Failed Parallels, Confused People

Alice C. Linsley

In historical analysis, literary criticism, and comparative mythology "parallelomania" refers to works that stress apparent similarities and construct parallels and analogies without historical basis. Without historical basis, the parallel is considered false and unfounded. There are many examples of parallelomania and false correlations circulating on the Internet. Here is an example:

• Abraham is a variant of Brahma.
• Sara is a variant of Sarawati.
• Brahma and his wife Saraswati are the founders of the worlds.
• Abraham is said to be the father of many nations.
• Abraham and Sara represent a parallel to the Hindu myth.
• The name of the Jordan River is from the Sanskrit root Jhara.

The mythical Brahma and Sarawati are posed as a parallel to the historical Abraham and Sarah, but there is no historical evidence linking the two set of couples. 

There are linguistic connections between the ancient languages spoken by Abraham's ancestors and the Dravoid peoples. They share ancient Akkadian roots, as has been recognized by Hindu scholars. The Indian scholar, Malati J. Shendge, concluded that the language of the Harappans of the Indus Valley was Akkadian.

Ajay Pratap Singh has written, "Comparisons of Akkadian and Sanskrit words yielded at least 400 words in both languages with comparable phonetic and semantic similarities. Thus, Sanskrit has, in fact, descended from Akkadian." 

Sarawati refers to a river and a sub-caste of Hindu Brahman society. 

The name of the River Jordan is from the Hebrew ירדן‎ Yarden.

Correlations drawn simply on the basis of the resemblance of names is always risky.

This raises a question about the proper boundaries of historical investigation. None would question the value of referring to the writings of ancient historians to better understand their contexts. Ancient sacred texts are useful for historical investigation also. However, secularists tend to regard religious documents as questionable historical evidence. 

As an anthropologist, I am aware of the dangers of constructing parallels without substantial evidence. I have no interest in exaggerating trifling resemblances. The apparent similarities between Horus and the biblical account of Jesus Christ are not an example of parallelomania. Instead, the evidence suggests that the Horite Hebrew belief in Horus as the son of God is the basis of Messianic expectation. 

A close reading of Genesis reveals that Abraham's ancestors came out of the Nile Valley. His cultural context was Kushite. Abraham's father Terah was a Horite Hebrew priest, and the Horite Hebrew were devotees of Re, Hathor and Horus. That has been confirmed by archaeology, anthropology, DNA studies, ancient texts, and migration studies. 

Abraham and his people held Hathor as a sacred archetype. She conceived Horus by divine overshadowing. She points to the Virgin Mary, who by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, brought forth the "Seed" of God in accordance with Genesis 3:15. The message of Christianity is that Jesus fulfilled the expectation of a Righteous Ruler who would trample down death by his death and lead his people to immortality.

The Ra-Horus-Hathor narrative is a form of the Proto-Gospel. To pose Christianity and the faith of the Horite Hebrew as an example of parallelomania is nonsense! The Horite Hebrew believed in God Father and God Son. Horus is the pattern upon which Messianic expectation developed. Jesus is the only figure of history who fits the pattern, and He is a descendant of the Horite ruler-priests, as I have demonstrated through scientific analysis of the Horite Herew marriage and ascendancy pattern. 

Christianity is not an invented religion based on the Horus myth. It is a faith with deep roots, a received tradition concerning a unique hope for life beyond death. That life is given through the divine ruler who overcomes the grave and leads his people to abundant life. The details of the narrative are extremely important. One such detail is the third-day resurrection described in Pyramid Texts, Utterance 667: "Oh Horus, this hour of the morning, of this third day is come, when thou surely passeth on to heaven, together with the stars, the imperishable stars."

The Horite expectation that the Divine One would not remain in the grave is expressed in Psalm 16:10:  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

It has been argued that the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection are based on the Horus myth, and that Christianity is a copy-cat religion. This argument has no basis in facts, and has been proven false.

The core of Christianity concerns the expectation of a Divine Son or the "Seed"of God. This is called “Messianic Expectation” and is attributed to the Jews. However, it existed long before there was a "Jewish" ethnicity. It is attributed to the ancient Hebrew (4000-2000 BC).

