Brief History of the Church (2)

Ever since human history we see God helping us grow wiser (the first period: 5000 BC to 700 BC)

Human spirits leave Paradise and come to earth to learn about the difference between "good and bad", so that they may be 'like God' (Gen 2 and 3, Eph (look it up), Corinthians (look it up). For a spirit to experience lire on earth as a human being, it has to live in a soul with a body. We (our spirits) are 'made in the image of God', and has to learn how to be like our Father who made us.

We (our spirits) are eternal like God our Father, and do not die. Our souls (mind and life energy) and bodies can stop working (some people call this death), the body then breaks up into molecules and goes hack into the soil from which it was made, and our soul's energy break up and goes back into the energy from which it was made - and we (our spirits) go to a place where God our Father wants us to stay until we are judged. After this first judgment, we can come back to this school (earth) to learn more or we can continue to live in Paradise or Heaven forever. This school is hard, it has pain, and traps, and poverty and joy - but We need to experience all the lessons to eventually know the difference between right and wrong, like our Father does- When we are finished with this earthly school, then we can go Home for ever.

Ever since the first human spirits took up bodies to live on earth, as the fable about Adam and Eve is told to us (note; these animal bodies and souls come in genders), God our Father has been doing everything possible to help us learn Truth. We can know a little bit about this by looking at history.

The first history we know about is when people first started writing, which was about 7 000 years ago - 5 000 BC. These people lived in Africa and in the East, and the first writings were mostly about religion and ethics (how to live a good life). Since we were still babies then, we had to learn slowly, and the knowledge of how to make iron and how to use a wheel only came to us much later. By the year 3 000 BC almost all of us could speak in human languages and many people already developed ways of writing their language, and some people used wheels. Slowly the Wisdom from our Father came to us, and we learned through much hardship, because we are not always listening to Him and we like to follow our own minds.

By the year 2 000 BC the Egyptian and Ethiopian and Indian cultures were most advanced and they were leading the world in technology (wheels and building and farming) and religion (knowledge about God our Father). Already in this time we learn about great Sages (wise people who were close to God our Father) who were much advanced in Truth and who were teaching us of the higher things of life. One of these forefathers was Abraham. He traveled from the Indian lands to Africa with his tribe (about 300 people) and he stopped at the town of Shechem in Palestine to worship at the temple of God. He is also the first bible person to take part in the Holy Eucharist. The priest of God, the wise and holy man Melchizedek, served this Communion to Abraham. It was in this tradition, in the Tradition of Melchizedek, that Yesu our Lord came to be our Priest. This holy Tradition is thus more than 5 000 years old already.

The Great Awakening (the second period: 700 BC to I AD)

In the 6Ih century BC God our Father did a very wonderful thing for His children. In this century some of the world's holiest wisdom was poured out through great Sages that appeared in the most influential cultures of the human race. In Europe God gave us our brothers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle; in the Mid-East God gave us our brothers Isaiah and Zoroaster; In China God gave us our brothers Lao Tzu and Confucius; in India God gave us our brother Gautama Buddha - to mention only a few. What a wondrous age! All of these people influenced their cultures to think more alike and more about God our Father, and about perfecting our spirits. All of these brothers influenced their cultures permanently and contributed to our ability to be better children of God. But this time in human history was only the Great Awakening of human consciousness. God our Father, in his tremendous love for us, was getting us ready to receive even greater Wisdom - Yesu the Christ.

The Lord (the third period: 6 AD to 90 AD)

One particular child of God our Father was already so advanced because of his discipline to follow the mind of the father instead of his own, that he was chosen to show all of us very clearly The Way how one can walk back Home during this life. Other brothers and sisters before Yesu received great Wisdom because of their efforts, but they could teach only their own people, in their own cultures, at the time. But the advanced spirit, which came to earth as the man Yesu, was destined to teach ALL people. Even before the baby Yesu was due to be born the wise men of the world knew that it would happen. Wise men from India, Persia and Arabia knew that Yesu would come in to earth in the area where Melchizedek had his church - Jerusalem. They set out to travel all those thousands of kilometers to be there, to make sure that the baby would be safe from the evil spirits that also knew of this great event (and would probably try to kill the child). The Gospels tell us the story how Yesu was born and how the wise men came to see that the baby was safe by helping the parents to escape to Egypt. In Egypt the great masters of Africa taught the young boy, and when he reached the age of twelve, he passed by Palestine on his way to the East to attend 'high school' in the East. Here, Yesu was taught by the wise masters of Persia and India until he was about thirty years old. This was where he met his lifelong companion and best friend, Mary of Magadha - the girl from India.

