This is a guest post by David Blocker, refuting the presumptuous idea that the σινδόνα (linen cloth) the youth wore on his bare body when “Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God” would imply eroticism or sexuality. Instead Blocker suggests that the scene should be interpreted as an installation rite for a new High Priest.
The article is also available as a pdf file (An Occult Priestly Installation Ritual in the Secret Gospel of Mark) in which the colour coding of certain phrases in the article are easier to see.
An Occult Priestly Installation Ritual in the Secret Gospel of Mark
by David Blocker
In 1960, Morton Smith announced the discovery of an 18th century handwritten transcription of a letter written by Clement of Alexandria in the late 2nd or early 3rd century. Clement’s letter was a response to an inquiry about a previously unknown version of the Gospel of Mark. Since the letter’s unveiling, it has been the subject of an ever escalating partisan madness, including accusations of forgery, academic fraud, postulated rituals of sex and death, and wildly imagined claims about the sexual predilections of the letter’s discoverer.
In this essay, an excerpt from the Secret Gospel of Mark quoted in Clement’s letter to Theodore, is compared to passages extracted from the Tanakh. The narrative sequence in the Secret Mark excerpt has multiple parallels to the descriptions of the installation rites for high priest. This suggests the claims that the long excerpt from the Secret Gospel of Mark has a homoerotic content are unfounded misinterpretations of the text [1].
The following passage was excerpted from Clement’s Letter to Theodore [2]. Phrases from the Secret Gospel of Mark that have parallels in the Tanakh have been color coded or noted with a special font (See below for parallel passages from the Tanakh).
“ … And a certain woman whose brother had died [ἀπέθανεν] was there. … And Jesus, … , went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway, going in to where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him [ἤγειρεν] (from the dead [3])… . And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days [4] Jesus told [ἐπέταξεν] him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth [σινδόνα] over his naked body [ἐπὶ γυμνοῦ]. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God. … .”
Compare the excerpt from the Secret Gospel of Mark to these passages from the Tanakh:
Exodus 28:41-43, “41And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach: 43And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: … [5]”
Ezekiel 44:18, “They are to wear linen turbans 5 on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that makes them perspire.”
Leviticus 16:4 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA), “4 He shall be vested with a linen tunick, he shall cover his nakedness with linen breeches: he shall be girded with a linen girdle, and he shall put a linen mitre 6 upon his head: for these are holy vestments: all which he shall put on, after he is washed.”
or,
Leviticus 16:4 (International Standard Version (©2012), “He is to wear a sacred linen tunic and linen undergarments that will cover his genitals. He is to clothe himself with a sash and wrap his head with a linen turban [6]. Because they are sacred garments, he is to wash himself with water before putting them on.”
Leviticus 16:23, “23 Then Aaron is and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there.
Exodus 20:26;“And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed”
Exodus 30:20 (New International Version (©2011)), “Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the LORD,”
Leviticus 8:33-35: “Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for your ordination will last seven days. 34 What has been done today was commanded by the Lord to make atonement for you. 35 You must stay at the entrance to the tent of meeting day and night for seven days and do what the Lord requires, so you will not die; for that is what I have been commanded.”
Ezekiel 44:25-26, “A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself. 26 After he is cleansed, he must wait seven days.”
Comparison of extracts from Secret Mark with extracts from the Tanakh. All the examples are drawn from the above texts.
Secret Gospel of Mark: wearing a linen cloth over his naked body
Exodus 28: 41-42 “ linen breeches to cover their nakedness ”
Ezekiel 44:19, “ They are to wear linen turbans 5 on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists ”
Leviticus 16:4 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA), “ he shall cover his nakedness with linen breeches: … linen mitre … .”
Leviticus 16:23, “ linen garments ”
Secret Gospel of Mark: And a certain woman whose brother had died was there.
Ezekiel 44:25, “A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person; however, if the dead person was his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, then he may defile himself.
Secret Gospel of Mark: “and raised him (from the dead 3)”
Leviticus 8:33; “so you will not die”
Exodus 30:20; (New International Version (©2011)), “so that they will not die.”
Secret Gospel of Mark: “Jesus told him what to do”
Leviticus 8:34: “What has been done today was commanded by the Lord … that is what I have been commanded.”
Secret Gospel of Mark: “And after six days 4”
Leviticus 8:33-35: “ … seven days, … your ordination will last seven days. … 35 … seven days… ”
Ezekiel 44:25-26, “ … he must wait seven days.”
