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During the long wait for the coming of the Messiah (Christ) or Soshiant, who was actually the only point of their existance, different split-offs came into existance: different regarding their specialized tasks as well as their vieuws, and sometimes even (alas!) dogmatics. Still, of course, it was meant to be that the Essenes as such, would as it were "disappear" at the appearance of the Expected One, and would from then on be following and serving Him exclusively, even if he would change all that they had come to think was the right way. For of course the Essenes were there for the Messiah, and not the other way round! Looking at it this way, Jesus was of course not necessarily an Essene: the Essenes were just there in waiting for, in preparation of, Him! Also, the "Chosen People" were not "Chosen" just as a race (to be "superior" over all other races as it is sometimes said; a misconception that the Christ also came to take away) but the being chosen actually meant they were chosen for the Messiah to be born amongst them: for this a people was needed with such mental and physical characteristics, that it would be possible for the physical body of Him in its full purity and perfection, to be born from them, and for His Spirit to unfold there. That was what this people was "Chosen"for: for the Messiah to be born from them!
According to their own tradition, the Essenes have already been existing since the time of Enoch (just as the Brahmans of India say of themselves), whose teaching they represent. By the opportunity offered by Moses to form a New People, as originally meant in this Teaching, (N.B.: "racially"speaking, this "People"was NOT only formed of "pure Hebrews"; amongst them were also many Egyptians of other heritage) they went to the "Promised Land" to go and live in accordance with the Law there. When however Moses received the original stone slabs with the Communions with the Angels engraved onto them, (N.B.: this was on the same mountain, where he was taught for many years, "in the desert", by his Father-in-Law Jethro, priest in the Order of Melchizedek) a great part of the New Israëlites proved they were not yet ready for this evoluted way of life. Because they still went to "worship a Golden Calf", instead of the Communions they received a new set of slabs, with on them the Ten Commandments, that had already been in existance long before, and can be founfd back litterally, as just a tiny part of the, much older, Laws of Hammurabi that were written down by one of the Zarathustra's (Zarathustra, like "Buddha" not being a personal name; the one we mostly talk about was called Zarathustra Spitama). If you want to see the proof of this for yourself: a "Stele" on which all this is engraved and depicted, can be seen in the Musee National of Paris.
In the cause of time several groups split off from the mainstream of ther Essenes, and started to deviate from the Teaching (as was the case with the Osseans, who founded the Qúm Ran Monastery, and the Maneans, who even rejected Jesus)
THE THERAPEUTAE
First of all, there were the "Therapeutae" in Egypt: Essenes who lived in Alexandria, at Lake Mareotis. They were specialized in healing, and it was to them, in Egypt, that Maria and Joseph fled with the infant Jesus, as it is told to escape from the murder of the children, but also so Jesus could receive tuition over there.
THE NAZAREANS
At Mount Kharmel, in the Northern part, the area of the Kingdom of Israël (Jerusalem was situated way down south, in the Kingdom of Juda), the essenes were living who belonged to the School of the Profets; they called themselves the B'ni-Amen (Suns of God). They were not living in celibate, woman were seen as equal to men and many of the things that applied to the Osseans of Q'un Ran, did NOT apply to them. It was from them, in the Kingdom of Israel, that Jesus came forth, although he was actually born (by what would nowadays be called an "Accidental Birth", the place of birth being different from tre place of residence of the parents) in the southern Kingdom of Juda (Beth-Lehem, where his mother possessed some land she inherited from her parents, that had to be registered according to Roman Law; in no archive at all can a registration of the inhabitants be found during that period, but a registration of immobilities can so). This was the mainstream of the Essenes in the Holy Land, the Elders and Teachers of which were living in nature: in tents and caves, near the Cave of Elijah, which is still in Mount Kharmel.
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Altar in the Cave of Elijah, Mount Kharmel
Of old, (since Eljah actually) this was customary to the original Israël (before the split-up into the two Kingdoms: Israël - the North, and Judah - the South).