When Yesu turned thirty years old he went back to the Mid-East to fulfill his ministry that would give birth to the Church of the West. This took about three years to complete. It was a very hard time for him and it was a very difficult mission, but Yesu was prepared in mind and in heart, and he was as pure as a newborn baby when he offered himself to be baptised by his cousin John (who did not recognize him since he was away for so long). At Yesu's baptism the Queen of the East (Holy Spirit, Wisdom) was poured out over him like holy oil, Wisdom came to live in his pure heart, and over the next few months he became perfected until he eventually became Christ - the anointed one of God. He was ready to fulfill his ministry to the world.  In His celestial form our Lord became the Saviour of the world and was known throughout the world as the Saviour of humankind - our Lord Avalokitesvara, Lord Christ, Lord Yesu the Saviour, and as the Maitreya Buddha that ushered in the Mahayana movement.

After the Lord's ministry in Palestine, where Yesu was killed and had to take up his body again (like he helped the little girl and Lazarus to take up their bodies again after they died), he gave final instruction of the mysteries to his disciples, and left the area to minister to the rest of the world. Yesu came to Persia where he did the same things as he did in Palestine - he purified the religion and taught how that religion should be understood to be a guide on The Way for people of that culture. Here he was known as Yusa, the leader of the healed. After this, Yesu visited Arabia for a short while and then went to India where he occasionally met with Thomas that was starting the Church of the East. In the North of India Yesu did the same thing again, purging the religions there to make them good vehicles for The Way. From this work Mahayana Buddhism was born and ~vent to China. Yesu also influenced the final editing of the Baghavad Gita, which is the holy book of the Hindu religion that does exactly what Yesu was doing in other cultures to bring the different streams together and purify it and make it into a vehicle for The Way. In India Yesu was known as Is, Yesu, Isa, Isi and Yuz, in the different cultures and their changing languages. Many landmarks, rivers, lakes, mountains and plans still carry the name of Yesu since the time that he lived and ministered there. When all the work was done in the various religions, Yesu Christ our Lord left his body behind and took up his place in Heaven from where he still helps us on our Way.

The Church of the West

After Yesu left Palestine the Apostles each took different routes and ministered to different nations. Deacons were elected and Yesu' brother James took over the management of the council of Jerusalem to allow the other to take their ministry elsewhere. We do not know much about the other apostles' work except that Peter died in Rome, Matthew died in Persia, Jude died in Armenia, Thomas died in India, and James died in Jerusalem.

Yesu chose the apostle to the West just before he left Palestine. This man Paul ministered to the Greek-speaking people of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor and the capital city, Rome.

By the year 350 the Emperors Constantine and Justinian adopted the Western Church as a National Church of the Roman Empire, and almost overnight it became a huge organization that needed a lot of political control. The Emperors called great councils of bishops to help the western church organize itself. These church councils of the Roman Empire were both Greek and Latin speaking at this time, since the empire was divided into these two sections. The Emperors helped the church to decide on things that caused trouble among the various churches; things such as which books are correct, and which way of worship is right, and which way of believing is right. The Romans have always had a religion of gods that walked the earth, they even called their emperors gods, and sons of gods, so it was very natural for them to think of Yesu as at least the son of the Ultimate God, if not God incarnate, in the Roman way. Of course, if the Emperors were worshipped as sons of God, then the Lord should be the FIRST or perhaps something like an 'only begotten' son of God.  To justify their belief in this teaching of the church, they refer to the fact that Yesu inferred that he is a son of God because he spoke of his Father in Heaven. In fact, nowhere in the Scriptures do Yesu claim to be the only son of God. Yesu claims to be a child of God, like Isaiah and Ezekiel and Moses did. Yesu stresses his claims to be son of humankind (son of man), meaning, in the idiom of the day, he claims to be a human being and nothing more and nothing less. Yesu teaches us that we are all children of One Father, God. Our brother and Lord Yesu teaches us to pray (because we are all children of God), "Our Father which are in Heaven, Holy be Your name..."

At the time the Scriptures were written they wrote Greek in capital letters only and used different punctuation (if at all) than we do today. Today we use capitals to indicate something holy or a proper name, as the West does when they translate the Bible to read Yesu is the Son of God, and he is the Son of Man, and in this way they try to change the meaning of the text. The understanding that Yesu is the Only Son of God, that he is God Godself, that God was crucified and died, and that God's mother's name is Mary, is still the Western Church's way of understanding Yesu Christ - and it is good enough for them. They are quite happy with that understanding and it probably serves them well.

