1. The Nag Hammadi documents name James the Brother of Jesus
as the Heir to Jesus' authority.

2. James is well documented as a vegetarian, even a vegan,
in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History.

3. Matthew is described as eating no flesh in "The Pedagogue" (The Teacher)
by Clement of Alexandria.

4. Peter is described as vegetarian in the Clementine literature.

5. The Panarion by Epiphanius says the Ebionite Gospel portrayed John the Baptist,  Jesus and his disciples as eating no flesh and condemning the Pentateuch's sanction of animal sacrifices as false scriptures.

6. Roman histories confirm that the earliest Christians rejected animal sacrifices.

7. The "Gospel of Philip" in the Nag Hammadi documents states directly that "this world eats corpses" and that Jesus did not.

    The discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in 1947 and the scriptures found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt at about the same time resulted in a number of publications regarding them both. but except for the studies and publications by Edmund Bordeaux Sziekley on the Essenes in which vegetarianism, and, apparently, lacto-vegetarianism are promoted--works which are summarily ignored by the orthodox--I have not found any orthodox scholars of the Dead Sea Scrolls who are conversant with the Hindu/Jain origins of Judaism.   And only Robert Eisenman's work such as in James the Brother of Jesus and that of Hugh Schonfield in The Jesus Party and Those Incredible Christians, both of which are quite witty and intentionally sarcastic titles, that affirmed the validity of vegetarianism as the diet of the earliest Christians. Schonfield in The Essene Odyssey shows how the vegetarian Nazarenes and Essenes were denounced by the growing Pauline Christian orthodoxy. Abegg Wise and Cook, in their edition of the Scrolls also affirm that vegetarianism was the diet of the earliest Christians.

    The "Gospel of Thomas" in the Nag Hammadi documents names James the brother of Jesus as the heir to Jesus' authority, and James was recognized as a vegetarian, even a vegan, in Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History.  Matthew is described as vegetarian by Clement of Alexandria in his work "The Pedagogue," ("The Teacher"). Peter is described as vegetarian and as denouncing the animals sacrifices in the Clementine literature.  And the "Ebionite Gospel" as discussed by Epiphanius in his Panarion portrays Jesus and his disciples as vegetarians stating that the Pentateuch was rewritten in order to sanction animal sacrifices.

   The Panarion also states that the original followers of Jesus are described as Nazarenes and Jessenes or Ossaenes, both of which refer to the Essenes.  Both Essenes and Nazarenes were vegetarians, and it is known by most people who have had a Christian education, as I have, having gone to a Catholic grade school, and the Jesuit University of Detroit for three years, that the Nazarenes are, or at least were, seldom mentioned, and vegetarianism was a taboo subject, for the scriptures say that Jesus said "all foods are clean," and that was that.  To bring up the possibility that Jesus was an Essene or Nazarene, or was strongly influenced by them, is to open a Pandora's Box holding numerous facts that show Christian orthodoxy is false.

     So vegetarianism, and vegetarian groups such as the Nazarenes and Essenes went unmentioned by orthodox scholars precisely because such knowledge contradicts the doctrines of  the carnivorous orthodoxies of Judaism and Christianity.  Islamic scholars clearly understood that the original message of Jesus and his disciples was overthrown by Paul, and I have no doubt that vegetarian Shiite Muslim scholars have studies regarding the origins of Islam that are parallel to the one you are now reading regarding early Christianity.   The Muslim majority comprise the Sunni sect who have values essentially the same--regarding women, homosexuals, slavery, and animal sacrifices--as the Christian orthodoxy and Jewish orthodoxy, except that they regard Muhammad as the last of the prophets.  Other pages of this study deal with the vegetarian origins of Islam.

    The point made in this study is this: these vegetarians, the Essenes and Nazarenes and Jesus and the Ebionites, all regarded themselves as the pure remnant of Judaism.  And one of the great ironies of so-called religious scholarship is this: though the vegetarian covenant of Genesis 1: 29-30 stares the orthodoxies of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the face, none of these orthodoxies wish to acknowledge the possibility that a renunciate and vegetarian tradition could have existed from the earliest days of Judaism.
 