This expectation can be traced to Abraham’s Hebrew ancestors. They believed that one of their virgins would miraculously conceive and bring forth the Son/Seed of God. This was a central belief of Abraham’s Horite Hebrew ancestors. 

Why would the Horite Hebrew believe this? What was the basis for their hope?  The answer appears to be found in Genesis 3:15. Abraham’s ancestors received a promise that a “Woman” of their ruler-priest lines would bring forth the Seed who would crush the serpent’s head and restore paradise.

The myth of Horus is a form of the Proto-Gospel. Jesus’ Horite ancestry has been demonstrated through scientific analysis of the Horite marriage and ascendancy pattern. We are not speaking here of trifling resemblances between the myth of Horus and the historic Jesus. Scripture itself which indicates that Abraham and his people were a caste of ruler-priest devotees of Horus. Their cultural context was Kushite and they expected a woman of their blood lines to bring forth the "Seed" of God in accordance with the first biblical promise (Gen. 3:15). This is the origin of Messianic expectation, and clearly it did not originate with the Jews who reject belief in God Son. (See Trinitarian Correspondances Between Mesopotamia and the Nile.)

Because the myth of Horus has striking parallels to the story of Jesus, some claim that Christians borrowed the idea of a dying-rising deity from the ancient Egyptians. That claim fails to take into consideration that the New Testament writers were heirs of the Horite Hebrew religion and they saw Jesus as the fulfillment of the ancient hope for a ruler-priest who would overcome death.

This statute of the Kushite-Nubian Pharaoh Taharqa shows him holding two orbs and kneeling before the falcon totem of Horus. The two orbs are the Upper and Lower Nile regions which were first united by the Kushite-Nubian kings before the first Egyptian dynasties. Apparently, the inscription states that Taharka is offering "wine to the little-known Egyptian falcon-god Hemen." Inscriptions are not reliable because sometimes they are written long after the statue was created or are changed to honor the current ruler and the current ruler's favorite deity.

We have reason to doubt that Taharqa is venerating Hemen as Hemen's totem was a hippopotamus. The falcon is the totem of Horus. At Nekhen, the oldest known site of the Horite Hebrew, Hemen was associated with Horus, the Son of  the High God Ra. 

One ancient Nilotic text says, "I am Horus, the great Falcon upon the ramparts of the house of him of the hidden name. My flight has reached the horizon. I have passed by the gods of Nut. I have gone further than the gods of old. Even the most ancient bird could not equal my very first flight. I have removed my place beyond the powers of Set, the foe of my father Osiris. No other god could do what I have done. I have brought the ways of eternity to the twilight of the morning. I am unique in my flight. My wrath will be turned against the enemy of my father Osiris and I will put him beneath my feet in my name of ‘Red Cloak’.”

Here we find the words of Psalm 110:1, a Messianic reference: The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” 

A reference to Horus' resurrection on the third day is found in Pyramid Texts Utterance 667: "Oh Horus, this hour of the morning, of this third day is come, when thou surely passeth on to heaven, together with the stars, the imperishable stars." (1941b)

The early Hebrew expectation that the Divine One would not remain in the grave is expressed in Psalm 16:10: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." However, it was expressed almost 1000 years earlier in the Pyramid Texts.

Related reading: Abraham's Faith Lives in Christianity; The Substance of Abraham's Faith, The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection

The Development of the Nicene Creed

Icon of the Second Council of Nicaea

Though there are denominational differences among Christians, especially since the 16th century, Christians around the world agree on certain core beliefs. Many of these beliefs were clarified by councils of wise bishops, priests and deacons. This is why Christianity is described as conciliar.

In the history of the Church seven ecumenical councils have been especially important. These councils were called to resolve controversies surrounding Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and holy images such as icons.

The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Councils address the veneration (honor) due to the Virgin Mary. The veneration of Mary was a common practice before the rise of Protestantism, and the oldest cathedrals have chapels dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Many statutes of Mary were destroyed by the Puritans under Oliver Cromwell's rule in England, and even today her image is an affront to those who hate her son. The destruction of images is called “iconoclasm.”

Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, had much to say about the veneration of Mary. He wrote, "The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart." (Sermon, Sept. 1st 1522)

Luther also said, "People have crowded all her glory into a single phrase: The Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her, though he had as many tongues as there are leaves on the tress." (From the Commentary of the Magnificat)

The Nicene Creed is a summary of the core beliefs of the Christian Faith.

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker (of heaven and earth, and) of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds (æons), Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;

by whom all things were made (in heaven and on earth);

who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man;

he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;

from thence he shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father (Rome adds "and from the Son"), who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.

In one holy catholic and apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

What follows is a summary of the decisions of the first Seven Ecumenical Councils.

1. First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) with 318 bishops present, including St. Nicholas of Myra, St. James of Nisibis, and St. Athanasius of Antioch, who was a deacon at that time. 

As the first Roman emperor to claim adherence to Christianity, Constantine played a role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which decreed tolerance for Christianity in the empire. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325. However, it is possible that Constantine did not agree with all the decisions of that council. His son Constantius II encouraged the Arians.

This Council was called to resolve controversy raised by the Alexandrian priest Arius, who rejected the Jesus Christ’s divine nature and eternal pre-existence as the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God the Father. Arius taught that the Son of God is the highest creation. Therefore, in the Nicene Creed we affirm that Jesus Christ is “begotten of the Father, not made…”

2. First Council of Constantinople (A.D. 381) with 150 bishops present, including Gregory the Theologian, who presided over the Council, Gregory of Nyssa, and Cyril of Jerusalem.

This Council was convoked against the false teaching of the Arian bishop of Constantinople, Macedonius, who rejected the deity of the third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit. He taught that the Holy Spirit is not God, and called Him a created power like an angel, and therefore subservient to God the Father and God the Son. The Council affirmed as a dogma (unchanging truth) the equality and the single essence of God the Holy Spirit with God the Father and God the Son. The Council also supplemented the Nicene Creed, or "Symbol of Faith," with five Articles in which is set forth its teaching about the Holy Spirit, about the Church, about the Mysteries, about the resurrection of the dead, and the life in the world to come. This is called the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and it serves as a guide to the Church for all time.

3. Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431) with 200 bishops present, with Cyril Patriarch of Alexandria as president of the council.

This Council repudiated the doctrine of Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople, who taught that the Virgin Mary simply gave birth to the Christ the man. He insisted that Mary be given the title Christotokos (Christ Bearer), but not Theotokos (God-Bearer), thereby denying that Jesus is God incarnate. Nestorius taught that God dwelt in Jesus, as God dwelt in a temple. The Council upheld the divine nature of Jesus Christ and that at the time of the incarnation he was of two natures, divine and human, and that being so, the Mary did indeed bear God. The Council also affirmed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and strictly prohibited making any changes or additions to it (as happened when the Western Church added the words “and from the Son” to the Creed, referring to the procession of the Holy Spirit. This is called the “Filioque clause” and among Anglicans this phrase may be omitted when reciting the Nicene Creed.

4. Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) with 650 bishops present

This Council met to challenge the doctrine of Eutyches, an archimandrite of a monastery in Constantinople. In attempting to defend the full divinity of Jesus, Eutyches went to the extreme of rejecting the full humanity of Jesus. Eutyches taught that the human nature was completely absorbed into Jesus Christ’s divine nature (Monophysitism).The Council determined that Jesus Christ is perfect God, born by God, and perfect Man, taking his flesh from his mother Mary and in every way He is like us, except without sin.

The Council condemned monophysitism and deposed Dioscorus, the Patriarch of Alexandria. In 452, one year later, with the support of the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II, Dioscorus convened the Second Council of Ephesus (later denounced as the “Robber Synod”), where he reinstated Eutyches, and attempted to excommunicate Pope Leo I for his condemnation of Eutyches.

Some Eastern churches do not accept this judgment. These include the “miaphysite” Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Church of India. These are considered “Non-Chalcedonian” churches. Miaphysitism holds that in Jesus Christ, Divinity and Humanity are united in one nature (monism), the two being united without separation, without confusion, and without alteration.