These western councils also decided to select some books that were popular at the time, and to fix that into a collection they would call the 'canon' (measurement) for Holy Scripture. From all the writings of Apostles of The Way the western Church chose the works of their apostle Paul as the primary text of their Christianity.  More than 80% of Christian scripture consists of work from the Pauline school.  The Bible of the West, and the faith of the West, was fixed by the Roman Empire's Church Councils by the year 400 - but some changes would still be made over the next 200 years.

After the 4th century, the Roman Empire finally split into two, a Greek part (in the East of the Empire) and a Latin part (in the West). The Christian Church, which was inextricably tied to government also split, and a chief of the church was appointed both in the Latin part (the Pope of Rome) and one in the Greek part (the Patriarch of Constantinople). Later on, the Greek Church (called the Orthodox meaning 'proper' or 'correct' Church) split into various streams, but the different Patriarchs tried to get the church to stick together. The Latin part was called the Roman Catholic (meaning universal) Church and kept together until the 14 century when the German monk Martin Luther (among other) broke away, protesting against abuses in the Roman church. The Protestant movement started here. Today there are more than 6 000 different Protestant churches in the world, and if we count those groups in Africa that broke with the Protestants the number is more than 15 000.

The Church of the West thus first split into two different groups, the Roman Catholic (Latin), and the Orthodox (Greek). The Protestants broke away from the Roman Catholic and founded more than 10 000 different groups. The Orthodox Church split into various national churches. What these Western churches all have in common is their Western Bible and their 4th century confession of faith, which comes from their early councils - this unites them as Christians.

The Church of the East

Mary of Magadha went to Africa and started monasteries, churches and welfare projects there. The tradition she worked in seemed different to the Western Church because of their way of thinking, and was not accepted by Christianity. The Apostles Thomas and Jude Thaddeus went to India and Persia to take the church there. St. Thaddeus ministered mainly to the Persian and Armenian areas under St. Thomas' tutelage, and St. Thomas ministered mainly to the Indians.  Their movements worked together for hundreds of years.

These movements did not resort under the Roman Empire, and were also not part of any single empire, nation or kingdom. Church of the East was therefore never a national church as Christianity was in the West. For most part of Church of the East's history it was never involved in government politics. Church of the East stretched from Armenia (Turkey, Iraq) down to Arabia; East to Persia (Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan) and India; North to Tibet and Xinjian China and South to the East Indian Islands. By the fifth century, it is said, there were more than 80 million Wayists in Church of the East.

Such a large church needed management. Bishops and councils of bishops in the various countries and regions did the management of the church. At times there were attempts to put a chief of church in place, and they were sometimes called Catholicon and other times they were called Patriarch. This never worked well because the Church of the East stretched over many countries and the way of thinking of the Eastern people is not very concerned with this type of structure.

While the Western church met in national councils to decide about books in their Bible, about who to banish from their country and throw out of the church (excommunicate) because they disagree with them, and about which way is the right way to experience God our Father, the Eastern Church (which includes most of Africa at the time) simply carried on in the Tradition of the Apostles and with the holy Scripture the Apostles and church fathers left them.

Then came Adversity (Islam)

In the 6" century AD a terrible thing happened in Arabia. The prophet Mohammed started a religious movement called Islam (meaning, to submit to God's will), and he united the Arabs into one tribe. The Arabs were a vicious people scattered over many small tribes. They were great warriors and were used by the Roman and Persian countries as mercenaries. After uniting the Arabs into a great tribe, Mohammed died. His followers, still being a warring people, took to the sword to conquer the world - this time under the banner of Islam. They believe that God will bring peace to earth once everyone lives in their Islam - so they make war, they kill and rob to bring peace!

By the year 700 AD the followers of the prophet Mohammed had conquered and converted most of the Mid East by the sword. Arabia, Africa, Persia, Armenia, parts of Western Europe and India fell under the swords of Islam. People who did not want to join their faith were, and still are, brutally treated, like animals - often enslaved, most often annihilated. They are not allowed to vote, they pay extra taxes, they must submit to anyone who is of Islamic faith, and they may not school their children in their own ways, and their language and education is denied them. Many millions submitted to Islam's terror and many millions fled their countries. Today, after 1 200 years of occupation war has still not stopped and prosperity never returned. Islam still terrorizes the people they consider to be "Kafirs" (Arabic word for unbelievers) and they fight one another without end. One of their principal states, Pakistan, which was started to show the world how great and peaceful Islam really is, is today one of the foremost producers of heroin in the world and has been terrorizing the peaceful Hindus and members of our church in Kashmir for almost a thousand years. Holy places are pillaged and holy books are burned, temples are broken down and Islamic mosques are built on those sites. Thousands of people have already fled the country where our Lord founded Wayism and spent his last years.