    Glenn Kittler summarizes the attitude of many by quoting John Allegro's article in Harper's Magazine: "The very scholars who should be most capable of working on the documents and interpreting them have displayed a not altogether surprising, but nonetheless curious, reluctance to go to the heart of their matter.  The scholars appear to have held back from making discoveries which, there is evidence to believe, may upset a great many basic teachings of the Christian church.  This in turn would greatly upset many Christian theologians and believers.  The heart of the matter is, in fact, the source and originality of Christian doctrine." [Aug. 66]
 

      Kittler no doubt understood that if Allegro did not specify the specific orthodox doctrines that are challenged by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Allegro nonetheless understood that the orthodox Christian churches especially would deny that the values of the Essenes were the the values of the earliest Christians.  [Allegro's study, The Magic Mushroom and the Cross, though scorned by the Christian orthodoxy, should none the less be read by all those who understand that orthodox Christian scholars are more apt at putting up smokescreens, than they are at revealing the truth about Christian origins.]  The Roman Catholic Epiphanius of Salamis in the fourth century in his Panarion would however make just such a startling assertion, namely, that the earliest followers of Jesus were called Jessenes (Essenes) and Nazarenes, we know that these groups were vegetarian. Never heard of the Panarion?  The Christian orthodoxy is not about to saw off the very slim limb it is tottering on, and that is what would occur if students of Christianity were to study the documents of early Christianity.  They would realize that they have been bamboozled by the orthodoxy.  Most sincere students of Christianity have such a realization already, because of the fact that the New Testament, which is supposedly divinely inspired, promotes  sexism, slavery, elitist class structures, bigotry towards homosexuals, and the disease-promoting diet of carnivorism.
 

   The Essenes in the Dead Sea Scrolls in a word on medicine credit the wise men of India.  And they also trace their lineage back to Noah's son Shem, thus affirming what Pliny the Elder stated of the Essenes, that they had lived "for thousands of ages," meaning, we may infer, thousands of years, a claim predictably denied by the carnivorous orthodoxies of Judaism and Christianity.  One may not see the above facts as related, but they are.  Shem was probably named after Sambu, a name given to Shiva, which became the root of Samuel. [Samuel = a contraction of Sambu-El].  Shem alone of Noah's sons is described as having an immense longevity, which Pliny and Philo both describe as characteristic of the Essenes, who had centenarians commonly living among them, living on a diet free of animal sacrifices.
 

    Noah's name, which means comforter in Hebrew, and comforter may be seen as an attribute of divinity, is related to Nu in Sanskrit, which means spirit.  Vish means pervasive, and thus we see the logic in the name of Vishnu, the pervasive Spirit.  The deity Vishnu is regarded as a sea serpent incarnation of Krishna, and is related to the primal serpent that we see in the pantheon of Egypt.   Noah is the Manu of the Jews. Manu to the Hindus is the survivor of the deluge.  His name may be seen as a combination of Ma(ha) and Nu. Nu refers to the divine spirit in Sanskrit  (and is the root of noumena and phenomena). Ma means great or mighty.  The name Manu is not seen in the literature of Judaism or Christianity except in the name of Immanuel, which may be seen as a three-part compound name:

   The name Immanuel, Im-manu-el, in Isaias is a reference to Manu, the lawgiver. Im means with; Manu is the lawgiver; and El means God. So too was Noah a lawgiver in the Torah but his laws convey values that are the opposite of those conveyed in the majority of laws in the Hindu Laws of Manu, which, to the reader in comparative religions, may be seen as a kind of inverted Torah.  Whereas a majority of scriptures in the Torah sanction animal sacrifices, and a lesser number condemn them, in the Laws of Manu it is different: the vast majority of scriptures condemn animal sacrifices and the ill-treatment of animals, and for that matter, the bad treatment even of plants, and a few scriptures, no doubt revisions, sanction animal sacrifices.
 

