Christianity - A Journey from Facts to Fiction — Page 134
134 Christianity – A Journey from Facts to Fiction the Sabbath with great zeal. They held James in the highest regard, while Paul was considered ‘The Enemy’. * According to Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln in The Messianic Leg- acy , the source of the original teachings of the Ebionites, Gnostics, Manicheans, Sabians, Mandeans, Nestorians and Elkasites has been described as the Nazarene philosophy. They refer to Nazarene thought as: ‘An orientation towards Jesus and his teachings which derives ultimately from the original Nazarene position, as articulated by Jesus himself, then propagated by James, Jude or Judas Thomas and their immediate entourage. ’ Their beliefs were: 1. Strict adherence to the Mosaic Law 2. Recognition of Jesus as Messiah 3. Belief in the normal human birth of Jesus 4. Hostility towards Pauline views There is a collection of Arabic manuscripts kept in a library in Istanbul which contains quotes from a 5th or 6th Century text ascribed to the ‘Al-Nasara’, written in Syriac and found in a monastery in Khuzistan in south-west Iran near the Iraq border. It reflects the views of the Nazarene hierarchy escaping from Jerusalem after the destruction in 66 AD. It refers to Jesus as a human being and stresses the Judaic Law. * 'The Messianic Legacy'. M Baigent, R Leigh, H Lincoln, p. 135-138 (Corgi Books)