xkSYvwJs&has_verified=1
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 15:30:05 +0000
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