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Titles of our Divine Brother YesuEach cultural milieu, which awaited the divine messenger, had a name or title for the one they were expecting. Their predecessors handed down the titles to them and their Scriptures spoke of the awaited one. When Yesu fulfilled his ministries and small groups all over the world, in different cultures, miraculously accepted him so they entitled him differently. Some North-East Persian and South China groups named Yesu Maitrya Buddha, the awaited 'Compassionate one', foretold by Gautama Buddha 600 BCE. A group of Hebrew converts titled Yesu as the Messiah, the awaited injunction from God that would save the Palestinians, foretold by Hebrew prophets about 500BC. Almost every Hebrew king, since king Saul=s anointment, held this title. The name Messiah means Anointed of God. The concept of holy anointment was well known also to the Roman Empire because the rite was common in their temples. The Greek name for >the Anointed one= was Chrestos and the title Christ came to be applied to Yesu. The Persian people awaited a promised 'Prophet from the West', and the reformation group there used this title for Yesu. North Indians and Syrians awaited the promised messenger from God that was called the Saviour, and the reformation movements in those areas applied this title to Yesu. Because Yesu taught the male/female constitution of God and often mentioned his Father in Heaven, the West easily understood him to be the Son of God. This concept was a natural expression in Roman culture and most Caesars held this title. The Roman Catholic Church naturally went with this Romanized title of Son of God and soon added that the pontiff was Holy Father, divine, and later infallible. Obviously not all people of those religions where Yesu worked joined their reformation movements. Large numbers of them remained fast to the old systems of thought and guarded their various >orthodox= (ortho = right, doxa = revealed teaching) ways. While everyone expected the divine injunction, the new Teacher, to appear about 2 000 years ago, and they had their names and titles, even descriptions of his ministry ready...not all accepted him when he came in an unorthodox manner. But this is how it will always be. Those who did not accept the Light when it came are still clinging to their hopes and are still awaiting their Maitrya, Saviour, Christ, Messiah or Prophet to appear. In time, as the various religious reformation groups under the banner of Yesu= ministry found common ground among one another (and political turmoil helped the process), many groups formed alliances, exchanging doctrine, Scripture, and theology. During Medieval times the Roman Catholic Church became a major political force in Europe and sister organizations in the Mid East and Far East were suffering oppression and persecution under Islamic rule. Most of the eastern groups eventually disintegrated and were annihilated along with their Scriptures. Those groups who found safety under the Catholic wing had to pay the price of having their doctrines changed and particular Scriptures denied and edited to fit the norms of the Latin Church. We understand our Saviour to be Lord of the angels as he is actively engaged in the all time struggle for our salvation. We are allocated the help of angels operating in the ethos, and under guidance, of the Saviour. In this sense then the Saviour is not only Lord over the angelic host but also Lord of our salvation, and he is the undisputed Lord of the Way to unification with the One Source our God.
Copyright © 2001
Church of the East (Canada) Inc.. All rights
reserved.
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