5. Second Council of Constantinople (A.D. 553) was called by the emperor Justinian and Eutychius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, presided. (Eutychius should not be confused with the heretic Eutyches.) There were 165 bishops present or represented.

This council convened to address the heretical proposition that the Christ and Jesus were two separate persons loosely conjoined. This Council reaffirmed that Jesus Christ has two natures, fully human and fully divine, and that these are neither separable nor mixed.

The question of the Virgin Mary as Theotokos (God Bearer) or Christotokos (Christ Bearer) arose again. The Fifth Ecumenical Council upheld the judgement of the Third Ecumenical Council in 431 that Mary is Theotokos because her son is the very image of God incarnate.

6. Third Council of Constantinople (A.D. 680) with 170 bishops present, including St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and St. Maximus the Confessor, who the Romans had tortured by cutting out his tongue cut and chopping off his right hand.

The Council condemned the heresies of monoenergism and monothelitism, and defined Jesus Christ as having two energies and two wills (divine and human). Monoenergism teaches that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one energy, whereas orthodoxy teaches that Jesus Christ acts through two energies, divine and human, generally called Dyoenergism. Monothelitism teaches that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will. This is contrary to orthodox Christology, which teaches that Jesus Christ has two wills (human and divine) corresponding to his two natures.

The Sixth Ecumenical Council also rejected several innovations, namely, the Latin Church's requirement that priests and deacons be unmarried, strict fasting on Saturdays during Lent, and representations of Jesus as a lamb [Lamb of God], or in any way other than in the form He appeared on the earth. This was intended to curb what was regarded as Roman idolatry. 

7. Second Council of Nicaea (A.D. 787) with 367 bishops, priests and “spiritual fathers” present

The decrees were framed by the president Tarasius, and ratified by the acclamations and subscriptions of three hundred and fifty bishops.

By now the Church had to address the question of Hebrews who would affiliate with the Church. The Seventh Council decided: "Hebrews must not be received unless they are manifestly converted with sincerity of heart."

This Council was convened against the iconoclastic heresy, which had been raging for sixty years before the Council, under the Greek Emperor Leo III, who hoped to convert Muslims to Christianity. To do so, he thought it necessary to do away with icons. Emperor Leo’s son, Constantine V (741–775), held the Council of Hieria to make the suppression of holy images official. Veneration of the holy icons was finally restored and affirmed by the local synod of Constantinople in 843 A.D., under the Empress Theodora. 

At the seventh ecumenical council it was determined that, “As the sacred and life-giving cross is everywhere set up as a symbol, so also should the images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the holy angels, as well as those of the saints and other pious and holy men be embodied in the manufacture of sacred vessels, tapestries, vestments, etc., and exhibited on the walls of churches, in the homes, and in all conspicuous places, by the roadside and everywhere, to be revered by all who might see them. For the more they are contemplated, the more they move to fervent memory of their prototypes. Therefore, it is proper to accord to them a fervent and reverent adoration, not, however, the veritable worship which, according to our faith, belongs to the Divine Being alone — for the honor accorded to the image passes over to its prototype, and whoever adores the image adores in it the reality of what is there represented."

In keeping with the spirit of the early Middle Ages, there was an emphasis on every church having a relic enshrined in the altar. A relic consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or venerated person preserved as a tangible memorial. All Eastern Orthodox churches and many Roman Catholic churches have altars containing relics. Many of the oldest churches in England have relics. Relics of St. Thomas Becket are housed in Trinity Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral. Recently, archaeologists have found the remains of four of the Puritan founders of the Jamestown Settlement and were surprised to find a relic among the items buried with Capt. Gabriel Archer.  (See 2015, Washington Post, “Jamestown excavation unearths four bodies and a mystery in a box”)

The Councils rejected as heresy the belief of Nestorius because he divided the one Son and Word of God into two sons, and, on the other side, also rejected the heresies of Arius, Dioscorus, Eutyches, and Severus, because they maintained a mingling of the two natures of the one Christ.


Related reading: The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Abraham's Faith Lives in Christianity

The Cross on a wall at the Temple of Horus at Edfu.

