Notovitch - Killing Jesus Christ: Bill OReilly

KILLINGJESUSCHRISTBillOReillyTheVoyageofNicolasNotovitchs1887DiscoveryTableofContents

AFestivalinaGonpa TheLifeofSaintIssa Mary Protevangelion I.Infancy II.Infancy(YoungChildhood) Nicodemus ChristandAbgarus Laodiceans PaulandSeneca ActsofPaulandThecla I.Clement II.Clement Barnabas Ephesians Magnesians Trallians Romans Philadelphians Smyrnaeans Polycarp Philippians I-III.HermasVisions,Commands,Similitudes Postscript AftertheTurkishWar(1877-1878)ImadeaseriesoftravelsintheOrient.Fromthelittle remarkableBalkanpeninsula,IwentacrosstheCaucasustoCentralAsiaandPersia,and finally, in 1887, visited India, an admirable country which had attracted me from my earliest childhood. My purpose in this journey was to study and know, at home, the peoples who inhabit India and their customs, the grand and mysterious archology, and the colossal and majestic nature of their country. Wandering about without fixed plans, from one place to another, I came to mountainous Afghanistan, whence I regained India bywayofthepicturesquepassesofBolanandGuerna.Then,goinguptheIndustoRaval Pindi, I ran over the Pendjabthe land of the five rivers; visited the Golden Temple of Amritsathe tomb of the King of Pendjab, Randjid Singh, near Lahore; and turned toward Kachmyr, The Valley of Eternal Bliss. Thence I directed my peregrinations as mycuriosityimpelledme,untilIarrivedinLadak,whenceIintendedreturningtoRussia bywayofKarakoroumandChineseTurkestan. Oneday,whilevisitingaBuddhistconventonmyroute,Ilearnedfromachieflama,that thereexistedinthearchivesofLhassa,veryancientmemoirsrelatingtothelifeofJesus Christandtheoccidentalnations,andthatcertaingreatmonasteriespossessedoldcopies andtranslationsofthosechronicles. AsitwaslittleprobablethatIshouldmakeanotherjourneyintothiscountry,Iresolvedto put off my return to Europe until a later date, and, cost what it might, either find those copies in the great convents or go to Lhassaa journey which is far from being so dangerous and difficult as is generally supposed, involving only such perils as I was alreadyaccustomedto,andwhichwouldnotmakemehesitateatattemptingit.

During my sojourn at Leh, capital of Ladak, I visited the great convent Himis, situated near the city, the chief lama of which informed me that their monastic library contained copiesofthemanuscriptsinquestion.InorderthatImightnotawakenthesuspicionsof the authorities concerning the object of my visit to the cloister, and to evade obstacles whichmightbeopposedtomeasaRussian,prosecutingfurthermyjourneyinThibet,I gave out upon my return to Leh that I would depart for India, and so left the capital of Ladak.Anunfortunatefall,causingthebreakingofaleg,furnishedmewithanabsolutely unexpected pretext for returning to the monastery, where I received surgical attention. I tookadvantageofmyshortsojournamongthelamastoobtaintheconsentoftheirchief thattheyshouldbringtome,fromtheirlibrary,themanuscriptsrelatingtoJesusChrist, and,assistedbymyinterpreter,whotranslatedformetheThibetanlanguage,transferred carefullytomynotebookwhatthelamareadtome. Not doubting at all the authenticity of this chronicle, edited with great exactitude by the Brahminic,andmoreespeciallytheBuddhistichistoriansofIndiaandNepaul,Idesired, uponmyreturntoEurope,topublishatranslationofit. Tothisend,Iaddressedmyselftoseveraluniversallyknownecclesiastics,askingthemto revisemynotesandtellmewhattheythoughtofthem. Mgr.Platon,thecelebratedmetropolitanofKiew,thoughtthatmydiscoverywasofgreat importance. Nevertheless, he sought to dissuade me from publishing the memoirs, believing that their publication could only hurt me.

Why? This the venerable prelate refused to tell me more explicitly. Nevertheless, since our conversation took place in Russia,wherethecensorwouldhaveputhisvetouponsuchawork,Imadeupmymind towait. Ayearlater,IfoundmyselfinRome.Ishowedmymanuscripttoacardinalverynearto the Holy Father, who answered me literally in these words:What good will it do to printthis?Nobodywillattachtoitanygreatimportanceandyouwillcreateanumberof enemies.But,youarestillveryyoung!Ifitisaquestionofmoneywhichconcernsyou,I can ask for you a reward for your notes, a sum which will repay your expenditures and recompenseyouforyourlossoftime.Ofcourse,Irefused. In Paris I spoke of my project to Cardinal Rotelli, whose acquaintance I had made in Constantinople.He,too,wasopposedtohavingmyworkprinted,underthepretextthatit would be premature. The church, he added, suffers already too much from the new current of atheistic ideas, and you will but give a new food to the calumniators and detractors of the evangelical doctrine. I tell you this in the interest of all the Christian churches.

