Christ Conspiracy_ The Greatest Story Ever Sold - Acharya S [183]
According to Origen, "the" Zealots were a branch that broke off the Essenes, which would explain the confusion between the two sects, both of which were also claimed to be offshoots of the Hasidic/ Levitical priesthood, which was itself zealous, representing the Zealous God. Of this confusion between sects, Baigent and Leigh related that, in their search for the "historical" Jesus, they found themselves "confronted by an apparently bewildering spectrum of Judaic cults, sects, and sub-sects, of political and religious organisations and institutions, which seemed sometimes to be militantly at odds with one another, sometimes to overlap. It became quickly apparent to us that the labels used to differentiate between the groups-Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Nazorenes-were neither accurate nor useful."12
The zealous followers of Judas the Galilean were called Sicarii, named for the daggers they carried and plunged into the "bosom" of victims. Obviously, though they may have come from the same seed, the Zealots were not Essenes, as, in fact, the Essenes abhorred such violent zealousness. However, other brotherhoods not only made use of such Zealots, they actually trained and funded them. "The" Zealots were, in general, lowerlevel initiates into secret societies, while the highest level were the sacerdotal class or Magi. 13 If the higher level initiates wanted something done, the Zealots were the foot soldiers to send out.
Galilee and Samaria
As stated, the name Galilean itself was used to designate a Zealot, and gospel characters such as Jesus and Peter were said to be Galileans. In fact, Galilee plays an important role in the Christian drama, as it was at Capernaum, on the border between Galilee and Syria that Christ was said to have "come down" and spent part of his time. Although at one point a part of Israel/ Samaria, Galilee was multinational, with a largely Syrian influence, and by the first century BCE was mostly Gentile. Galilee was also known to be a stronghold of the zealous Jewish priesthood, the Sadducees. As Lockhart relates:
. . . the early "Penitents of Israel," composed of the purist Sadducees from the Temple in Jerusalem, left Judea and made their headquarters in the land of Damascus. Many sectaries founded settlements in the northern districts, and these "Elect of Israel" of the latter days interacted with like-minded spirits among the groups devoted to the old Nazarite way of life. 14
Galilee was thus a site for Sadducees displaced from the temple of Jerusalem, going back to the split between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, when the Sadducees were called "sons of Zadok." Some of the Sadducees, however, remained in Jerusalem, where they held the high priesthood for centuries until they were driven out of the Sanhedrin by the Pharisees in the first centuries before and after the beginning of the Common Era.
As noted, the definition of and division between of the various sects and priesthoods were not hard and fast. These groups' agenda or "interpretation of the law," in fact, depended on where they were located. Although they are deemed "purists" and "conservatives," the Sadducees were, in reality, Hellenizing Jews, and those who initially "repaired to" the northern kingdom of Israel became distinct from their counterparts in Jerusalem. The Israelite Sadducees apparently served as the "Jewish" priesthood not only in "Damascus," or Galilee, but also in Samaria, which is identified with Damascus at Isaiah 10:9: "Is not Samaria like Damascus?" Indeed, in Samaria, or Ephraim, were several important Israelite sacred sites, such as Shiloh, Shechem, BethEl and Mt. Gerizim, operated by the northern Levitical priesthood, which included Zadokites/Sadducees who left Judah on various occasions.
Like so many "sons of Israel," Israel/Ephraim/Samaria was accused by the Judeans of "whoring after other gods" and was purportedly punished for worshipping the "Harlot," or Goddess, and