The Phoenician Hebrews (Jews) Banished from the Holy Island of Crete

Some of the most famous authors and historians such as Josephus and Tacitus had written that the first converts to the Christian faith under Rome were said to come from Crete. It was these Cretan Jews to whom Saint Peter preached on the memorable day of Pentecost, where he had converted three thousand of them to Christianity and who would then preach the gospel on their return from Jerusalem.

The Romans-Jewish historian Josephus confirms this in his book, “The Works of Flavius Josephus;

“The tradition is, that the Jews ran away from the island of Crete, and settled themselves on the coast of Libya, and this at the time when Saturn was driven out of his kingdom by the power of Jupiter: an argument for it is fetched from their name. The mountain Ida is famous in Crete; and the neighbouring inhabitants are named, which, with a barbarous augment, becomes the name of Jud [Jews.] Some say they were a people who were very numerous in Egypt, under the reign of Isis, and that the Egyptians got free from that burden by sending them into the adjoining countries, under their captains Hierosolymus and Judas.”

Roman Senator and historian, Cornelius Tacitus (110 A.D.) had written that the Jews often traveled to Crete to celebrate the festival of Pentecost in Jerusalem and that they eventually were exiled from the island when Saturn was driven from his throne by the violence of Jupiter. The Cretans are called Idaeans, and then Judieans who eventually became fugitives from the island and who then settled on the nearest coast of Africa in the remotest corner of Libya. They are said to be descendants of the Ethiopians which would connect them to the children of Moses who is said to be the Father of Ethiopia. (The Works of Tacitus: By Cornelius Tacitus – Page 265)

CRETE or CANDIA: Island in the Mediterranean, about 55 miles south of the Morea. Jews had settled there long before the Christian era (1 Mace. xv. 23 mentions Jews in Gortynia, Crete). Philo speaks of the Jews of Crete (“ Legatio ad uaium,” ed. Mangey, ii. 587). About 43.0. the false
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Alexander, on his way to Rome, visited the Jewish communities of Crete, which, believing him to be a scion of the Hasmoncans, provided him with large sums of money (Josephus, “Ant.” xvii. 12, §1). Cretan Jews residing in Jerusalem are mentioned in Acts ii. 11. Crete fell into the hands of the R0mans in 67 0.15. ; and the Jewish communities there shared the fate of others under the dominion of Rome: they were treated as Roman citizens under the pagan emperors, but became the objects of persecution as soon as Christianity had become established. Thus, under Theodosius II. (408), the Cretan Jews were expelled. The period of their banishment, however, must have been of very short duration; for it is recorded that in 440 a pseudoMessiah arose among them, and that the faith of the Cretan Jews in him _was so great that they neglected their business, abandoned their property, and Waited for the day on which the new Moses would lead them dry-shod through the sea into the Promised Land (Socrates, “Historia Ecclesiastica,” vii. 36).

Later, the Apostle Paul would go to Crete in order to live for two years as part of a missionary effort of Rome, where he too was successful like his predecessor Peter in converting many of the island’s inhabitants, who were now called Jews, and bind them to Christianity. Before Paul had left Crete, he had appointed the newly converted Roman Gentile, Titus as Bishop to the island, in order that he ordain elders in every city. The facts that two of the most important Roman Catholic Saints and one of the most powerful bishops had spent a lot of time and resources in Crete, proves that this island was most likely the main capital to the Jewish people in this region of the world.

It is here where we can also find actual physical evidence supporting the story of Hiram and Solomon’s Temple. More so than in modern day Israel which many researchers, and even a recent New York Times story shows that some researchers and author have serious doubts that Israel is the true location of the first and second Temple due to the fact there has never been found actual real evidence of Solomon’s Temple. However, if we are to study the ancient history, biblical texts and the many ruins of Crete such at Knossos, we will find a mountain of evidence and stories that would substantiate what I have been saying for over three years which is that Crete is the true first home of the Phoenician Hebrews and Solomon’s Temple.

The reason modern day Israel become the final destination for many of these people is because the Romans conquered the island of Crete, and after the destruction of the second temple, they were deported and forbidden by Roman law to return punishable by death. I have explained this story in many of my previous articles such as, The Siege of Jerusalem and the Destruction of the Second Temple in Crete, Crete: The Lost Island of Atlantis, and The Origins of the Kohen Priesthood to name a few.