THE OSSEANS
About 200 B.C. a group of dogmatic Essenes (calling themselves Beni-Zadok) split off from the mainstream. For some time they had held hopes of returning to the Temple in Jerusalem, to take over the Temple-Services, and even to start doing the blood-sactifices, like the priests in the order of Aaron did (Essenes are of the order of Melchizedek, also read about this in Hebrews 7). They specialized in gathering and multiplying the Scriptures. For this purpose they were living in the caves where, amongst others, also the discarded scrolls (that had become illegible or fragile), that were regarded to be holy, were laid to rest, just like the remains of a deceased person would be, in "ossuaria" (Tall earthenware pots, in which the bones of the deceased were placed; they looked just like the pots the scrolls were put in), or in nearby tents, so the scrolls could be guarded too. From the fundations dug out of the convent at Qúm Ran can be seen that they contained no sleping quarters, only scriptoria (rooms to read and write in) and bathing-rooms for ritual cleansing! Also, this group of Essenes (older men often) knew much stricter rules, that rather remind of the strict rules that are not unusual amongst very strict Bahman orders. They did also use scrolls made out of animal material, whereas the Nazareans only would use papyrus (for this, no bloodshed has to take place). But the Osseans of course were deviating from the Teaching... Alas, it is always with these Essenes, that Jesus is compared, just to conclude, that is is obvious, he could not have been an Essene (this is of course only partially true, indeed he could not have been an Ossean, from Q'um Ran) while between Jesus and the nazarenes, obviously there are only similarities...
THE MANDEANS
Furthermore, there were the Mandeans, the last group of Essenes but one to come into existance, who were formed after the baptism of Jesus by John, in the Jordan (under the rule of the Mischna, of which authentic copies from the time of Jesus were found the river Jordan was considered unclean, so it would of course be very clear you were not a Pharisee or Saddusee if you took part in activities like that... In the same Mischna it is stated that it was considered unclean, and forbidden, to hold poultry in Jerusalem, unlike of course a "pagan" place like Rome. This makes the alledged crowing of a cock there very suspicious, certainly even three times...This could only point at the nearby Essene suburban quarter, on the outskirt, by the Essene Gate). Because Jesus did not like any complicated rituals and "initiations", but taught all kind of things to people who wanted to know them, a fraction of the Essenes at that time turned away from Jesus, considering him to be a traitor, giving away all the secrets just like that ("pearls before the swines"), and called themselves followers of John (who of course, slighty later was beheaded and could not protest against this any more). Mind you: those Mandaeans are still existing in our time, in spite of heavy persecution in all the countries in the Near East where they have lived since then. Refugee Mandeans are living in many countries around the world, have kept all of their secret scriptures and traditions and even have websites on the Internet, where one can find out more about their identity and ideas.
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Mandeans baptizing in the river near Tiel, in Holland
THEY ARE LIVING PROOF OF THE FACT THAT JESUS DID EXIST, THAT HE WAS BORN AMONGST THE ESSENES AS THEIR EXPECTED MASTER AND MESSIAH, AS IT WAS PROPHESIED AND WRITTEN!!! But: alas,they turned away from him, after the baptism. Still it is remarkable, how after the resurrection following the torture and crucifixion, many of the Mandaeans still were converted to followers of the Christ, and this in fact for a reason, opposite to why the "pharisee"and "Sadducee" Jews did not believe Jesus was the Christ. The latter did not believe that Jesus, if he really was the Messiah, could have been crucified (a crucified God is an impossibility), just as the Muslims can never believe that "the" (only) Sun of God could ever be crucified: they consider the very idea a blasphemy! The Mandeans though, as inhabitants of the southern kingdom of Judea, just like the Osseans of Q'um Ran, that it was their Master, who had founded the order, who was tortured and put to death before and would return as the Promised One. Because Jesus too died a painful death, many Mandeans got convinced he still was the promised Teacher of Righteousness. This would explain the otherwise mysteriously rapid spreading of the belief in Jesus after the crucifixion (About this, also read p.52/53 of "Goodbye to Christianity" by Gustav Wyneken