ThenIwenttoseeM.JulesSimon.Hefoundmymatterveryinterestingandadvisedme toasktheopinionofM.Renan,astothebestwayofpublishingthesememoirs.Thenext dayIwasseatedinthecabinetofthegreatphilosopher.Atthecloseofourconversation, M.RenanproposedthatIshouldconfidetohimthememoirsinquestion,sothathemight maketotheAcademyareportuponthediscovery. This proposition, as may be easily understood, was very alluring and flattering to my amour propre. I, however, took away with me the manuscript, under the pretext of further revising it. I foresaw that if I accepted the proposed combination, I would only havethehonorofhavingfoundthechronicles,whiletheillustriousauthoroftheLifeof Jesus would have the glory of the publication and the commenting upon it. I thought myself sufficiently prepared to publish the translation of the chronicles, accompanying themwithmynotes,and,therefore,didnotaccepttheverygraciousofferhemadetome. Renan. Renan.

A short time after M. Renans death, I wrote to M. Jules Simon again for his advice.Heansweredme,thatitwasmyaffairtojudgeoftheopportunityformakingthe memoirspublic. Ithereforeputmynotesinorderandnowpublishthem,reservingtherighttosubstantiate the authenticity of these chronicles. In my commentaries I proffer the arguments which mustconvinceusofthesincerityandgoodfaithoftheBuddhistcompilers.Iwishtoadd that before criticising my communication, the societies of savans can, without much expense, equip a scientific expedition having for its mission the study of those manuscriptsintheplacewhereIdiscoveredthem,andsomayeasilyverifytheirhistoric value. NicolasNotovitchTheUnknownLifeofJesusChristAJourneyinThibet DuringmysojourninIndia,IoftenhadoccasiontoconversewiththeBuddhists,andthe accountstheygavemeofThibetexcitedmycuriositytosuchanextentthatIresolvedto makeajourneyintothatstillalmostunknowncountry.ForthispurposeIsetoutupona routecrossingKachmyr(Cashmere),whichIhadlongintendedtovisit.

On the 14th of October, 1887, I entered a railway car crowded with soldiers, and went fromLahoretoRaval-Pinidi,whereIarrivedthenextday,nearnoon.Afterrestingalittle and inspecting the city, to which the permanent garrison gives the aspect of a military camp,Iprovidedmyselfwiththenecessariesforajourney,wherehorsestaketheplaceof the railway cars. Assisted by my servant, a colored man of Pondichery, I packed all my baggage, hired a tonga (a two-wheeled vehicle which is drawn by two horses), stowed myselfuponitsbackseat,andsetoutuponthepicturesqueroadleadingtoKachmyr,an excellenthighway,uponwhichwetravelledrapidly.Wehadtousenolittleskillinmaking ourwaythroughtheranksofamilitarycaravanitsbaggagecarrieduponcamelswhich waspartofadetachmentreturningfromacountrycamptothecity.Soonwearrivedatthe end of the valley of Pendjab, and climbing up a way with infinite windings, entered the passesoftheHimalayas.Theascentbecamemoreandmoresteep.Behindusspread,like abeautifulpanorama,theregionwehadjusttraversed,whichseemedtosinkfartherand fartherawayfromus.Asthesunslastglancesresteduponthetopsofthemountains,our tongacamegailyoutfromthezigzagswhichtheeyecouldstilltracefardowntheforest-clad slope, and halted at the little city of Mur; where the families of the English functionariescametoseekshadeandrefreshment. Ordinarily,onecangoinatongafromMurtoSrinagar;butattheapproachofthewinter season,whenallEuropeansdesertKachmyr,thetongaserviceissuspended.Iundertook my journey precisely at the time when the summer life begins to wane, and the Englishmen whom I met upon the road, returning to India, were much astonished to see me,andmadevaineffortstodivinethepurposeofmytraveltoKachmyr. Abandoning the tonga, I hired saddle horsesnot without considerable difficultyand evening had arrived when we started to descend from Mur, which is at an altitude of 5,000feet.Thisstageofourjourneyhadnothingplayfulinit.Theroadwastornindeep rutsbythelaterains,darknesscameuponusandourhorsesratherguessedthansawtheir way. When night had completely set in, a tempestuous rain surprised us in the open country,and,owingtothethickfoliageofthecentenarianoakswhichstoodonthesides ofourroad,wewereplungedinprofounddarkness.Thatwemightnotloseeachother,we had to continue exchanging calls from time to time. In this impenetrable obscurity we divinedhugemassesofrockalmostaboveourheads,andwereconsciousof,onourleft,a roaringtorrent,thewaterofwhichformedacascadewecouldnotsee.Duringtwohours wewadedinthemudandtheicyrainhadchilledmyverymarrow,whenweperceivedin the distance a little fire, the sight of which revived our energies.

Next page