by Brian Godawa
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The god Serapis of Egypt revealed himself to Vespasian in Egypt around the winter of AD 69.
“Sarapis made himself known to the Flavians during the pivotal time when they were in Alexandria securing the precious things of Egypt (Dan. 11:42-43) to help them finance their takeover of the Roman Empire. This was in the late winter of AD 69-70, around the time that Vespasian was proclaimed emperor and Titus was getting ready to re-invade the Holy Land (vv. 44-45) to finish his destruction of the Jews.”
McKenzie PhD, Duncan W.. The Antichrist and the Second Coming: A Preterist Examination Volume I (K-Locations 3195-3198). Xulon Press. K-Edition.
Basilides the oracle alleged miraculous visit to Vespasian:
“These events gave Vespasian a deeper desire to visit the sanctuary of the god to consult him with regard to his imperial fortune: he ordered all to be excluded from the temple. Then after he had entered the temple and was absorbed in contemplation of the god, he saw behind him one of the leading men of Egypt, named Basilides, who he knew was detained by sickness in a place many days' journey distant from Alexandria. He asked the priests whether Basilides had entered the temple on that day; he questioned the passers-by whether he had been seen in the city; finally, he sent some cavalry and found that at that moment he had been eighty miles away: then he concluded that this was a supernatural vision and drew a prophecy from the name Basilides. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Histories/4D*.html
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Alleged miracles of healing by Vespasian:
Tacitus Histories 4.81-82
“During the months while Vespasian was waiting at Alexandria for the regular season of the summer winds and a settled sea, many marvels continued to mark the favour of heaven and a certain partiality of the gods toward him. One of the common people of Alexandria, well known for his loss of sight, threw himself before Vespasian's knees, praying him with groans to cure his blindness, being so directed by the god Serapis, whom this most superstitious of nations worships before all others; and he besought the emperor to deign to moisten his cheeks and eyes with his spittle. Another, whose hand was useless, prompted by the same god, begged Caesar to step and trample on it. Vespasian at first ridiculed these appeals and treated them with scorn; then…
“So Vespasian, believing that his good fortune was capable of anything and that nothing was any longer incredible, with a smiling countenance, and amid intense excitement on the part of the bystanders, did as he was asked to do. The hand was instantly restored to use, and the day again shone for the blind man. Both facts are told by eye-witnesses even now when falsehood brings no reward….
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Histories/4D*.html
Suetonius tells the same story as Tacitus. But he has Vespasian visiting the temple of Serapis first before the “miracle healings.”
Suetonius, Vespasian 7.1
“Therefore beginning a civil war and sending ahead generals with troops to Italy, he crossed meanwhile to Alexandria, to take possession of the key to Egypt. There he dismissed all his attendants and entered the temple of Serapis alone, to consult the auspices as to the duration of his power. And when after many propitiatory offerings to the god he at length turned about, it seemed to him that his freedman Basilides offered him sacred boughs, garlands, and loaves, as is the custom there; and yet he knew well that no one had let him in, and that for some time he had been hardly able to walk by reason of rheumatism, and was besides far away. And immediately letters came with the news that Vitellius had been routed at Cremona and the emperor himself slain at Rome.
“Vespasian as yet lacked prestige and a certain divinity, so to speak, since he was an unexpected and still new-made emperor; but these also were given him. A man of the people who was blind, and another who was lame, came to him together as he sat on the tribunal, begging for the help for their disorders which Serapis had promised in a dream; for the god declared that Vespasian would restore the eyes, if he would spit upon them, and give strength to the leg, if he would deign to touch it with his heel. Though he had hardly any faith that this could possibly succeed, and therefore shrank even from making the attempt, he was at last prevailed upon by his friends and tried both things in public before a large crowd; and with success.” http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Vespasian*.html
Vespasian’s acceptance as Caesar by the Egyptians:
“The implications of the episodes turn out the same: Vespasian was the legitimate King of Egypt, and one favoured by and intimately associated with Serapis. At some time during his stay, possibly immediately after his arrival, or perhaps after he had attended a performance in the Hippodrome and after the miracles, Vespasian was saluted by his Prefect in terms that included not only ‘Caesar the god’, but ‘son of Ammon’, that is, of Re, a title of Pharaohs and Ptolemies in their capacity as kings. In the temple, he was King, and received the garlands due to one, and the boughs of a victor. The disabled men he cured were directed to him by Serapis in a dream, and the miracles were fit for Serapis himself, whose mediator he was, one involving precisely the part of Vespasian’s body that was venerated for its powers in the deity.