Alice C. Linsley

There is a surprising consistency between the Horite Hebrew religion and Christianity. The earliest Christians were Jews who continued their worship practices. However, Judaism, did not preserve the faith of Abraham.

Certainly, early Christian worship was patterned on the synagogue, with scripture readings, prayers, homilies, and days of feasting and fasting. The east-facing altar is patterned on the worship places of the Hebrew, as are church furnishings such as the tabernacle and the lamp. However, Christianity alone affirms that Messiah is the Son of God.

The Apostle Paul wrote a great deal about the Messianic Faith and how it is expressed in the promises made to Abraham the Hebrew. Paul stresses that those who follow Jesus Messiah have been made partakers of those ancient promises (Galatians 3:7-9). He exposes as a false teaching the Judaizers' insistence that the Messianic Faith requires adherence to the laws of Judaism.

Paul makes it clear that the true believer is connected to Abraham the Hebrew, not to Judaism. He identifies Abraham’s Seed as Jesus Messiah. In Galatians 3:29, Paul explains, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, and heirs according to the promise” made to Abraham.

In a sense, the earliest followers of Jesus re-discovered the faith of Abraham. They came to believe that Jesus is the Son of God whose sacrifice on the mountain was prefigured in the sacrifice of the Ram on Mount Moriah. James 2 explains, "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?" This is what Father Abraham discovered.

Horus as the appointed ram to be sacrificed.

For Abraham the Horite Hebrew, the ram was associated with the west, the setting sun, and the future. The son of God rode with the Father on the solar boat. The boat of the morning hours was called Mandjet and the boat of the evening hours was called Mesektet. While Horus was on the Mesektet, he was in his ram-headed form.

The ram provided by God spoke of  God's acceptance of Abraham's intent to offer Isaac. The lamb that Issac had anticipated and which Abraham said God would provide became the ram. Horus was the Lamb in his weaker state and he was the Ram in his glorified sacrificed strength. 

John expresses the good news of Messiah this way:

God declares that Jesus is his Son. All who believe this know in their hearts that it is true. If anyone doesn’t believe this, he is actually calling God a liar because he doesn’t believe what God has said about his Son. And what is it that God has said? That he has given us eternal life and that this life is in his Son. So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son, does not have life. (1 John 9b-12)

Christianity is an organic religion that emerges out of a belief that God made a promise in Eden and that He has been busy fulfilling that promise in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The core of Christianity can be traced to the beliefs of Abraham and his ancestors. It predates all the great world religions. Christianity isn't original, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in great antiquity, and herein rests its authority.

Solar Symbolism

Among the Horite Hebrew the sun was the symbol of the High God. The ancient solar symbolism is very much a part of Christianity. The oldest churches in both the East and the West have the altar at the east end (ad orientem) and the priest celebrates facing the rising sun with his back to the congregation.

Timothy I, Patriarch of the Church of the East from 780 to 823, explains, "He [Christ] has taught us all the economy of the Christian religion: baptism, laws, ordinances, prayers, worship in the direction of the east, and the sacrifice that we offer. All these things He practiced in His person and taught us to practice ourselves."

In many of the great cathedrals the window above the high altar depicts the sun. Here is an example from the Duomo in Milan, Italy.

Another example is found at a church in Lugano, Switzerland. This image was adopted by the Jesuits and is found wherever they established centers of learning.

A Triune Godhead

The Messianic Faith of Abraham has spread to so many populations that it is difficult to identify a single people group with his faith. Judaism rejects the idea that God has a son, so Judaism does not represent the faith of Abraham the Hebrew. (The English word "Hebrew" is derived from the Akkadian word "abru" - priestly official. The caste of Hebrew priests was called "abrutu" - collegium of abru-priests. See The Assyrian Dictionary of the oriental institute of the university of Chicago,1964, page 64.

Abraham and his Horite Hebrew caste believed in God Father, God Son and God Spirit. Among the Nilotic Hebrew God Father was called Re, God Son was called Horus, and God Spirit was called Akh (related to the word 'ankh").

The ankh appears on ancient images related to the hope of the resurrection. It is held, often by Hathor (mother of Horus), to the mouth of the deceased in the mouth opening ritual. The image above was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun. In the Nicene Creed, the Spirit of God ("Akh" in ancient Egyptian) is called "the Lord, the giver of life."

