Continued from page 1
...aimed at using philosophy, especially
speculations of Plato, to serve
cause of
Church, and to answer
objections of pagan philosophers on their own grounds, {But it is well to remember Plato had to answer to religious bigots or face
same fate as Socrates. This made him couch his 'speculations' in ways that could be interpreted in favour of theologians or power-mongering and hateful priests.} demonstrating that true philosophy led
way to Christianity and not to Paganism. {They may also have co-opted
hermetic Gnostics by calling their scholars Hermeneuts at this time. It may have been through Aquinas too, I am not sure about
rip-off of
title but I am sure they became gifted at creating confusion.}
Early in
second century, then, a Christian School was established in Alexandria. At first it was a school for children only, located almost at
door of
Old Museum, from which
majority of Christians, owing to their ignorance of science, art, and philosophy, had hitherto been debarred. Out of this grew
famous Catechetical School. Its first director was Pantaeus, a converted Stoic, who was deposed and sent to India as a missionary in
year 191. He was followed by Clement of Alexandria, whose study of Greek and Egyptian philosophy had convinced him that truth could be found even in
heathen systems. But Clement's eclecticism met with no enthusiasm from his superiors, and in
year 203 he was deposed and replaced by his pupil Origen, who was only eighteen years old at
time.
Origen's work for Christianity commenced with a deep and profound study of
Hebrew Scriptures. Dissatisfied with
translations which were then extant, Origen determined to make his own translation. {So we have an eighteen year old 'Divinely Inspired' Scripture writer to join Jerome who was making
Vulgate for his Roman bosses who had replaced wiser men who would not do as requested.} He brought out what is known as
Hexapala, or six-fold edition of
Old Testament, in which he set forth, in separate columns,
various versions of
Scriptures, including his own. In addition to this, he brought out three Greek versions of
Psalms. Some notion of
magnitude of Origen's work (which occupied twenty-eight years of his life) is gained by an examination of some recently discovered manuscripts. One may be found in
Abrosian {Is this Ambrosian?} Library in Milan, and another in
collection of palimpsests discovered in Cairo. {Da Vinci's bicycle that shows time viewing is fastidiously avoided by academics.}
Origen's knowledge of
Jewish Scriptures convinced him that
orthodox Church was making a fatal mistake by denying
authenticity of certain documents. He openly rebuked
Church for rejecting
Book of Enoch, {Hurray!} which contained
history of
early races of mankind and completely destroyed
Jewish chronology. {Even more, it explains
nature of psychic things
soul of any man can do. Thus people would think less of their saintly magicians and prophets if they too understood.} He also called attention to
'esoteric' doctrines of Moses which
Church had failed to notice. {But
Masons call him their Master Mason because they know this important reality.} He discovered that Moses, in addition to
teachings of
Covenant, {The Ten Commandments were in
Egyptian Book of
Dead and
Tibetan one before that.} had communicated some very important secrets to
seventy elders, enjoining them to disclose these facts only to
worthy. {HMMM-mm!}
Origen's fearless attitude toward
accepted Scriptures of
Christians, as well as his openly-professed interest in Neoplatonism, aroused
wrath of
Patriarch of Alexandria. Origen was banished from
city in
year 232. But his thirty years of study had convinced him of
truth of Neoplatonism, and in
School which he subsequently founded in Caesarea, Origen openly taught
doctrines that he had learned from Ammonius Saccas.
Ammonius, who later became
teacher of both Clement and Origen, received his early education in
children's school which preceded
Catechetical School. He was born in Alexandria about
middle of
second century. His parents were very poor, and
boy was obliged to add his share to
family earnings by working as a porter on
docks located in
Egyptian, or Rhakotis portion of
city. There he saw ships from far-off lands, he heard queer dialects and met many strange people. Perhaps he gained his first acquaintance with
philosophies of
East from some Hindu sailor. The Song of Krishna is always on
lips of
son of Hindustan.
The parents of Ammonius were devout Christians, and Ammonius was sent to
Christian School, where he learned about
Christian Christ. He must have heard that Krishna, too, had been immaculately conceived, was persecuted by a wicked King, and had finally died upon a cross. Why were
stories of
two Christs so similar? Could it be possible that both were legends? If that was
case, there must be other legends of Christ in other lands. The priest told him there was only 'one' Christ. All
others were imposters. The priest told him to 'believe' but he wanted to 'know'. So he left
Christian School, and started out upon his journey of honest investigation.
When he grew older he attended some of
lectures in
pagan schools and eventually became acquainted with
basic ideas underlying all
great philosophies. {He would have been a couple of centuries too late to study with Cleopatra at
feet of a man real scholars think taught Jesus.} He pondered over
profound statements that he heard, and often in
night their meaning, it is said, was revealed to him in dreams and visions. In
course of time people began to speak of him as 'theodidaktos',
"god-taught". But Ammonius was a modest man, and called himself merely a 'Philalethian', or lover of truth. He started
Neoplatonic School in Alexandria in
year 193 A.D." (1)

Columnist in ES Press Magazine Author of Diverse Druids Guest Writer at World-Mysteries.com