Secret Gospel of Mark: “naked body”
Exodus 28:42, “nakedness”
Leviticus 16:4 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA), “nakedness”
Exodus 20:26;“ … nakedness … ”
Secret Gospel of Mark: “And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days 4”
Leviticus 8:33-35: “Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days, … 35 You must stay at the entrance to the tent of meeting day and night for seven days … ”
The “house of the youth” where he stayed for six or seven days prior to his meeting with Jesus, seems to play the role of the tent of meeting where the high priest elect stayed prior to the final installation ceremony.
Although there are clear parallels in the translations, the Secret Gospel of Mark is written in Greek and the Tanakh passages in Hebrew. In the Greek translation of the Tanakh, the Septuagint, the nakedness is expressed in words like χρωτὸς (skin or body) and ἀσχημοσύνη (shame, that which is unseemly) while Secret Mark has the expressionἐπὶ γυμνοῦ (on his bare body). Secret Mark has σινδόνα (linen cloth) while the Septuagint has λίνος (linen) combined with the article of clothing. Both use the same word for “to die” (ἀποθνῄσκω) but different words for commanding (ἐπιτάσσω and ἐντέλλομαι), etcetera.
Accordingly comparison of the text of the Secret Gospel of Mark to selected texts from the Tanakh demonstrate a similar vocabulary if translation effect is taken into account. The latter texts describe how to perform the ritual for instructing and sanctifying a new high priest. There is no hint of eroticism in the passages from the Tanakh. Both the Tanakh and the Secret Gospel of Mark state that the person undergoing instruction wore a linen (under)garment. In the Tanakh they did so in order to preserve their modesty and there is every reason to suppose that this was the motive also in the Secret Mark scene. Based on the language shared by the Tanakh and the Secret Gospel of Mark there is no reason to assume that the passage from the Secret Gospel of Mark describes a homoerotic ritual. Furthermore, the transmitter of the excerpt from the Secret Gospel of Mark, Clement of Alexandria, does not ascribe any reprehensible properties to the text. Clement counsels Theodore, the recipient of his letter, that it is only the corrupted version used by the Carpocratians that is heretical and salacious [1].
Additionally, it is hard to see why certain critics of the text assumed that the rich young man’s love for Jesus was homosexual in nature. The same terminology is used to describe Jesus’ affection for Lazarus [7], and for the disciple who allegedly composed the Gospel of John, the disciple Jesus loved [8]. No mainstream bible interpreter has accused Jesus of harboring homosexual thoughts, in spite of his love for these two men. Peter also declared his love for Jesus [9], yet the mainstream theological literature has never accused him of lusting after Jesus. Thus it seems that the definition of the word “love” has been inconsistently applied by some of the critics of Secret Mark.
If one is to find a match in the ancient literature for the ritual the rich young man in the Secret Gospel of Mark underwent, a possible match is the ritual for installing a new high priest as set forth in the Tanakh. If this was actually the case, then the author of the Secret Gospel of Mark was doing his best to keep the true nature of the ritual occult, or hidden from the casual reader. The text hints that Jesus had ordained a new High Priest to supplant the incumbent High Priest, Joseph ben Caiaphas, who was maintained in office by the Romans.
This supposititious ordination occurs at a point in the canonical Gospel of Mark’s narrative immediately before Jesus’ march on Jerusalem[10]. Therefore, the suspicion is raised that Jesus had planned to overthrow the Romans and their quisling High Priest, and install a replacement High Priest who was more to his liking. Having an overtly political and militant Jesus as the nominal founder of Christianity would not have found favor with the rulers of the Roman Empire, so it is not surprising that the Secret Gospel of Mark was kept a secret.
Acknowledgements: I want to extend my gratitude to Roger Viklund for his editorial assistance.
David Blocker
2014/05
[1]) On the other hand, Clement wrote to Theodore that the heretical Carpocratians had a spurious version of the text which did narrate unseemly carnal acts.The Carpocratian version of the Gospel of Mark apparently contained the phrase γυμνὸς γυμνῷ,“naked man with naked man”, which, according to Clement, was not found in the original version of the Secret Gospel of Mark.
Clement wrote this about the Carpocratian text:
“But since the foul demons are always devising destruction for the race of men, Carpocrates, instructed by them and using deceitful arts, so enslaved a certain presbyter of the church in Alexandria that he got from him a copy of the Secret Gospel, which he both interpreted according to his blasphemous and carnal doctrine and, moreover, polluted, mixing with the spotless and holy words utterly shameless lies. From this mixture is derived the teachings of the Carpocratians.”