In fact, it wasn’t until in 2011 when 300 Jews were allowed to come back to Crete in what was called “the Season of Our Freedom” to reestablish a Jewish community in Crete. Professor Mel Alexenberg, Head of the School of the Arts in Jerusalem and former professor of art and education at Columbia University had written this on his blog;

“We celebrated the Season of Our Freedom participating in reestablishing a Jewish community in Crete where Jews lived for 2 millennia.

In 1944, the Nazis herded the Jews of this Greek island into a ship that was torpedoed. All 300 Cretan Jews drowned en route to Auschwitz.

For Pesach 2011/5771, 300 Jews flew into Crete from 3 continents to create a Jewish community in a holiday village overlooking Daios Cove.

The entire village was rendered kosher for Passover. Circular hand-made matzot and rectangular machine-made matzot were served at meals.”

Saint George of the Holy Island of Crete

Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος – Georgios, or Latin: Georgius; c. 275/281 – 23 April 303 AD), surnamed George of CapadociaSaint George (Latin for the island of Crete) is one of the most honored Saints that you will find in both the Western and Eastern Christian churches. He was born into a highly influential Greek Christian royal family, from the holy island of Crete, Greece located in the Mediterranean Sea. His father’s name was Gerontius and was a leader in the newly established Greco-Roman military, who had trained Saint George in the art of war since he was a young boy. The meaning of the name George is “worker of the land” (i.e., farmer).

The island of Crete was the birthplace of several saints such as George that are now highly venerated in both the Western and Eastern Christian churches. It was at one time the main land for the Greek Jews who would eventually join forces with the Romans under the banner of Christianity after the destruction of Jerusalem. The Greek historian Homer had said, “various tribes jostled each other in that island.” The Apostle Paul had lived on the beautiful island Crete for two years. Hence, for many centuries before and during the advent of Christianity, the island of Crete was one of the most important holy lands for the Ancient Jews and also the first converts to Christianity and the Saints.

These were dangerous times for all and the true beginnings of the fierce religious wars that would rage on for many centuries between the various religious factions, royal families, and the people who were often just as dangerous as the former. A fact, that George would come to understand all too well.

George was made the bishop of Nicomedia in Crete during the late 3rd century A.D., which would become the place of his Martyrdom. (1) Nicomedia was the ancient capital of Bithynia, an important stronghold for a certain ancient Jewish family, that I believe became the Greek Byzantine Empire and one of the most influential families in early beginnings of Christianity. In the year 324, it was at Nicomedia that Licinius resigned his share of the imperial purple to his rival Constantine the Great, and Licinius would become a Roman emperor under Constantine from 308 to 324. Constantine the Great frequently traveled to Nicomedia in Crete and had made this city his place of residence. He later died near his home in the year 337.’ Photius the Great was Patriarch of Constantinople from 858 to 867, and from 877 to 886; he had said that he was of a Nicomedian race, and born in Nicomedia. (2)

The Greek Church was the first to honor Saint George and they had often depicted him in images with a Dragon under his feet and the crowned virgin Mary at his side representing the Church. The Grecians in their Menologe call him the Holy, Glorious, and Great Martyr. Before the young George had become a Saint, he served as a soldier under his father on the island of Crete in the Roman army. George of Cappadocia was also fiercely against any form of paganism and the ancient rites of the Jews. His stance against the Jewish people on the island had made him many enemies and he was said to be especially harsh against his foes, often “inflicting imprisonment and scourges on men and women after the fashion of a tyrant.”

The shout arose, “Away with George!” and “in a moment,” says the Fragmentist, they threw him into prison, with Diodorus and Dracontius, the master of the mint, who had overthrown a pagan altar which he found standing there (Ammian.). The captives were kept in irons until the morning of Dec. 24. Then the pagan mob again assembled, dragged them forth with “horrible shouts” of triumph, and kicked them to death. They flung the mangled body of George on a camel, which they led through every part of the city, dragging the two other corpses along with ropes, and eventually burned the remains on the shore, casting the ashes into the sea.

Saint_George Carlo_CrivelliIn the early 6th century, the wife of the first French King, Clovis had erected Altars to St. George in France. A Roman librarian, Anastasius had said that Pope Leo II about 683 built a Church in Rome which was known as the Church of St. George and St. Sebastian. One of the first literary references in England to Saint George was made by one of his descendants, the 7th century Northrumbian Father of English history and Doctor of the Church, Saint Bede in his books, Ecclesiastical History and Martyrologies. From this point forward, the Great Martyr of Crete whose birthday and death would be parallel with that which preserved Easter and Christmas to Northern Europe, by turning pagan festivals to commemorate Christian events.