The mouth is used to consume food and the deceased were offered the bread of life, called "the kmhw bread of Horus" in ancient Egyptian, and called " khenfu cake" in Akkadian. Khenfu cakes are mentioned in the 2500 BC Code of Ani. Ani/Anu is the Akkadian word for the High God and his son's Akkadian name is Enki. God the Spirit was called Enlil. Enlil is equivalent to the Hebrew word Ruach (Genesis 1), as it means the breath or wind of the Creator.

The image above shows a ka-priest presenting the bread of life in a basket. Note that the bread is round like the sun at the top of the image. The bread above is reflected in or replicated by the bread below. ("As in heaven, so on earth."). The sun was the emblem of God Father and God Son among the Horite Hebrew. As on Hezekiah's seal, it often appears winged and resembles the scarab or dung beetle that navigates by the Milky Way. The ancient Egyptians considered the Milky Way the path to eternity.


The Bread of Life

In The Pyramid Texts (2400 BC) we read: "O Hunger, do not come for me; go to the Abyss, depart to the flood! I am satisfied, I am not hungry because of this kmhw bread of Horus which I have eaten." (Utterance 338) It appears that the "kmhw bread of Horus" is the bread of immortality prefigured in Scripture as Manna in the wilderness. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die." (John 6:48-50) Concerning himself, Jesus said that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6:53-54).

Palms and Palm Sunday

Certainly some biblical populations are still extant. The Jebusites are an example. They are called Jebu or Ijebu in Africa. Jebu rulers are installed with palm branches. Jude Adebo Adeleye Ogunade writes in his memoir about growing up Ijebu. He was warned not to touch the leaves of the Igi-Ose tree, because as his Mama Eleni explained: "That tree is the tree whose leaves are used to install Chiefs and Kings of Ijebu and as your grandfather was a custodian of the rites of chieftaincy and kingship you must not play with its leaves." 

Jerusalem was a Jebusite city and a Jebusite tradition was observed when Jesus was greeted as King by people waving palm branches.

Painted ostrich egg 7th century BC found on Cyprus.

Credit: De Agostini Picture Library

Easter Eggs

Painted ostrich eggs have been found in tombs at Hierakonpolis (Nekhen), the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship. They also have been found in many graves of children in ancient Nubia. At Naqada, a decorated ostrich egg replaced the owner's missing head. This egg is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

The eggs were placed in graves as an expression of hope for life after death. The ostrich feather was also symbolic of that hope. The personification of truth called Ma'at is shown with an ostrich feather in her hair. Using this feather, she weighed the hearts of the dead to determine who would enter eternal life and who would experience the second death (Rev. 2:11, 20:14).


(For further exploration of this topic, see this thread.)

Related reading: Understanding the Science of Biblical Anthropology; The Ra-Horus-Hathor Narrative; What Abraham Discovered on Mount Moriah; The Substance of Abraham's Faith; Ancient Words for Priests, Horite Mounds; The Sky Bull as a Messianic Symbol; Judaism is NOT the Faith of Abraham

Royal Babies

Alice C. Linsley


The royal couple William and Kate are going to have a baby next summer and the world rejoices. Bookies are taking wagers on the child's gender and name and people are discussing the prospect of a future king or queen.

Though the government will not be upon this child's shoulders, there is much ado about the birth of this royal baby. The birth of children to royal houses is not like the birth of children to common folk. It never has been.

Heirs to the throne are listed in Genesis 4 and 5. These are the oldest extant king lists, reflecting the Proto-Saharan kingdom builders who united the Upper and Lower Nile at the dawn of the Bronze Age. It was from their lines that the "Seed" of God was expected to be born (Gen. 3:15). They were awaiting a righteous king who would lead the people to immortality.

Rulers were very powerful in those days. Their greatness is recorded in Genesis and in extra-biblical documents. The description of Nimrod in Genesis 10 suggests that he was Sargon the Great who claimed that his mother miraculously conceived him while in the temple. However, Sargon died and remained in his grave, thus proving himself to be a mere mortal incapable of leading his people to eternal life.