[2]) The complete quotation of the Secret Mark excerpt:
“And they come into Bethany. And a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me’. But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God. And thence, arising, he returned to the other side of the Jordan.”
[3]) “from the dead” inserted for clarity. See John 11:44 from the Raising of Lazarus story, which parallels the Secret Gospel of Mart narrative.
[4]) If the day the young man emerged from the tomb is counted as day one instead of day zero, then the rich young man’s meeting with Jesus occurred seven days after he exited the tomb. This way of counting days seems to have been a contemporary practice. Jesus’ resurrection on the third day is another example of this style of counting (Mid day Friday to early Sunday morning is counted as “three days”.)
[5]) Presumably the fatal iniquity referred to in Exodus 28:43 is the priest inadvertently exposing his genitals when he approaches the altar. The linen undergarment described in Exodus 28:42 would prevent this dread event and preserve the high priest’s modesty. Exodus 20:26 prohibits exposing oneself when mounting the altar.
[6]) John 11:44 (New International Version (NIV)), “44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go’.”
Both John 11:44 and Leviticus 16:4 refer to head wrappings. The text of John11, the Raising of Lazarus, is a literary analogue of the excerpt from the Secret Gospel of Mark (https://rogerviklund.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/overlaps-between-secret-mark-the-raising-of-lazarus-in-john-and-the-gerasene-swine-episode-in-mark/).
[7]) John 11:5; “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”John 11:36; “Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” The word love (Greek: agapaô, phileô) is used to describe what Jesus called his friendship with Lazarus:
John 11:11; “After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” ”
[8]) John 13:23, John 19:26, John 21:7, John 21:20.
[9]) The disciple Peter also admitted his love for Jesus (John 21:15-17) but no mainstream Bible interpreter has ever imputed a homosexual underpinning to Peter’s love for Jesus.
[10]) Mark 11:7-11, Jesus’ so called Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
Jesus granskad 
Tänkaren said,
21 maj, 2014 den 18:39
hej Roger
en intressant artikel
http://theconversation.com/caveman-instincts-may-explain-our-belief-in-gods-and-ghosts-26945
GillaGilla
javad mofrad said,
13 juni, 2014 den 11:27
Jag tror att Jesus myt har kommit genom blanding av Adonis myt och historiske läraren Judas son av Zipporais myt. Jag har samlat mina åsikter i en artikel på svenska och engelska. Jag vill att ni tittar på det.
Jag har inte tränat på att skriva på engelska, artikeln har en kompis översatt på engelska.
GillaGilla
javad mofrad said,
13 juni, 2014 den 11:30
Who has been the historical and mythical Jesus Christ?
The answer is:
Judas the zealot, son of Zipporai and the holy young god Adonis
According to Josefus Flavius (a Jewish historian from the first century) the name Jesus Christ can only be a pet name because Josefus tells of all important events and all famous persons in Judaea in the first century but he actually does not know of anyone named Jesus Christ.* It is therefore imperative to seek the real historical name of Jesus Christ. This is an important world enigma. A group of historians do not at all believe that there has existed a man named, or with the epithet, Jesus Christ or any man with a similar character. Albert Schweitzer for instance claims: “The man called Jesus Christ, who appeared as the Messiah, preached the morality of the kingdom of God, founded the kingdom of heaven on earth and died to give his works its final sanctity, this man has never existed.” Another group, who are profound believers in the New Testament, has no doubts that Jesus Christ has been a half god/half man who existed in the beginning of our epoch with the characteristics described in the New Testament. I, myself, belong to a third category believing that there is an historic core concerning Jesus Christ in the New Testament; there has existed a provincial revolutionary Jewish leader in Palestine with the majority of the characteristics attributed to Jesus Christ. It can be proven that this revolutionary priest has been Judas, son of Zipporai, founder of the zealot party. This man lived twice as long as believed and he had a family and children.
*If one deletes the false supplements concerning Jesus Christ and St John the Baptist present in Josefus Flavius’s work “The ancient history of the Jews”.
Judas, son of Zipporai, is the historical Jesus Christ
Judas of Galilee, who made political and cultural rebellion in Jerusalem 5 B.C. and between 6 and 30 A.D., was not the same Judas of Galilee who fought the Romans from 4 B.C. until 6 A.D. This great mistake, to equalize these two persons, has caused many problems for the history of divinity. The first, and unknown, Judas of Galilee is the historical Jesus Christ while the other Judas of Galilee originally came from the city Gamala, east of the Lake of Galilee (the Kinnertlake). His father was Hezekiah, a robber killed by Herod the Great. According to Josefus Flavius and the Acts of the Apostles this Judas of Galilee broke open the king’s artillery depot in the city of Sepforis, armed his people but was conquered and killed by Quinctilius Varus, governor of Syria 4 B.C. to 6 A.D.