In attempting to Christianize the pagan Jews of Crete and George’s harsh stance against their old religion, he would eventually suffer a violent death which would later lead to him being highly venerated around the world by his fellow Christian Brothers as one of the first Greek martyrs, Saints, and Patrons. For his martyrdom during the early beginnings of Christianity, George in the year 1220 A.D. would become honored as the patron Saint of England, and he has been the guardian saint of Russia since the early 14th century when they had released themselves from Mongol dominion. Saint George is also the patron Saint to many countries such as Greece, England, Russia, Romania, Israel, Iraq, and the Grand Protector to many important cities such as Genoa, Barcelona, and Moscow, just to name a few.

SOURCES:

1. The Lives of Saints Page 145

2. Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom, Volume 1  By Royal Society of Literature (Great Britain) PAGE 35

3. Wikipedia

4. Linked to in yellow

Golgotha: The Crucifiction of Our LORD at the Devils Cave on Crete

Golgotha: The Crucifiction of Our LORD at the Devils Cave on Crete

In a previous article, I had explained how the Doctor of the Church and Father of English history, Saint Bede had written that “God, ages ago, hath wrought our salvation in the middle of the earth.” He also said;

“In the Earth’s center, ’tis believed the place by Jews called Golgotha, we seek to trace.”

In the story of the Crucifixion of Christ, we are told in John 19:13, “When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha).”

In researching the most recent Biblical text, you will find that the new word is Golgatha, which is said to mean the place of the skull but was originally translated from the word Gabbatha and had allegedly derived from ‘Lithostrōton or lithostrótos, which is said to mean “stone pavement or mosaic pavement. As you can see, lithostroton is a long way from the doctored word we have now being Golgatha and still different from Gabbatha.

Here is a copy showing these various translations and original words that we have today

A clue to the true location is Pilate brought Jesus here and then sat on the judge’s seat. Hence, we know that this place was some earthly court and religious center where the Apostles and Fathers of the Church had taught and performed Baptisms. In 311 or 312, Lucian the Martyr of Antioch (322) mentions a cave, the gates of Hell, and a cleft in the rock of Golgotha in a fragment of the defense made before Maximinus. Lucian had said;

“If yet you believe not, I will also offer you the testimony of the very spot on which the thing was done. The place itself in Jerusalem vouches for these facts, and the rock of Golgotha broken asunder under the weight of the Cross: that cave also, which when the gates of Hell were burst, gave back the body in newness of life.”

According to Eusebius, who had written about the Life of Constantine said the Emperor first beautified the monument with rare columns, then paved with finely polished stone a large area open to the sky, and enclosed on three sides with long colonnades, and lastly erected the Church itself “at the side opposite to the cave, which was the Eastern side.”

So the clues to this location thus far are that it is near or in a cave, so there is a mountain involved with rocks that were said to be near some type of judges seat that also was the gates of Hell and was an essential location and religions center for a long time. The Church of Constantine was opposite to the cave, which was the Eastern side making the Church on the Western side.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem mentions the location frequently, and there was no doubt that Eusebius knew about it in A.D. 315. It is said that next to Eusebius and the Bordeaux Pilgrim who visited Jerusalem in 333, Cyril is considered to be the earliest and most important witnesses as to the site of Constantine’s Churches.

Saint Cyril had written about the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost;

“as we discourse on Christ and Golgotha here in Golgotha, so it was most fitting that we should also speak concerning the Holy Ghost in the Upper Church; yet since He who descended there jointly partakes of the glory of Him who was crucified here, we here speak concerning Him also who descended there.”

In Cat. xiv. § 5, he says, “It was a garden where He was crucified. For though it has now been most highly adorned with royal gifts, yet formerly it was a garden, and the signs and the remnants of this remain.” Cyrill also alludes to the fact that this ceremony allows the initiate to “jointly partake of the glory” when he stated, “He who descended there jointly partakes of the glory of Him who was crucified here.”

Cyrill mentions a ‘garden’ twice, and it is obvious from the comments he made that he knew of this location that was also called allegorically a “garden and where royalty was buried” and the place of their “Holy Sepulchre,” once called Lithostrōton or lithostrótos, and then later changed to Gabbatha and then Golgatha to help conceal its original location from the profane (uninitiated) and grave robbers.

