Akhi James Trimm.....

Shlama Akhi James,

I've done some digging and found some historical information on the connection between the Nazarenes in Jerusalem and the CoE in Babylon.

The works cited are from Church of the East historian Solomon of al-Basra ("The Bee" (ed. with ET by E. A. W. Budge, Oxford, 1886) and C.F. Burkitt (Eastern Christianity, pp. 28 f. G. Westphal, Untersuchungen �ber die Quellen und die Glaubw�rdigkeit der Patriarchenchroniken des Mari ibn Sulaiman, `Amr ibn Matai und Saliba ibn Johannan (Strassburg inaugural dissertation, Kirchhain, 1901), pp. 38, 40, 44, 46-48. ) and finally Westphal (Patriarchenchroniken, p. 30.).

According to ancient sources quoted in the above works:

• Mar Abris, who was Patriarch of the CoE in Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Babylon) from 90-107, was a relative of the Virgin Maryam. He was elected in Jerusalem and sent to serve as Patriarch in Babylon.
  
• The very next Patriarch was Mar Abraham, who served from 130-152. He was a relative of James the Just, was consecrated in Antioch and served in Babylon.
  
• And finally, Mar Yaqub, who served from 172-190, who was related to Yosip the carpenter, was sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
  

Fk^rwbw 0ml4

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In reply to message #0
 
Thanks. The folowing is a rough draft of a sub-section in my History of the Ancient Nazarenes:

The Dynasty

The leaders of the Nazarene movement were a sort of �dynasty� sorrounding Yeshua�s family. There were however good reasons for this. In his discussions of the Nazarenes Epiphanius mentions that Messiah Yeshua was heir to King David�s throne as King David�s seed:

David�s throne continued to exist until Messiah himself�
The royal dignity coming from our Lord Yeshua the Messiah�
From the fact that he is of King� David�s seed�
Ya�akov having been ordained at once the first Bishop (Nasi)
he who is called brother of the Lord and emissary, Yosef�s
son by nature� he is David�s stock through being Yosef�s son�

Following Ya�akov�s death in 63 C.E. the Nazarenes chose his relative Shim�on as his successor as Eusebius writes:

After the martyrdom of Ya�akov� those of the emissaries and talmidim
of our Lord, that were yet surviving, came together from all parts with
those that were related to our Lord according to the flesh. For the greater
part of them were yet living. These consulted together, to determine
whom it was proper to pronounce worthy of being the successor of Ya�akov.
They all unanimously declared Shim�on the son of Cleophas�
They say he was the cousin of our Saviour, for Hegesippus asserts that
Cleophas was the brother of Yosef.
(Eccl. Hist. 3:11)

It should be noted that the Ketuvim Netzarim mentions a Shim�on who was the SON of Yosef and BROTHER of Ya�akov. It is possible that THIS was the Shim�on who succeeded Ya�akov as heir to the throne. At any rate the second Nasi, Shim�on was also a Yeshua�s relative and it seems that the office of Nasi among the ancient Nazarenes was passed along the �dynasty� of the heirs to King David�s throne. Shim�on dervrd as Nasi until 110 C.E. During his time in office Rome became particularly concerned that heirs of King David including grandchildren of Yeshua�s brother Y�hudah might still exist. Vespian had earlier attempted to wipe out any such heirs. In 94 CE the Emporer Evocatus had the two son�s of Yeshua�s brother Y�hudah brought before him. They confessed to being David�s heirs but upon examination the emporer found that they had only a small amount of money between the two of them and that they had calluses from farming a mere thirty-nine acres which they farmed to suppor their family and pay their taxes. When asked about Messiah�s Kingdom they indicted that it would only appear at the end of the world. The emporer dismissed them as �simpletons� (Eccl. Hist. 3:20). It is likely that �Justus� who succeeded Shim�on in 110 C.E. was one of these two sons of Y�hudah (Eccl. Hist. 3:35).

This dynasty of the heirs to David�s throne extended beyond Jerusalem and had an outpost in the Parthen Empire, outside of the power of Rome. The overseer of the assembly at Babylon from 90-107 C.E. was Adon Abris who was said to be a relative of Miriam the mother of Yeshua. He was said to have been elected at Jerusalem and sent to serve as overseer in Babylon. He was succeeded in Babylon by Adon Avraham who served from 130-152 C.E. and was said to be a relative of Ya�akov HaTzadik (James the Just). Also another overseer of the assembly at Babylon was a certain Adon Ya�akov who served from 172-190 and was said to be a relative of Yosef the step-father of Yeshua. He also had been sent from Jerusalem to serve as overseer of the assembly at Babylon.

James Trimm

In reply to message #1
 
Shlama Akhi James,

Sounds good. I'm trying to locate a copy of the book by Solomon of Bassarah, which details all these things. I'll let you know when I am able to find it, I have an email in to Dr.'s Kiraz and Abdul-Messih regarding it.

Fk^rwbw 0ml4

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