The first Judas of Galilee, equal to Judas, son of Zipporai, was a famous priest/philosopher and his struggle against the Romans was indeed ideological. Josefus Flavius (37-100 A.D.) tells this story about him:
VIII
Judas of Galilee. The three Jewish religious parties
The territory of Arkelai was turned into a province and a Roman knight by the name Koponius was sent there as governor with total power granted by the emperor. During his time (6-9 A.D.) a certain Galilee by the name of Judas seduced his fellow countrymen to apostasy in claiming that it was a shame paying taxes to the Romans and recognizing mortal men and rulers as their gods. He founded his own sect which had noting in common with the other sects that were formed. ***
*** This is one of the passages in which Josefus deliberately withholds the real facts.
Josefus tells the following about Judas of Galilee and his son Manaim:
A certain man named Manaim (Menahem), son of the renowned sophist (scribe) Judas with the surname the Galilee had on one occasion, while Quirinius was governor, reproached the Jews in obeying both God and the Romans. He went to Massada with his followers and broke open the artillery depot of King Herod the Great and armed his fellow countrymen as well as foreign robbers. He returned to Jerusalem as leader of this troop which also constituted his body guard as had he been a king…
This scribe Judas who founded the Zealot party (the zealous) must be Judas, son pf Zipporai. His followers pulled the great golden eagle (the symbol of the Roman Empire) off the gate to the famous Temple in Jerusalem and smashed it into pieces.
In the encyclopaedia Judaica we can read the following about Judas and his followers:
JUDAH, SON OF ZIPPORAI (first century), a patriot.
According to Josephus, Judah was a sophist of highest reputation among the Jews, an unrivalled interpreter of their ancestral laws, and educator of the youth. Taking advantage of Herod’s illness (4 B.C.) he, together with his friend and fellow scholar Matthias son of Margalot, persuaded their disciples to pull down the gold eagle, the symbol of Rome, which Herod had erected over the great gate of the Temple, since it was contrary to Jewish law. The two scholars together with their disciples were burnt alive on the command of Herod shortly before his death.
Josefus tells us indirectly in “The Jews’ war against the Romans” that Judas and his friend Matthew and some of their followers were burnt by Herod the Great:
Very reluctantly the king gave his approval to this; he burnt those who had climbed up on the roof alive and even so the other scribes. The other ones who had been imprisoned he handed over to the hangman for their execution.*
The place where this happened was Jericho, northwest of Jerusalem.
But when he tells more about this event in “The old history of the Jews” he only says: Matthew and some followers were burnt to death and many followers were executed. They were at least 40.
Judas, son of Zipporai, and some of his followers saved themselves from this event and managed to escape south into Egypt, very likely to the Sinai desert to the independent half Armenians and half Arabic nabatheans. However Judas and his followers surely came to Judea after 6 A.D. when Arkelaos, son of Herod the Great, was dethroned. The following notes make it ascertain that Judas son of Zipporai has been the historical Jesus Christ.
1. Judas was like Jesus born in Galilee.
2. He had followers which trudged along with him on long walks to different cities in Palestine.
3. His followers acknowledged him as a religious and political leader of the entire Judea.
4. In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, 14, there is this report: “Then came the disciples of St. John the Baptist (actually Matthew’s disciples) to collect the body of St. John and berry it and they went to Jesus to tell him what had happened. When Jesus was told the news he went away in a boat to a remote place where he could be alone.” Judas son of Zipporai managed however to escape from the wrath of King Herod the Great, while his friend Matthew and 40 of their followers were burnt to death or executed.
5. As we know Herod ordered the execution of about 40 of Judas’s and Matthew’s young followers at the time of Jesus’ birth. In the Gospel according to St. Matthew it is stated that Josef and Mary and the newborn child fled into Egypt while the other newborn boys in Bethlehem were killed by Herod’s soldiers.
6. During his lifetime Judas was a famous and learned scholar among the Jews and he tried to reform the culture and society of the Jews and liberate it from Romanization.
7. According to Judas’s teaching it was a shame that they paid taxes to the Romans and recognized, except god, mortal men as their governors. This phrase is comparable to the passage 29/5 in the Acts of the Apostles in which Peter and the Apostles answer: “It is more important to obey god than to obey men.”