It was said that this custom of teaching and baptizing had remained in Jerusalem in the time of John, Cyril’s successor as Bishop, who in writing to Jerome says, “The custom with us is that we deliver the doctrine of the Holy Trinity publicly during forty days to those who are to be baptized.”

The following statement is from the Bordeaux Pilgrim:

“From thence (the Palace of David) as you go out of the wall of Sion walking towards the gate of Neapolis, on the right side below in the valley are walls where the house or Prætorium of Pontius Pilate was: here our Lord was tried before His Passion. On the left hand is the little hill (monticulus) of Golgotha, where the Lord was crucified. About a stone’s throw from thence is a vault (crypta) wherein His body was laid and rose again on the third day. Thereby command of Emperor Constantine has now been built a Basilica, that is to say, a Church of wondrous beauty, having at the side reservoirs (exceptoria) from which water is raised, and a bath behind in which infants are washed (baptized).”

Then we find out from Vespasian that another old name for this city was the ancient city of Shechem, now Nâbulus: the “porta Neapolitana” therefore was in the North wall of Sion.

So, now we know from all these most preeminent authors on this subject that the place we know of as Golgatha was also called Gabbatha. Before then, it was known as Lithostrōton or lithostrótos, but even later was called the city of Shechem, now Nâbulus (Nebo or Nabou), and Jerome writes Neapolis or Naplouse. Nebo (Nabau), a mountain celebrated as the scene of Moses’s death – a place in the tribe of Judah, Ezra ii. 29; Neh. vii. 33, a town belonging to the tribe of Reuben, taken by the Moabites, who held it in the time of Jeremiah (xlviii. 1).

When I read these latter names of Nâbulus (Nebo or Nabou), Neapolis, or Naplouse, I immediately remembered previous articles I had written about Nicopolis or The Holy Village of Ayios Nikolaos on the Island of Crete, which is also known by the names Agios Nik or Ag Nik – Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος [ˈaʝos niˈkolaos]) and in English – Saint Nicholas. A place that looks like the mosaic or Stone Pavement I mentioned above.

My research had proved that Nicopolis was anciently called Neapolis (Naplouse or Napolose) and is listed as a city in Samaria between the Mountains of Gebal and Gerizem, approximately 24 miles North of Jerusalem. I have found it also under the names of Sychar, also called Sichem and Shechem.

JERUSALEM – THE HEART OF THE EARTH IN THE DEVIL’S CAVE

The references by Bede of God giving us “salvation in the middle of the earth” and our heavenly city Jerusalem at its center, brought me to another similar reference in the Scripture called the “Heart of the Earth.” A place I know of as the island of Crete where I have discovered before along my path retracing the steps of the History of the Brotherhood and also where I believe happens to be the initiation/baptism and resting place of my most ancient ancestors.

Please keep in mind that this latter research was the result of my studies into the Christian concepts of Hell by also contrasting them with the ancient Greek myths of the Abyss and Hades coupled with the Gods/Deities who were said to rule this region of our world with a type of hive mind force. This hive mind force that is called the LORD, Prince of the World, and Satan in the Judeo Christian Scripture I contend began on Crete where some type of cosmological deal was sealed with the Brotherhood of the East and now, the West in blood and stone at Golgotha AKA the “Heart of the Earth.”

As Eliphas Levi had written, “They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our God, and his judgments and his statutes. Levi also said, “The fallen angels gathered around their chief, Samiaxas, on a high mountain, which has been called ever since, ‘the mountain of the Oath’, for the Eggregores pledged themselves there one to the other with a sacrilegious vow.”

This is where Jonah had stayed three nights in what is called today in the English doctored versions as the “Belly of a Whale,” but is properly translated from the old Greek Text as “the heart of the earth, the heart of the seas, or more appropriately, the “belly of hell, the world of the dead, which was believed to be far below the surface of the earth.

In Matthew 12:40, the LORD Jesus had said just has Jonah had stayed three nights in Hell, so will the Son of Man, i.e. you and I;

“A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here.”

The secrets and the truth hidden within these passages are found by contrasting them with the Old Greek and Hebrew translations with modern English. By doing so, you will find that English is written more allegorically with similar words and nouns that have been changed from the original text to conceal the true meaning from the profane (uninitiated).

As I stated above, the word whale does not mean a literal whale, it allegorically represents the “belly of hell,” which our ancestors had called the world of the Dead that was located in the “Heart of the Earth.”