    The most compassionate Noah, the Noah who is more compassionate than the Noah of the Torah and the Manu of the Hindus, is the Noah in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch.  This Book of Enoch is a record of the Jews before the Deluge, and it is referred to throughout the Old and New Testament and Koran.  The Noah in the Book of Enoch forbids all bloodshed, and all interference with nature, be it mining, the making of weapons, or cosmetics. This Noah also forbids writing. One is to live directly with creation and no interfere with it, and not create intellectual abstractions about it in writing.  In other words, excavating the ground, creating monuments and roads and cities, which are essential to industrial civilization, are all forbidden.  The Sumerian version of Noah is not directly relevant here.

1. Ham's name is a form of Aum, the Sacred Sound of the Hindus.

2. Ham names his sons Rama and Sheva, after the Hindu/Ethiopian Deities.

3, The grandson of Noah though Ham, Kush, founded Ethiopia, a Sabean nation worshipping Shiva, and keepers of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch. The Sabeans of Ethiopia like the Shaivites and Vaishnavas of India and the original Jews worshiped Shiva, Kanneh, and Ramman.  Shiva among the Hebrews and Ethiopians was known as Seba, Sheba, and Saba.  The Sabbath, the Sabaoth, and the pillars erected to God, the masseva, are all derived from the name of Shiva.  Kanneh and Cainan of the Ethiopians is the same deity as El Kana or El Chanan. Kannan is the Tamil Hindu name for Vishnu or Krishna. And the Ethiopian Ramman is none other than Rama of the Hindus and Jews.  Studies demonstrating that the Vedic religion had spread throughout the world may be found at Viewzone.com, Sword of Truth, and Hinduism Today, all on the net.

4. Kush named one of his sons Seba, a transliteration of Siva.

5. Seba (ceba), the son of Kush, founded the nation of Sheba, which is also a transliteration of the name of Shiva.

    So, looking at the above facts, that the name of Ham, Noah's son, is a form of Aum, the sacred sound of the Hindus; that Ham names two of his sons after the Hindu vegetarian personalities and deities, Ramah and Sheva; and that Kush continues the Sabean tradition--all these facts would have been interpreted as an absolute act of defiance towards the orthodox patriarchy claiming that Jehovah was the one and only true deity.

      (The antiquity of the Essenes has also been asserted by psychic Edgar Cayce, who affirms they went all the way back to Elijah and the school of prophets raised by him; thereby Cayce, though carnivorous himself, in his trance state also  allied the way of the Essenes with Elijah, and Cayce thereby indirectly attacked the Old Testament's version of Elijah as carnivorous.) 2 Ezra also sees early Judaism's patriarchs as aligned with the later prophets of Judaism, most of whom denounced the animal sacrifices.

     Let us look at Edgar Cayce's assertions that the Essenes were indeed a tradition which we may call renunciate, and that they existed during the time of Elijah, Ellish (Elisha) and Samuel.