“All classes in a difficult city alien to Vespasian were being won over. The vision legitimated him as the protégé of a deity once of particular importance to upper-class Greeks, while the miracles had an instant effect on a mixed crowd like the audience assembled for Ti. Julius Alexander’s speech. Those who delivered the loyalty of the Alexandrians also benefited. The priests of Serapis, who vouched for the fact that Vespasian was alone in the temple, earned at least as much gratitude as those of Paphos and Carmel, while Serapis and the Fortune of Alexandria rose in status as protectors of the Emperor. Indeed, Alexandrian priests might well have been concerned to rival the hold that Mt Carmel had gained…
“With Rome under Flavian occupation the senate met on 21 December, the day after Vitellius died, to legalize Vespasian’s position.”
Barbara Levick, Vespasian (New York: Rutledge, 1999) 69, 79.
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The Christian flight to Pella: This was depicted in the second Chronicle of the Apocalypse, Remnant: Rescue of the Elect.
Luke 21:20–24
20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
“Two important fourth-century sources relate the tradition that the disciples heeded the warnings of Jesus and fled to the Transjordanian town of Pella from Jerusalem before it fell.
Eusebius (H.E. 3.5.3) relates:
On the other hand, the people of the church in Jerusalem were commanded by an oracle given by revelation before the war to those in the city who were worthy of it to depart and dwell in one of the cities of Perea which they called Pella.
According to Epiphanius (De mens, et pond. [Treatise on Weights and Measures] 15):
When the city (Jerusalem) was about to be taken by the Romans, it was revealed to all the disciples by an angel of God that they should remove from the city, as it was going to be completely destroyed. They sojourned as emigrants in Pella…in TransJordania. And this city is said to be of the Decapolis.38
According to Epiphanius (Haer. 29.7.7f. and 30.2.7):
“This heresy of the Nazoraeans exists in Beroea in the neighbourhood of Coele Syria and the Decapolis in the region of Pella and in Basanitis in the so-called Kokaba, Chochabe in Hebrew. For from there it took its be
ginnings after the exodus from Jerusalem when all the disciples went to live in Pella because Christ had told them to leave Jerusalem and to go away since it would undergo a siege After all those who believed in Christ had generally come to live in Perea, in a city called Pella of the Decapolis of which it is written in the Gospel and which is situated in the neighbourhood of the region of Batanaea and Basanitis.
“Some scholars believe that Epiphanius and Eusebius derived their accounts from Hegesippus, a second-century source. But an even more probable source was Aristo, an apologist from Pella, who wrote in the mid-second century.”
“Pella was a Gentile city of the Decapolis. The choice of Pella as a place of refuge may have been influenced by a Gentile church in the city. Sowers suggests, “The antipathy of that city toward political revolt against Rome made the city a logical choice for the Jerusalem Church, seeking a haven from rebellious territory, to settle in.” Brandon has exaggerated the damage which might have been done to Pella by the Jewish and Roman attacks on it. Gray notes, “Careful examination of the evidence shows that Pella was not the complete ruin that has been suggested; in fact, compared with other Palestinian towns, it fared quite well during the war/’48 She states, “We may say, in conclusion, that there is nothing incredible in a settlement of members of the Jerusalem Church in Pella, at least in part, between the years A.D. 66-8.”
“Indeed, it became a commonplace motif among the church fathers to allege that the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple was God's punishment upon the Jews for the death of Christ. This judgment was first expressed by Justin Martyr (1 Apol. 47). Eusebius (H.E. 3.5.3), after reporting the flight of the Christians to Pella, expresses his opinion as follows:
“To it those who believed on Christ migrated from Jerusalem, that when holy men had altogether deserted the royal capital of the Jews and the whole land of Judaea the judgment of God might at last overtake them for all their crimes against the Christ and his Apostles, and all that generation of the wicked be utterly blotted out from among men.
“This same motif was to be repeated by Hilary, Jerome, Sulpicius Severus, and Augustine. To be sure, this is a theological reflection, but it is surely more probable that it was founded on the historical reality of the Pella tradition.” Edwin M. Yamauchi, “Christians and the Jewish revolts against Rome,” Fides et historia, 23 no 2 Sum 1991, p 18, 20, 22.
This passage from the Pseudo-Clementines affirms the belief that Christians fled to Pella because they believed the destruction of Jerusalem was the proof that Jesus was Messiah:
Pseudo-Clement of Rome, Recognitions of Clement, 1.37 (2nd or 4th century AD)
“In addition to these things, he also appointed a place [Pella] in which alone it should be lawful to them to sacrifice to God…This place [Jerusalem], which seemed chosen for a time, often harassed as it had been by hostile invasions and plunderings, was at last to be wholly destroyed. And in order to impress this upon them, even before the coming of the true Prophet [Jesus], who was to reject at once the sacrifices and the place, it was often plundered by enemies and burnt with fire, and the people carried into captivity among foreign nations, and then brought back when they betook themselves to the mercy of God; that by these things they might be taught that a people who offer sacrifices are driven away and delivered up into the hands of the enemy, but they who do mercy and righteousness are without sacrifices freed from captivity, and restored to their native land.”
Pseudo-Clement of Rome, “Recognitions of Clement,” in Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, the Clementina, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Ages, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. M. B. Riddle, vol. 8, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 87.