The word heart in our modern version of Scripture is variously translated onto the word ‘leb,’ which means the midst or middle (of things), the inner man or mind that serves his moral character that we already know is said to be a wicked and adulterous generation. This is what I like to call the little or false noos, or the second brain that causes many people to become selfish and pursue material desires which are considered evil and wicked i.e. Satanic. By default of character and mode of thinking, they are connected through their own bellies (second brains and emotions) to the “Bely of Hell” or the Abyss and River Acheron underneath their feet.

As I have explained in several previous articles, the earth’s center or what has been called the navel or birth center of the classical Gnostic world and Europe’s first powerful maritime civilization was and is what I like to call the “Holy Island of Crete.” Several historians, Greek myths, and many Biblical stories originate and also prove that Crete is the original home of the Tribe of Judah, the true home of Freemasonry, and also the place they call ‘Golgatha.’

In the Scripture, the true center of the world is where the Heiros Gamos had begun, where you will find the Seat of Satan at Pergamon, which would be the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha), and the mapping of the world which is referred to as Jerusalem, or what we can call the “New Jersulaem” in Ezekiel 5:5;

“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with Symbols – Jerusalem map countries all around her.”

Here is a very old map made by the German Heinrich Bunting that shows exactly what I’m stating here.

This location would be the ancient official spiritual center for all Judeo-Christian religions. In Ezekiel 38:12, the Jewish people are simply referred to as the people who live at the “center of the world,” and in Hebrew reads, “the naval of the world.” I had detailed this research in a previous article, The Ancient Naval Center of the Old World, where I explain that the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea is halfway between Europe, Africa, and Asia, and was considered in ancient times as being at the center of the world, and the original location of the first city of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was the capital of Judah and the center of Israelite and Hebrew worship. It was the “metropolis” of the Greek Hellene nation, the house of the Ark of the Covenant amongst the globes royal houses, and the place of the crucifixion of Christ AKA Golgatha.

For example, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Crete is one of the holiest sites in all of the Christian world, unbeknownst to the most pious of Christians. There is a small church once called Aphendi Kristos, or the Lord Christ, near the ancient sanctuaries of Zeus at the Omalos plateau (Κορυφή Αφέντης Χριστός – Δίκτη, από το οροπέδιο του Ομαλού) which is part of the “Samarian Gorge”  in Chania, Crete.

Near here was the throne of Zeus, the Father of the Olympian gods, and where he was said to have driven his beloved chariots. According to the historian Diodorus Siculus, the goddess Diana was born here. The peak at Gingilos is known as “Rotten Mountain,” wherein ancient times, according to a tradition, there was also a famous Oracle at the Demonospilio (Cave of Demons or Devil’s Cave, known as the den of demons. It is also said that this was also the place of the Oracle of Delphi, which I have also connected to Crete and this precise location in my article, The Pythia Priesthood of the Delphic Oracles.

And here we find the cave of the infant Zeus (Heart of the Earth/Fungi Garden of the Apostles) who was hidden by the priesthood over 2,000 years ago. This is the same cave of Epimenides Gnosis, AKA Orpheus, and also where Pythagoras was initiated into the Orphic mysteries.

It was here where Pythagoras had learned the laws of Minos and was initiated by the Ancient Priesthood of Jupiter (Amon) on the Sacred Mountain of Mount Ida (Zion), and in the same cave on Crete that the greatest of all Greek Gods, Zeus was educated and also hidden from his most vengeful father, known in mythology as Cronus and in science as Saturn.

I have written extensively about Mount Ida and the Tribe of Judah detailing my research and the connections to Freemasonry in articles such as The First Jews of CreteLost Tribe of Judah Found: The Bedas, The Masonic Archons of the Tribe of Judah, The Widow’s Son, Giblim: The Bible’s First Masons in the City of Our Lord and Jesus: The Tribe of Idea (Judah). The people of God’s Mountain called Ida in Crete and who Josephus called the Idaens and is the same name where we derive Judah and the Tribe of Judah in which King David, Solomon, Hiram Abiff, and Jesus are said to be members ie: ancestors and their (our) book, the Bible.

As I explained in a previous article, The Cretan City of Cutha, is also the location of the ancient city of Kutu or Kutha, which is also the name of the capital of the Sumerian (Samarain Gorge) AKA Mesopotamian underworld. This is where “Irkalla AKA Kur, Irkalla, Kukku, Arali, Kigal, and various other names, was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground, where inhabitants were believed to continue “a shadowy version of life on earth”.

