The prophet is an ultraphanic medium . What does the word “prophet” mean? The Hebraic term is nabì, that is, “he that speaks”. If we accept the Assyrian-Babylonian etymology of the verbal root nabu, then it means “announce”. The three names with which the prophets were designated in Hebrew - ro’eh, hozeh and nabì – are synonyms, despite the first two having the etymological meaning of seer, and the third of speaker, announcer. In our language, the word “prophet” derives from the Latin propheta, and this, from the Greek prophétes, which comes from the verb prophànai, that is, “to speak in the name of another”.

 

To prophetism is linked, both in the Old and New Testament, the so-called Naziritism where the Nazirite (Hebrew nažir, from nažar, in the passive “to withdraw, to abstain”), were those who took a vow, to be more exact, an abstinence, for a religious reason. Nazirite was the “devoted to God”. It was also possible for women to be Nazirites (Numbers, VI, 2), with limitations (Numbers, XXX, 4-6), such as Berenice, sister of King Agrippa (Fl. Josephus – The Jewish War - II, 15,1).

 

The Nazirite or Nazarene abstained from cutting their hair, had to carefully avoid ritual impurities, particularly the contact with a corpse, did not drink wine and alcoholic drinks, including even the grape (Judges, XIII, 5-7; XVI, 17 – Ecclesiasticus, VI, 13). The vow could be everlasting, as it seems to be the case of Samson (Judges, XIII, 5-7), Samuel (I Samuel,I,11 – Ecclesiasticus, XLVI, 13), and, in the New Testament age, John the Baptist, called the Precursor of Christ (Luke, I,15), and James, first Bishop of Jerusalem (Eusebius- Ecclesiastical History- II,23, 4, and following), or, of limited length (Flavius Josephus – The Jewish War – II, 15, 1); in later ages, the minimum of naziritism was 30 days.

 

The law of naziritism in force at the time of Moses (1225 B.C.) is clearly expressed in the Bible with Numbers, VI- 1-21.

 

The disciples of John the Baptist were, like him, all Nazirites, and their clothes were white. Also the Essenes were Nazirites, and today this title is taken by the members of a Gnostic Christian community, known as the Mandeans, followers of the Baptist. In the 1929 census these people numbered 8,000 in the neighborhood of Baghdad, along the lower course of the Euphrates, near to the meeting with the Tigris, above Basra. The name “Mandeans” derives from the Caldaic Manda= knowledge, gnosis.

 

The Mandeans or Nazirites maintain that their master and prophet is John the Baptist, son of the priest Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly class of Abias, and of Elizabeth, she too a descendant of a lineage of priests, a relation of the Holy Virgin, mother of Jesus (Luke, I:36).

 

The Mandeans have books mirroring ideas of the Essenes, the Mazdeans and of the three Magi. One of these is the Book of John, liturgies of baptism and of the dead. Unfortunately, we cannot say more about this, so as not to wander from the subject of this booklet, but we are going to take up the subject in a more appropriate place. Here, we just wanted to underline that prophetism, Naziritism, the Essenes, the Therapeutists, and, naturally, John the Baptizer, are the underlying theme of esoteric Christianity.

 

From a careful examination of the biblical books, the prophets can be classified as prophets by vocation and voluntary prophets .

 

Tommaso Palamidessi

excerpt from "THE PROPHETISM, THE NAZIRITISM OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT"

from the  7th Booklet