Exactly when did the Christians flee Jerusalem?: “We might surmise that once Jerusalem had been surrounded, it was already too late to flee. But the city was surrounded on several occasions before Titus’s final circumvallation. For instance, before the Jewish revolt became a full-scale war, Cestius Gallus surrounded the city, only to suddenly cease operations and leave. Josephus notes that he surrounded the city “on all sides” (Gk.: pantothen), allowing him to besiege her walls for five days (J.W. 2:19:5 §535). At that time “many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when it was going to sink” (J.W. 2:20:1 §556). Perhaps the Christians escaped at this time also. Later in AD 68, generals Vespasian and Titus “had fortified all the places round about Jerusalem. . . encompassing the city round about on all sides” (Josephus, J.W. 4:9:1§486). But when Vespasian and Titus were “informed that Nero was dead” (4:9:2 §491), they “did not go on with their expedition against the Jews” (4:9:2 §497; cp. 4:10:2 §590) until after Vespasian became emperor in AD 69 (4:11:5 §567). This would have been the last reasonable opportunity for escape from Jerusalem because eventually Titus built “a wall round about the whole city” (J.W. 5:12:1 §499). With this action he largely sealed off Jerusalem, for he had “encompassed the city with this wall, and put garrisons into proper places” (J.W. 5:12:2 §510).Though even then Jews could escape, as Titus recognized (J.W. 5:12:1 §496).” Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation Vol. 2 (Dallas, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2016), 515-516.
Josephus on the flight of Jews after Cestius left: “After this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when it was going to sink.” (Wars 2.20.1 556).
Josephus on Pella being devastated before Christians fled to it: “Upon which stroke that the Jews received at Caesarea, the whole nation was greatly enraged; so they divided themselves into several parties, and laid waste the villages of the Syrians, and their neighboring cities, Philadelphia, and Sebonitis, and Gerasa, and Pella, and Scythopolis.” (Wars 2.458)
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Cassandra quotes from: Revelation 12:13-17.
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Cassandra quotes from: Revelation 12:14.
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Cassandra quotes from: Revelation 12:15–17.
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The Ebionites:
“The church fathers Eusebius and Epiphanius said that before Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, Christians fled from the city to the town of Pella in Transjordan. Some scholars suggest that the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and Luke 21:20-22 implicitly refer to the same event. The tradition about the flight to Pella is an important piece in the puzzle of Christian origins and early expansion…
“Initially, the Ebionites were held in a respectable light. The term Ebionim, meaning poor (plural form), was later changed to Ebionite. It had been an honorable term but as the split grew wider and time passed, the name began to carry very negative connotations.
Eusebius reports in his chapter entitled: “The Heresy of the Ebionites:
“The spirit of wickedness, however, being unable to shake some in their love of Christ, and yet finding them susceptible of his impressions in other respects, brought them over to his purposes. These are properly called Ebionites by the ancients, as those who cherished low and mean opinions of Christ. For they consider him a plain and common man, and justified only by his advances in virtue, and that he was born of the Virgin Mary, by natural generation.
Randall A. Weiss, Jewish Sects of the New Testament Era (Cedar Hill, TX: Cross Talk, 1994).
“A form of the Pella tradition appears again in the late fourth century, in two works by Epiphanius, who spent much of his life in Palestine, near Eleutheropolis, until becoming bishop on Cyprus in a.D. 367. His first reference to the Pella tradition appears in his Panarion 29.7.7-8:6 7.
Ebionites were linked to the Nazoreans, and sometimes considered synonymous:
“This heresy of the Nazoraeans exists in Beroea around Coele Syria, and in the Decapolis around the area of Pella, and in Basanitis in the so-called Kokabe (but the so-called Chochabe in
Hebrew). 8. For from there it originated after the migration from Jerusalem, after all the disciples had settled in Pella, because Christ had told them to leave Jerusalem and to depart, since it was about to suffer siege; and for this reason, after settling in Perea, they were living there, as I said. There the Nazoraean heresy had its beginning.
“A second reference to the Pella flight occurs in the Panarion 30.2.7 in a discussion of the Ebionites: [The Ebionites] originated after the capture of Jerusalem. For at that time all who believed in Christ had settled predominantly in Perea, in a certain city called Pella of the Decapolis, of which it is written in the gospel [that it is near] the region of Batanaea and Basanitis. At that time, after having and while they were living there, from this [place] Ebion’s.”…
“that Epiphanius saw the refugees from Jerusalem as orthodox Christians who later fell prey to heresy. could hold such a position because he, like Eusebius, assumed that the group that went to Pella included no apostles, whom he considered to be the guardians of orthodoxy. The fugitives to Pella included "all the disciples" (Pan. 29.7.8), which meant "all who believed in Christ" (30.2.7). They were "the disciples of the apostles" rather than the apostles themselves...