The only food or drink was dry dust, but family members of the deceased would pour libations for them to drink.”

This cave was said to be the abode of various demons such as the child-devourer demon known as Lamashtu, the fearsome wind demon and protector god Pazuzu, and the demons who drag people into the underworld to be tortured were called the “galla.” Galla or Gal is where we get the English word cock or rooster which in Greek is ἀλέκτωρ, ορος, ὁ or alektór and in Latin is gallus or gallinaceous. The surname for Jesus being a Galilean from Gallillee on Crete and his Apostles like Simon who became Satan was surnamed Peter were Galileans as well. (Matthew 26:69; John 7:41)

The King of Demons in Judaism is named Asmodeus (Ashmedai) who according to the Kabbalah, is a cambion, born as the result of a union between King David, and the Queen of Demons named Agrat Bat Mahlat who was a succubus. David was the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, and also an ancestor of Jesus.

This cave of Zeus sits just above the Plain of Nida on Mount Ida, to the southwest of Knossos. The mother of Zeus was also known in Latin as “Mater Idaea (Idaean Mother).” The name Mount Ida is where the Tribe of Judah had received their name, “the ‘Idaeans,” which is just an earlier spelling of the Judaeans.

This would be the Capital of the Underworld, i.e. Hell and the place of the Skull, Golgatha where Jesus was martyred.

It is alleged that the Roman emperor Constantine had established the Church here in the year 333 A.D., after his mother, Queen Helena, marked the place of Golgotha during her visit in 326AD. Now, here is an image of the Church of Constantine and Helen in Crete with the Double-Headed Eagle or more appropriately, the Double-Headed Phoenix.

The symbol of the 33rd Degree of Freemasonry.

Ancient Crete was the Capital of the Secret Mysteries and home to the Holy Grounds of many famous Gnostics, philosophers, Apostles, and Saints throughout the history of the world. The priesthood of the Curetes had formed here who Herodotus had said came to Crete with the Phoenician Prince Cadmus.

Epimenides, one of the founders of the ancient Gnostic mysteries of Orphism was born in the city of Gnosis, which today is called the city of Knossos (Latin) on Crete. He lived in the 7th century B.C. and established a religion that was centered at the cave of Zeus. Epimenides was a lawgiver, prophet, sage, poet, and author who composed several works in verse such as on the origin of the priesthood of Crete known as the Curetes and the Corybantes.

Famous religious figures such as Saint George, Saint Basil the Elder, Saint Macrina the Elder, and St. Basil the Great were born on Crete. Paul the Apostle lived on Crete for two years and was Companion to St. Titus the Apostle, the first bishop of Crete. The 1st-century Jewish-Roman Historian, Flavius Josephus had married a woman from a royal family on Crete and mentions that one of the Cappadocian (Cretan) tribes is the Moschoi, associated  with the biblical figure Meshech, son of Japheth: “and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch; now they are Cappadocians (Cretans from the island of Crete).”

Meshech is named with Tubal as a principality of the prince of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38:2 and 39:1. Modern-day Moscow in Russia was founded by the Mosocheni (Moschoi, Mosoch or Meshech), or the Tabalior (Thobelites). The Russians are considered to be Third Rome and Masters of Jerusalem.

Hence, the Double-Headed Phoenix as their Coat of Arms and the national flag and their adherence to a national religion being the Russian Orthodox Church as the official state symbol of the late Byzantine Empire, symbolizing the unity between the Byzantine Orthodox Church and State.G

This history and ancient facts are also encoded within Greek mythology when the God Zeus sent two eagles (phoenixes) across the world to meet at its center, the “navel” of the world.

This was their holy center called Omphalos, where it was said that the navel-string of the infant Zeus had fallen to the ground.

The story is told in Myth by Hesiod in which Zeus is hidden in a cave by his mother Rhea from his child devouring Father, Kronus. Hesiod had written;

“Thither came Earth carrying him swiftly through the black night to Lyctus first, and took him in her arms and hid him in a remote cave beneath the secret places of the holy earth on thick-wooded Mount Aegeum; but to the mightily ruling son of Heaven, the earlier king of the gods, she gave a great stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Then he took it in his hands and thrust it down into his belly: wretch!

He knew not in his heart that in place of the stone his son was left behind, unconquered and untroubled, and that he was soon to overcome him by force and might and drive him from his honors, himself to reign over the deathless gods.

