The Vegetarian Christians of Early Christianity
08/15/23 • 22 min
One thing that might be rather surprising to most people that can be learned by doing a study of the gospels, acts and other literature of the Hebrew Christians -- the Ebionites -- the Christianity that Existed Before Paul -- is that, rather than some imagined Sunday school notion of a fish market in the village of Galilee being operated by the disciples of Jesus, there is significant evidence that the Original Jesus Movement and well-known apostles became vegetarians. And furthermore, this vegetarianism of the disciples and Jesus Movement is fairly widely known and mentioned by the early church fathers. It's not that this information is coming from recently discovered writings dug up in the Middle East. Rather, these are old texts that have been with us since the early days of Christianity but didn't seem all that meaningful and significant to a pro-meat carnistic population. Vegetarians however would indeed be most interested finding this out! (Peace be to you)
"Jacobus [James], the brother of Jesus, lived of seeds and vegetables and did not accept meat or wine." (Saint Augustine)
"The consumption of animal flesh was unknown up until the great flood. But since the great flood, we have had animal flesh stuffed into our mouths. Jesus, the Christ, who appeared when the time was fulfilled, again joined the end to the beginning, so that we are now no longer allowed to eat animal flesh." (pro-vegetarian early church father Hieronymus [St. Jerome] who apparently read the Gospel of the Hebrews and was influenced by Ebionite views)
"Sacrifices were invented by men to be a pretext for eating flesh." (Clement of Alexandria)
"The steam of meat meals darkens the spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts. In the earthly paradise [Eden], no one sacrificed animals, and no one ate meat." (Saint Basil the Great)
In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami
James Bean
Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts
Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts
Sant Mat Radhasoami
A Satsang Without Walls
One thing that might be rather surprising to most people that can be learned by doing a study of the gospels, acts and other literature of the Hebrew Christians -- the Ebionites -- the Christianity that Existed Before Paul -- is that, rather than some imagined Sunday school notion of a fish market in the village of Galilee being operated by the disciples of Jesus, there is significant evidence that the Original Jesus Movement and well-known apostles became vegetarians. And furthermore, this vegetarianism of the disciples and Jesus Movement is fairly widely known and mentioned by the early church fathers. It's not that this information is coming from recently discovered writings dug up in the Middle East. Rather, these are old texts that have been with us since the early days of Christianity but didn't seem all that meaningful and significant to a pro-meat carnistic population. Vegetarians however would indeed be most interested finding this out! (Peace be to you)
"Jacobus [James], the brother of Jesus, lived of seeds and vegetables and did not accept meat or wine." (Saint Augustine)
"The consumption of animal flesh was unknown up until the great flood. But since the great flood, we have had animal flesh stuffed into our mouths. Jesus, the Christ, who appeared when the time was fulfilled, again joined the end to the beginning, so that we are now no longer allowed to eat animal flesh." (pro-vegetarian early church father Hieronymus [St. Jerome] who apparently read the Gospel of the Hebrews and was influenced by Ebionite views)
"Sacrifices were invented by men to be a pretext for eating flesh." (Clement of Alexandria)
"The steam of meat meals darkens the spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts. In the earthly paradise [Eden], no one sacrificed animals, and no one ate meat." (Saint Basil the Great)
In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami
James Bean
Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts
Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts
Sant Mat Radhasoami
A Satsang Without Walls
Previous Episode
Finding God - The Hidden Power - Within You Through the Spiritual Practices of Sant Mat
What a delight it is this week to be sharing with everyone in our satsang community and gathering of spiritual seekers readings about Baba Ram Singh's spiritual search when he was young, his prayers to the Hidden Power, a wonderful name for the Supreme Being, and how he found the Radhasoami Satsang presided over by Baba Somanath, making use of, In the Lap of the Supreme Father, The Biography of Sant Baba Ram Singh. By the way, Hidden Power is a very Gnostic type term for the Supreme Being so I also share from the Nag Hammadi Library of Egypt, and from another ancient Gnostic library further to the East, the Ginza Rabba (Great Treasure) of the Mandaean Nasoraeans, with references to God as the Hidden Great Power, and about the role of the Living One, the Living Master, as being a co-worker of the Divine Plan in the lower planes and material realm to guide souls back to their True Spiritual Home Above, sharing the secrets of spiritual practice and Divine Names with those souls seeking true spiritual freedom. Also today, mystic bhajans and prayers of Baba Somanath, wisdom and guidance from the Radhasoami publications: A Spiritual Seekers Guide, Anmol Vachan of Sant Garib Das, Sar Bachan Radhasoami Prose on the Teachings of Soami Ji Maharaj, Prem Patra Radhasoami and Prem Bani Radhasoami of Hazur Maharaj Rai Saligram Bahadur, as well as excerpts from a January 6th, 2023 Meditation Talk by Baba Ram Singh Ji titled, When We Sit For Meditation In The Frame Of Mind Of Love And Affection, Then It Helps Us To Sit, on how love, devotion or bhakti helps develop high-quality concentration during meditation and is the proper approach to successful Inner Light and Sound Meditation Practice (Surat Shabd Yoga). Being a Lover of the Beloved as well as spending enough time in meditation, according to the Masters (Sant Satgurus), are absolutely essential for getting to have inner experiences and truly exploring the Inner Regions (Inner Space, the Kingdom of the Heavens Within You). (Namaste', Jai Guru, HU, Satya Raam, Sat Naam Sahib, Radhaswami)
In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami
James Bean
Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts
Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts
Sant Mat Radhasoami
A Satsang Without Walls
Next Episode
The Opposite of "Not One Of Us" is "We Are All One"
Before the main segment, The Opposite of "Not One Of Us" is "We Are All One”, I begin the program by sharing spiritual readings covering various topics from several sources: The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah; a Saying of Jesus from, The Book of the Gnosis of the Invisible God, An Unrecognized Dialogues Gospel Embedded in the Bruce Codex Placed at the Beginning of the First Book of IEOU; also, readings from: The Ghat Ramayan of Sant Tulsi Sahib; Sar Bachan Radhasoami Prose of Soami Ji Maharaj; 1008 Kabir Vani (Saakhis of Guru Kabir); Baba Ram Singh on meditation practice; Saint Isaac of Nineveh; and mystic poetry * of Sant Charandas. (* Bhajans, Hymns)
One of the most mysterious passages recorded in the New Testament is: "'Teacher', said John, 'we saw a man driving out demons in your Name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us *.' "'Do not stop him,' Jesus said. 'No one who does a miracle in my Name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.'" (Mark 9: 38+39) One may wonder who this mystery person was and what unknown sect or faction of the Jesus Movement he belonged to, since the disciples had apparently never encountered him before. (* The Not-One-Of-Us Treatment.)
The main segment is titled: The Opposite of "Not One Of Us" is "We Are All One”, an essay documenting how Sant Mat historically has never been limited to only "one" living master (Sant Satguru) at a time but there have always been multiple lineages of masters alive in the world contemporary with one another. As Hazur Baba Sawan Singh once said: "It is not necessary that there should be only one * Master in the whole world or even in a single country. There have been different Masters in different countries at the same time, and even in the same country. Thus Guru Nanak and Kabir were contemporaries, and so also Dadu and Guru Arjan. But their teaching is the same at all times and in every country." (* The Path is One.)
In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami
James Bean
Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts
Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts
Sant Mat Radhasoami
A Satsang Without Walls
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