254-109 Essenes: When there were the activities in which there were to be the cleansings through which bodies were to become channels for the new race, or the new preparation, these then were restricted - of course - as to certain associations, developmeents in associations, activities and the like. We are speaking here of the twelve women, you see - and all of the women from the very beginning who were dedicated as channels for the new race, see?
 Hence the group we refer to here as the Essenes, which was the outgrowth of the periods of preparations from the teachings by Melchizedek, as propagated by Elijah and Ilisha and Samuel.
These were set aside for preserving themselves in direct line of choice for the offering of themselves as channels through which there might come the new or the divine origin, see?
Their life and work during such periods of preparation were given to alms, good deeds, missionary activities - as would be termed today. 1158-6 9.
 Did not John come as the voice of one crying in the wilderness and in the spirit of Elijah? Yet he WAS Elijah.
 As in the present, here, proceed - but remember that given - each must know his OWN book of remembbrance, and read same. 1472-3 4.
 Some four and twenty years before the advent of that entity, that soul-entrance into material plane called Jesus, we find Phinehas (?) and Elkatma (?) making those activities among those of the depleted group of the prophets in Mt. Carmel; that begun by Samuel, Elisha, Elijah, Saul, and those during those early experiences.
Essenes that had cherished not merely the conditions that had come as word of mouth but had kept the records of the periods when individuals had been visited with the supernatural or out of the ordinary experiences; whether in dreams, visions, voices, or what not - they brought the life of their child, Judy, and dedicated it to the study and the application of self to the study of those things that had been handed down as a part of the EXPERIENCES of those who had received visitations from the unseen, the unknown - or that worshiped as the Divine Spirit moving into the activities of man. 1472-3 12.
 So there was the setting about to seek means and manners for the preservation, and for the making of records of that which had been handed down as word of mouth, as tradition. Such channels and ways were sought out. And eventually the manner was chosen in which records were being kept in Egypt rather than in Persia, from which much of the tradition arose - of course - because of the very indwelling of the peoples in that land. 13.
 Hence not only the manners of the recording but also the traditions of Egypt, the traditions from India, the conditions and traditions from many of the Persian lands and from many of the borders about same, became a part of the studies and the seeking of the entity Judy early in the attempts to make, keep and preserve such records. until there were those visitations by what ye call the Wise Men of the East - one from Persia, one from India, one from the Egyptian land. 15.
 These reasoned with the Brethren, but more was sought from the studies of the entity Judy at that experience. EACH and every soul MUST BECOME, MUST BE, the SAVIOR of some soul! to even COMPREHEND the purpose of the entrance of the Son INTO the earth - that man might have the closer walk with, yea the open door to, the very heart of the living God! 29.
 And the entity, as would be termed, was hounded, yea was persecuted the more and more; yet remaining until what ye would call the sixty-seventh year AFTER the Crucifixion; or until Time itself began to be counted from same. 30.
 For the records as were borne by the entity, it will be found, were BEGUN by the activities of the entity during what ye would term a period sixty years AFTER the Crucifixion. 31.
 And then they were reckoned first by the peoples of Carmel, and then by the brethren in Antioch, then a portion of Jerusalem, then to Smyrna, Philadelphia, and those places where these were becoming more active. 32.
 The entity [Judy]- though receiving rebuffs, yea even stripes in the body - died a natural death in that experience; at the age then of ninety-one. 262-61
 In no land in which JESUS presented Himself was He accepted;

      I have left in some material which helps to elucidate the concerns of Edgar Cayce in his trance state. In any case, we see that he states that there was a school of prophets going all the way back to Elijah, Samuel, Illisha, and even Melchizadek.  The numbers of these prophets declined, we may infer, because of the rise of what we call Jewish orthodoxy, which suppressed the pure vegetarian remnant represented by the Essenes.  Some of my readers are no doubt familiar with Edgar Cayce's readings on "Revelations," which affirm that the dynamic of the chakra system of the Hindus underlies much of the book.

    So, now that we have cleared away some of the illusions of the orthodox, understand that even rabbinical scholars admit the first dietary covenant was vegetarianism, and understand that the religion of the earliest Jews and the Hindus sprang from the same source, then it is not hard to understand that the term Essene also came from a name, or possibly even two names of Shiva, Asani and Isana. We can also comprehend that Ossaens or Osseans came from the name Oseo or Osseo, which is also a name of Shiva. And we can also comprehend that Jessenes has its root in Jesse, which comes through as Isa, or Issa, which is also a name of Shiva. The following page on the Essenes elaborates on these facts.

   Islamic scholars clearly understood that the original message of Jesus and his disciples was overthrown by Paul.  Sunni Muslims are thereby caught in their own Catch 22 situation. On the one hand Muslim tradition clearly denounces Paul as an apostate, just as did the now non extant "Ascents of James" by James the brother of Jesus.  On the other hand, the teachings of Paul regarding slavery, sexism, bigotry towards homosexuals, and animal sacrifices, are all found in the Quran we now have!  This, I will show in other chapters, proves that the Quran, like the Torah and the New Testament, is a
revised document.

    The point made in this study is this: these vegetarians, the Essenes and Nazarenes and
Jesus and the Ebionites, all regarded themselves as the pure remnant of Judaism.  And
there is an abundance of material proving that they in fact were that pure remnant.  There
are excellent contemporary Essene web sites on line, as well as Mandean sites, that
confirm the vegetarian/egalitarian origins of Christianity.