While people speculate about William and Kate's royal offspring, none expect this ruler to be the savior of his or her people. The child is anticipated to be fully mortal, and unlike millions of commoner babies who are aborted daily, this child will be well protected. Measures are taken to protect potential heirs to the throne. History teaches that royal babies are often the targets of political enemies.

The birth of Jesus to the ruler-priest lines of Mary and Joseph was recognized by all the Wise Men of that time, both friends and foes (a biblical merism).

Wise Men who recognized His star in the East brought Him gifts. They were sidereal astronomers who recognized the significance of the conjunction of the king planet (Jupiter) and the king star (Regulus) in the constellation associated to Judah.

Herod's attempt to kill the royal child confirms that his Wise Men knew the prophesy concerning Messiah's birth place in the ancient Horite settlement of Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 4:4). Angels announced to the shepherd descendants of the Horites that the promise God made to their ancestors in Eden was fulfilled in that royal city.

Angels guided and protected the holy family because their lives were in danger. The newborn King of Israel was so great a threat to the government that He was safer in Egypt and more honored in Tyre than He ever was in Jerusalem.

This Christmas consider the evidence for Jesus as the Holy One promised of the Father and spread the Good News of His coming in the flesh.


Christmas meditations: The Horite Ancestry of Jesus Christ; Tracing the Horites in History; Christians are Christmas People; Egypt in the Christmas Narrative; Christmas Message From Genesis; The Virgin Birth and the Manger Too!; Genesis and the True Meaning of Christmas

Another Response to "Why I am Not Protestant"

There has been a great deal of conversation following the post "Why I am Not a Protestant" and much of the conversation has been helpful to me personally.  I related to John Wood's Lament and his struggle to find an expression of the true Faith that speaks in tones with which he resonates. 

The following is an important perspective also. It comes from James Morgan, a former Anglican, who has been Orthodox for about 25 years. He writes in response to my post here.

1. I think that over the long run the Ordinariate people will be encapsulated by the borg of the Roman Church.Too bad. They have a goodly heritage spanning over 400 years, but how many RCs think anything of Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, the Ancrewn Rule, or any of the other worthies that flourished before the Deformation? Not many, I fear.

2. As to the Caroline Divines, it seems to be a mostly scholarly persuit, and I doubt that many pew-sitting RCs have ever heard of them or even care much. Same goes for the glorious cathedral (and parochial) music from Tallis to Howells. Not part of the normal RC parish mix, even though they seem to be getting rid of the guitars and drums.

3. As a delegate to several diocesan conventions in Los Angeles, ending in the '80s, and as a member of the Commission on Ministry there for six years, I realized that the theology was all over the place, ranging from crypto-buddhism to papalism, with many stops in between. No common theology; thus no common language or communication. One of our ordinands departed for Australia in disgust, even though he had a wonderful reference from A. M. Maskall at Oxford.

4. This experience prompted me to investigate where the truth lay: I soon found that the Orthodox Church, despite its warts proclaimed the same dogmatic truth, and practiced the same sacramental life, even though there were divisions of ethnicity, and arguments as to who was the 'real, true, genuine Orthodox'.

5. As to the female clergy, I was involved in vetting several when I was on the COM. Ironically, most were of the Anglo-Catholic persuasion. And they really wanted to serve the church and minister to people. One was the daughter of a bishop (I forget her name now) but she stressed confession, frequent communion, and a rule of life. She was a spiritual mother to many people, but always felt she was a minority witness. The situation in the TOC has changed a lot now of course with the radicals taking over. I doubt that any of the women clergy I knew back then would approve, or even be in communion with Katie and her ilk.

As to Gary's comment, you might want to mention that ROCOR has a growing Western Rite group, mostly on the east coast of the US, and that many of the 'ethnic' groups have mostly English services. Naturally immigration from the homelands has caused some parishes to revert to the old country languages in order to minister to their new flocks (Romanian, Serbian, Ukranian etc) but even out here on the Left coast we have many 'traditional' parishes who serve mainly in English. I don't know about the rest of the country.


Rdr. James Morgan
Olympia, WA