“After that, the strength and glorious limbs of the prince increased quickly, and as the years rolled on, great Cronos the wily was beguiled by the deep suggestions of Earth and brought up again his offspring, vanquished by the arts and might of his own son, and he vomited up first the stone which he had swallowed last. And Zeus set it fast in the wide-pathed earth at goodly Pytho under the glens of Parnassus, to be a sign thenceforth and a marvel to mortal men.

And he set free from their deadly bonds the brothers of his father, sons of Heaven whom his father in his foolishness had bound. And they remembered to be grateful to him for his kindness and gave him thunder and the glowing thunderbolt and lightning: for before that, huge Earth had hidden these. In them, he trusts and rules over mortals and immortals.”

Pausanias (x. 24. 6) saw near the tomb of Neoptolemus (Nicopolis, Neapolis, Naplouse, Napolose) “a stone of no great size,” which the Delphians anointed every day with oil, and which he says was supposed to be the stone given to Cronos.

To represent and honor this location as the Eastern and Western Brotherhood’s Capital (Double Headed Phoenix), a religious artifact in the form of a stone omphalos was created.

It is known as the Omphalos at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, which is an ancient Christian tradition, representing the navel of the world (the spiritual and cosmological center of the world). Jewish tradition held that God revealed himself to His people through the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple in Jerusalem, which rested on the Foundation Stone marking the center of the world.

The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography – Volume 1 By William Smith also details this history.

The destruction of the ancient Palace Temple (the Second Temple), the royal archives, and the entire city of Knossos had come at the orders of Roman Emperor, Nero who had sent Vespasian and his son Titus to Judea to subdue the Jewish nation in a massive invasion of the Holy Island of Crete in the year 67 A.D. Titus had served under his father on the island of Crete in the kingdom of Judaea (Greco-Egypt) during the First Jewish-Roman War. For winning this historic holy battle for the Romans, Titus would later become known as Saint Titus,  Bishop of Crete and companion to the Apostle Paul.

Roman Senator and historian Cornelius Tacitus (110 A.D.) had written that the Jews often traveled to Crete to celebrate the festival of Pentecost in Jerusalem and that they eventually were exiled from the island when Saturn was driven from his throne by the violence of Jupiter.  In The Works of Tacitus, he explains the Jewish people and the exodus from the island of Crete to Africa’s coast in Libya.

Hence, this would be a thread of history and ideas which Bede, my ancestor, had sought to trace with its center near the Omalos plateau at the Oracle at the Demonospilio on Crete, Golgatha, I have placed.

The Holy Village of Ayios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas) on Crete

The Holy Village of Ayios Nikolaos (Saint Nicholas) on Crete

On the northeast coastal area of the island of Crete lying east of the island’s capital Heraklion, and north of the town of Ierapetra and west of the town of Sitia, you will find the most ancient Holy Village of Ayios Nikolaos, which is also known by the names Agios Nik or Ag Nik – Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος [ˈaʝos niˈkolaos]) and in English – Saint Nicholas.

At the northern end of the harbor of the village on a small headland, there is a famous old Church of Hagios Nikolaos – St. Nicholas, which gave its name to the town.

St. Nicholas is the patron protector Saint of Holy Russia who according to the Russian Orthodox Church, has saved Russia many times from catastrophe. In fact, it is said that almost every church in Russia has at least one St. Nicholas icon and his image has always received the greatest reverence from the Russians. Nicholas is also the patron saint of fishermen, sailors and of all of Greece.

The Church of St Nicholas is surrounded by the largest cypresses which were used anciently to build the ships for the Phoenicians/Cretans and it belongs to the most important holy churches in Crete and its walls are adorned by many priceless frescoes. This location is where it is said that the old temple of Poseidon had stood and the court of the physicians.

There are many other old important Orthodox Churches nearby such as Agios Nikolaos in Ormos, the Early Christian Basilica in Elounda, Kera, Agios Ioannis Prodromos, Hodegetria, Agios Georgios Kavoussiotis and Agios Ioannis Theologos in Kritsa, Metamorphosis in Neapolis, Agios Onoufrios in Voulismeni, Kera-goniotissa in Latsida, Agios Georgios Selinaris, Agios Georgios Vrachassotis Monastery, Fraro Monastery and Megali Panagia in Neapolis, Koufi Petra Convent and Kremasta Convent in Vrysses.