Church of the East into China

Wayism spread to near China already during the 1st century but it was not until the 7th century that it became a primary religion.  The form of Wayism that acculturated in Chinese society was (and still is) mostly the Avalokitesvara or Quan Yin aspect of the celestial Lord our Saviour.  The celestial Lord showed His compassion and understanding of human problems early on in those communities.  The Lord spearheaded movements to gain acceptance and rights for women and children in their societies - and in Heaven.  The Compassionate Lord brought about changes in society so that it became 'acceptable' to their culture to think of slaves, women and children as whole human beings that are equal in God's eyes, and that can gain salvation and everlasting life in the hereafter.  Our Lord often appeared as a woman or a child and thereby proved the point that such bodies were not below Him to incarnate Himself.  The Lord became an overnight beloved amongst women and children and the cult of Avalokitesvara (meaning, Our Lord Who Sees All and Hears All the Plight of the World) [Quan Yin, in Chinese] spread quickly throughout society.  By the 8th century the cult was resident in Imperial circles and already incorporated with Daoism and Buddhism.  Today - this form of Wayism is the most popular expression of Buddhism in the world (and to think that up to the time of the Lord, Buddhism denied women the right to salvation).

Wayists compromise for survival

Members of Church of the East who fled to the West for protection were not treated very well by their Christian sister church. The Western sisters refused to accept Wayist Scriptures, Creeds and teaching and refused their protection unless Wayists agreed to burn their holy books, and accepted the Christian Scriptures and confession of faith- the Nicene Creed which says Yesu is the Only Son of God, God Incarnate, and the name of the mother of God is Mary. 

Many mothers and fathers wanting to safeguard their children and give them a future made this sacrifice to please the Christian authorities. Even large groups joined the Christians to gain their protection, and changed things to please the Patriarch and the Pope, and these churches came to be known by different names to show that they were part of the Western alliance. Today many of the former members of the great Church of the East survive under names such as, Syriac Church of the East, Assyrian Church of the East, Uniat Church of the East, Melkite Church, Thomist Christians, Church of India, Armenian Church, etc. Most of these groups united with the Roman church, others united with the Anglican and Orthodox churches of the Christian tradition.  Needless to say, these former Wayists are now Christians and they do not adhere to Thomist teaching, Thomist Scriptures, the Wayist Creed and they disagree (often militantly) with Wayist theology of Church of the East.

The Church in the 2Oth Century

Getting ready for the 21st century revival of Truth.

After almost 1 500 years of Islamic insurgency and about 250 years of Christian militancy there is but a small number of Wayists who openly adhere to the original teaching and Scripture.  These faithful mothers and fathers of the church are preserving our holy Traditions and Scriptures, often paying with their lives under Islamic oppression. Communication between the various groups of the Church is made difficult by the fact that language differences and great distances across national borders separate the groups. There are groups of church members in the North of India in Kashmir, in Kurdistan, in Baghdad, Australia, USA, Canada, Western Europe, South Africa and Syria. What unites Wayists is their common heritage of the Eastern Bible, Scriptures and common Tradition. A training centre in Canada started to help train new ministers and devotees to advance the Tradition.

Evangelization (making converts in the Western way) has however never been a focus of Church of the East and will perhaps never be. Church of the East is a culturally sensitive Way, it is a fellowship of the heart, and thus adopts the good things in a culture (including its language) and sets out to be the Grace of Yesu Christ to the needy of that community. Church of the East always starts with welfare programs in communities and sometimes a church will be born from that work. It is one of the marks of Church of the East that it has always had female clergy and leaders, since St. Mary of Magadha, and has always been concerned with the welfare of orphans, rejected (or marginalized) people and those abused by their societies. This is the prime concern of the government of the Church of the East, to extend the Wisdom, Love and Grace of God our Father and Mother, to God's children in distress. It is the prime concern of the work of all members in Church of the East to show (not preach - but show) all God's children the Way to liberation from this life on earth.