8. In the Gospel according to St. Marc 1 we can read the following: one day Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee came to the Jordan River and was baptised by St. John. In the very moment when Jesus rose from the water he saw the heaven open and the Holy Ghost lowered down over him as a dove and a voice from heaven said: “you are my beloved son. You are my chosen one.” We know that Judas’s father’s name, i.e. “Zipporai” is the name of a bird and “Judas” means promised.
9. Two of Judas’s sons who ruled the Zealot party and were crucified by the Romans 47 A.D. were named Simon and Jacob (James). We know that they were recognized as brothers to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. It is also interesting that they also have a brother named Judas.
10. As we have stated the followers of Judas and Matthew pulled down the golden eagle, placed over the gate to the famous temple in Jerusalem, and smashed it into pieces. In the Apostles according to St. Matthew 12/21 it is however stated: “Then Jesus went into the temple in Jerusalem and forced the merchants out and pulled over the moneychangers tables and the booths were pigeons were sold”. According to the historical researchers there has never been anything sold in the Jerusalem Temple. An historic fact must therefore be the destroying of the golden eagle by the followers of Judas and Matthew.
11. Judas’s name which means praised and promised can be regarded as synonymous to Jesus, which means the saviour.
12. In the Apostles according to Matthew Jesus was named Nazarene (Galilee) after his return from Egypt. Thus has Judas son of Zipporai (the historical Jesus Christ) not been called the Galilee earlier.
A careful investigation of the myths of Adonis and the evangelical stories reveals a connection between the Adonis-cult and the early Christianity:
According to the famous Phoenician and Greek Adonis-myth there was a king in Syria by the name Téias (god). Aphrodite (goddess of love) forced his daughter Mira to make love to Téias for twelve dark nights. After these twelve nights Téias realized that this lady was his own daughter “Mira”. He decided to kill her but she managed to escape to the gods, they transformed her into the Myrrhe tree. After ten months she gave birth to “Adonis” (the lord). Aphrodite, who was very surprised by the beauty of the child, left him in care to Persephone (the goddess of the underworld). Persephone liked this lovely child and had therefore no intention of leaving him back to Aphrodite. There was a conflict between these goddesses but the goddess of poetry “Calliope” (according to other stories Zeus himself) solved this conflict in the manner that Adonis lives one third of the year with “heavenly Aphrodite” and one third in the underworld with Persephone and the rest of the year he may choose for himself. He chose to spend this with Aphrodite.
On the basis of the cult of the Phoenicians, Adonis died on a special day but rose the day after from his death. The Phoenicians mourned and celebrated these two days: The day he died they mourned, the women cried while the men arranged funeral ceremonies. They used an image of him. The next day they celebrated the resurrection of Adonis and in doing so they lifted up the image of Adonis.*
*Sir James George Frazer: Adonis. Attis. Osiris. London 1907.
There is reason to believe that the word Adonis (the lord), which was another name for the Phoenicians Baal (the lord) and a natural pet name for Judas son of Zipporai, equalized the god Adonis with the philosopher Judas, and these two divine and priestly dimensions together formed the divine and human characters of Jesus Christ. Christianity of course baptised this Adonis-myth and Adonis-cult. In this myth Téias, Mira, Myrrhe* and Persephone are comparable to the God, Herod, Mary, Misraim(Egypt) and “Josef” (the “educator” of Jesus Christ) in the New Testament. This connection and blending was most certainly done in the time of the Apostle St. Marc because Marc’s own mother was named Mary and his beloved uncle was named Josef, who according to the Acts of the Apostles got the pet name Barnabas the Preacher. These three people (Marc whose actual name was John, Mary and Josef) together with Paul and Peter played an important role in the ideological making, existence and development of Christianity.
In the Gospel according to St. Matthew 11/2 the three wise men from the east brought with them, among other things, myrrh as a gift to the newborn Jesus child. Mary (Mariam) means holy mother in Syrian. She is actually the Greek’s Demeter (holy mother) who raised a Greek kingly child with the opposite sex to Jesus, i.e. Demofon (the slayer of people). His mother is called Metarina (the far away planted).
SUMMARY
If the myths of Adonis are removed from the Gospels the remaining contents concern Judas son of Zipporai. Judas of Galilee, killed by Quinctilius Varus 5 A.D. was not the same Judas of Galilee who appeared 6 A.D. and was the founder of the Zealot party. This Judas of Galilee appeared when Quirinius was governor of Syria instead of the above just mentioned Quinctilius Varus. This Judas of Galilee, who we equalize with Judas son of Zipporai, is the historical Jesus Christ.
GillaGilla