There are quite a few beautiful beaches that are close by as well. Beaches like Ammos, Kitroplatia in the town center, Ammoudi and Havania beaches, which is on the way to Elounda and Plaka pebble beach.

Going back further in time we find that this ancient Cretan town is of extreme historical significance due to the fact that it was one of the twelve towns of Attica. It was anciently called Tenos, which was sacred to Poseidon, the modern town of St. Nicholas is built. It was eventually was melded into one political community by King Theseus who was said to be the founder-king of Athens.

The story of Thesus tells us that he was rescued from the Labyrinth by the Cretan King Mino’s daughter Ariadne and for her Great Work, she was given the Crown that was legally called Gnosia Corona, and she has officially surnamed Gnosis, from the City of the Goddess in Crete – Knossos.

This may be why the village of Saint Nicholas (Ayios Nikolaos) is very close to a Knossos – The City of Gnosis. It was from the harbor of Ayios Nikolaos that was also known as the port from which the Theorise, or sacrificial embassies to Delos. There is also the alleged 4th-2nd century BC settlement of Lato, which I believe is another name for Delos, now Dia.

About two miles from Mount Ida, you will find what was once known as “The Plateau of St Nicholas (Russsian: Ayios Nikolaos & Greek: Άγιος Νικόλαος)” and is more commonly called “The Plateau of Isopata”. It is from this location where you will obtain a most spectacular “royal view” of the city of Knossos and the Harbor below.

It is from this location that researchers discovered one of the largest and most decorated royal tombs ever found on Crete. It was said to be of princely dimensions and construction that no British general, Turkish bey, Venetian noble, or Greek archon was ever buried in such a grave.

Today it is known as the Royal Tomb of Isopata and is said to date back approximately 3,500 hundred years since this burial chamber was completed.

This is also where the famous 3,500-year-old sarcophagus of Hagia Triada was discovered.

As I mentioned, St. Nicholas is the patron Saint of All Russia and according to Russian historians, there are five gates to the Kremlin, in Moscow with the Nikolskiya Vorotui, or Gate of St. Nicholas being one of them. There is a legend that says before the invasion of 1812 this Gate, with the tower, was restored after the late Emperor Alexander came to the throne. But in 1812 the most of the tower was blown in ruins, except for the base of the structure.

The Russians rebuilt the tower in a much more magnificent style than before. Symbolically on the East side of the Nikolskiya Vorotui, is an image of St. Nicholas, in a frame with a lit candle which is always kept burning and a dove over-hovering signifying the immortal spirit of Nicholas. The Son of Man is at the left of the image ascending, and below is an angel known as a seraph holding a three-branched candlestick, said to be emblematical of the Trinity.

The seraphs or seraphim are six-winged beings that fly around the Throne of God crying “holy, holy, holy.” They hold 5th rank of ten in the Jewish angelic hierarchy and the highest rank in the Christian angelic hierarchy of angels that govern this current world.

This is why you will find many religious processions and Christian celebrations all around the village of Agios Nikolaos to celebrate this Russian Saint and why the Village of Ayios Nikolaos is one of Crete’s hottest tourist spots with many Russians traveling here every day to honor their country’s patron Saint.

In our modern era, the great village of Ayios Nikolaos has been chosen by some of the world’s most famous directors to shoot many films that appear to have a secret esoteric meaning such as Jules Dassin, Walt Disney, BBC producers, and many others. These movies and documentaries then led to the rapid tourist development of the area which still exists to this very day.

Movies like “He Who Must Die,“: which was based on the novel’ Christ Recrucified. Interestingly, this movie mirrors true history. The film is about a Turkish-occupied Greek village shortly after World War I, villagers put on a Passion Play, with ordinary people taking the roles of Jesus, Peter, Judas, etc. Staging the play leads to them rebelling against their Turkish rulers in a way that mirrors Jesus’s story.

“My father bones. And his Father’s bones. We’ll build our new village on them!”

The Galileans from the River Galilee on Crete

The Galileans from the River Galilee on Crete

The Galilee region was said to be the home of Jesus during at least 30 years of his life. Galilee was home to a people called the “Galatians or Galileans.” This is also the same place in the Scripture where St. Paul wrote a famous letter addressing “to the churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2).

He had visited there when he was sick in order to be healed and he calls all citizens of the province of ‘Galatia’ by the name ‘Galatians’ which can be considered at the time as being honorable. In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul says he is traveling to the “region of Galatia and Phrygia“, which lies immediately west of Galatia. (more…)

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