Yeshu’s 3 Orders

The ancient program of enlightenment called Nazirutha, after which the Nazoreans were named, was a multileveled system of degrees which was grouped into three main categories, or congregations. It was necessary to have three distinct communities because of the long standing Gnostic categorization of humanity into three main groups. The Pythagoreans also grouped humans into three main groups. These three orders (Shekintas) each had their own leader as shown by this ancient psalm from the Qulasta:

“In the Name of the Living Gods! At the Fountain-head came I forth, At the Source of springs of life went I hence. Three Shekintas did I found and set over them Guardians as rulers. The Guardians I appointed to rule over them are sublime, blessed and trusty to the uttermost.”[1]

We also have testimony of this tripartite structure from the enemies of the Nazoreans:

"For, according to these, there are three kinds of all existent things -angelic, psychical, earthly; and there are three churches -angelic, psychical, earthly; and the names of these are Elect, Called, Captive. These are the heads of very numerous discourses which (the Naassene) asserts James the brother of the Lord handed down to Mariamne.. . . ."[2]

Ancient Naassenes and Essenes saw the present world as, at best, a beautiful prison and longed for rebirth in higher worlds of light. They sought to prepare themselves for such an auspicious rebirth in higher worlds of light through becoming ritually pure, perfectly compassionate, and infinitely wise. These three "Vehicles", or "Orders" were seen as the key to rebirth in one of the three Heavenly Kingdoms of Light[3]. Yeshu turned the wheel of, or taught, of these Three Orders of Light. These teachings are recorded in the ancient Pistis Sophia Codex and Codex Brucianus and are partially preserved in certain Qabbalistic, Gnostic, and Mandaic texts of antiquity. Gnosticism, Pythagoreanism, Buddhism and early Christianity all divided believers into three categories.

This First "Vehicle" of the “Captive” had twelve "Degrees" or "Mysteries"(Razia) associated with it. It concerns itself with individual and family salvation and so is termed the "Individual Vehicle". It is called the “Captive” because its members have not yet fully renounced the world and therefore are held captive by it to a degree. Participation in its program qualifies one for advancement to the higher Orders, a good rebirth in the lower worlds of Nasut, and access to the lower heavens of Malakut which is the Kingdom the Cabbalists called Yetzirah. Yeshu called this realm the "Midst", or the "Third Space from Within". In Buddhism and Bon it is referred to as the "Desire World". The prominence of Simon Peter in this arena in the days of Miryai, despite his deference to the authority of James, indicates that he was a chosen head of this outer most Shekinta of Yeshua.

This Second "Vehicle", the "Called", had ten "Degrees" or "Mysteries". It was for graduates of the first Vehicle who desired to spend their lives in total service and sacrifice for others by becoming a "Savior/ess", or "Bodhisatva". Participation and perfection in this Vehicle qualified one for rebirth in one of the twelve levels of the "Middle Light World", also called the "Middle Space", "Region of the 7 Voices and 5 Trees", the "Yabarut Kingdom which the Cabalists called  "Briah". In many ways it was similar to the Buddhist Vehicle of Mahayana that preached a more universal compassion than that of the Theravedic, or Little Vehicle. The prominence of James the brother of Yeshu in this arena, as well as his exemplary monastic ascetic practices in the days of Miryai, show that he was the chosen head of this middle Vehicle of Yeshu.

The Third and highest "Immanuel (Amun-el)" Vehicle, qualified one for access to one of the regions of the Five Helpers or three levels of the "Regions of the Ineffable", which was the reality of Lalut which the Cabalists called the "Atziluthian World". Yeshu refered to it as the "First Space from Within". It is the realm the Buddhists call the "Formless Realm", This “Elect of the Elect” Vehicle prepared souls who strove to achieve perfect wisdom and compassion and complete "Uthrahood-Shekintahood" (Buddhahood). Miryai and her beloved Yohana appear to have presided over this highest Vehicle of early Nazoreanism. They bequeathed the four higher purification rituals Yeshu had bequeathed to them – the Baptism of Living Water, Fire and the Holy Spirit, and the Mystery of Removing the Residue of the Archons.

Of course Simon, James and Miryai all taught and ministered to souls on all three levels of light despite their presidency over a specific level of the Naziruthian system of Gnosis. They each taught the basic foundational principles expounded by Yeshu as well as deeper mysteries in private to their individual disciples.

In the days of Clement of Alexandria (about A.D. 200) many sought to distance themselves from these three legitimate Gnostic Orders in favor of the counterfeit orthodox camp which had been gaining ground in Alexandria since 180 AD. Clement wrote of the legitimate representatives of the true Gnostic stream then established in Egypt when he said :

“Celsus knows, moreover, certain Marcellians, so called from Marcellina, and Harpocratians from Salome, and others who derive their name from Mariamme, and others again from Martha….”[4]

Although Clement himself wanted to distance himself from these legitimate lines, he continued to recognize the three grades of membership and sought to duplicate this system in his own orthodox camp. In his writings he spoke of three levels of Christians that he recognized:

Some scholars see in the chief writings of Clement, the "Exhortation", "The Tutor", the "Miscellanies", a great trilogy representing a graduated initiation into the Christian life -- belief, discipline, knowledge -- three states corresponding to the three degrees of the neo-Platonic mysteries -- purification, initiation, and vision. Some such underlying conception was doubtless before the mind of Clement, but it can hardly be said to have been realized.[5]

Whilst Clement and other pioneers of the orthodox camp were creating their false religion patterned only loosely on original Gnostic Christianity, the true followers of Miryai continued onward:

"He (Yeshu) and his companions behaved constantly in this manner, until he left this world. He said to his companions: "Act as you have seen me act, instruct people in accordance with instructions I have given you, and be for them what I have been for you." His companions behaved constantly in this manner and in accordance with this. And so did those who came after the first generation of his companions, and also those who came long after.”[6]