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Postcard of a Model of the Abbey of
Glastonbury – The Enclosed and Preserved Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Synagogue)
that Jesus Built on the Bottom Left
The Vetusta Ecclesia – The Ancient Sanctuary build by the Hands of God’s Messiah
The Divine Mission to Restore the Lost Sheep (Tribes) of the House of Israel
Part Eleven
Section Five
By Robert Mock M.D.
January 2009
Topics
The Historical Traditions of the Young Jewish Messiah living at Glastonbury
The Tin Mines and Jews Houses at Cornwall
The Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Synagogue) that was “built by the Hands of Christ Himself
The Ancient Synagogue (Vetusta Ecclesia) in Glastonbury
The Vetusta Ecclesia and the “Rest” of Princess Miriam
The Secret of the Resting Place
St. Augustine of Canterbury
(597 CE)
– “God beforehand acquainted them, found a Church
constructed by no human hand,
but by the Hands of Christ Himself for the salvation of His people.”
(Epistolae ad Gregoriam Papam)
Painting on a Banner in the Parish Church of Pilton, in Somerset, England depicting the Classical Christian Art Form of the
Boy Jesus with his Great Uncle, Joseph of Arimathea and Miriam his Mother
The Traditions of Glastonbury - “One day a small boat, from one of the large merchant ships anchored in the Bristol Channel, tied up at the causeway of the Lake Village. A bearded man and a slim young boy in his early teens stepped ashore. They were no strangers to the villagers who crowded around to welcome them. The merchant had been coming by their village for many years, on his way to the lead mines of the Mendip Hills. It was known that he held a very important position in the powerful Roman government and carried the title “Nobilus Decurio.” It was rumored that he owned many of the merchant ships that came to these Isles of the West, from Rome and Phoenicia, to barter for metal and other goods.
The auburn haired lad was also known. He had accompanied his uncle on a prior visit, staying at the village and exploring the surrounding territory, while His uncle conducted his business at the nearby Mendip lead mines. But this time a woman, perhaps in her early thirties, was with them. As the boy helped the woman ashore, the crew proceeded to unload various sized chests and sacks, obviously belonging to them. Accommodations were soon found and the baggage was carried to one of the tiny huts facing the estuary.
In the weeks that followed, the merchant and the boy constructed a wattle hut, similar to those of the village, on a nearby island. The site they chose was at the base of a hill from which ran a spring of fresh water. Hawthorne and oak trees dotted the landscape. Small game and fish were in abundance and the marshy fertile shores promised bountiful crops. When the hut was finished, the woman and the boy moved from the village to their new home. The merchant and his men sailed away.” Yahshua (Jesus) and his mother Miriam (Mary) were now alone. (Extracted from the Preface by (W. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury” pg. 3)
The Historical Traditions of the Young Jewish
Messiah living at Glastonbury
The Mendip Hills of Somerset County with Tracings of
Ancient Lead Mining
One of the most persisting legends on the Isle of Britannia was that the young boy and later the young adult Yahshua arrived and lived upon this isle. There within 40 miles of that most ancient and mysterious of stone monuments, Stonehenge, this island holds the rich secrets and stories of mystery that Yahshua (Jesus) lived, worked, worshipped, taught, and ministered upon these ancient shores.
Nestled between the two Roman invasions of Julius Caesar, in 55 and 54 BCE and the massive invasion led by five of Rome’s best generals that included the occupation of southeastern Britain by Claudius Caesar in 42 CE, we can now learn of the traditions and legends that Yahshua HaNotzri (Jesus the Nazarene) stayed, visited and lived upon that mystic isle called Avalon. Later the wondrous tales of the Holy Grail and the Round Table of King Arthur would be a continuation of the traditions that are so insistent and persistent about Jesus. These notable visitors would eventually include not only the twelve refugees (Culdees) that came with Joseph of Arimathea but other notable apostles including the Apostle to the World, Peter, and the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul.
The
father figure of all, the stately figure of the family
guardian of Jesus looms his ever present form as Joseph of
Arimathea. His figure has a significant role in at least four separate traditions that include bringing
a boy with the Hebrew name of Yahshua,
known by the Druids in the Cymric language as Yesu and in later
centuries by His Greek name, Jesus.
Roman Era Lead Mines at Mendip Hills in Somerset County
The first and most extensive traditions were found in Cornwall and recorded in Baring Gould’s “Book of Cornwall” where he writes:
Baring Gould – “Another Cornish story is to the effect that Joseph of Arimathea came in a boat to Cornwall, and brought the boy Jesus with him, and the latter taught him how to extract tin and purge it from its wolfram. When the tin is flashed then the tinner shouts ‘Joseph was in the trade’.” (Rev. C.C. Dobson, M.A., “Did our Lord Visit Britain as they say in Cornwall and Somerset?, pg. 13)
As a tin and metal merchant, Joseph of Arimathea yearly moved back and forth between the “Tin Island” of Britannia and Judea. On at least one of these trips, Joseph brought with him the young boy, Yahshua ben Yosef (Jesus son of Joseph), his nephew by his brother, Heli’s (Prince Alexander III Helios’) daughter, Miriam, all of which were princes and princesses of King David.
Early
in this series, BibleSearchers described the lead ingots that
were archeologically discovered with the dates and names as
follows: the son of Claudius Caesar, “Britannicus” that was dated
to 49 CE,
a lead bar with the name of Nero dated to the year of 60 CE. Finally
in 1956,
four lead bars were discovered at a farm near the town
of Pilton
that bore the name of Vespasian,
the Roman general and later Emperor that led the invasion to
Judea that eventually destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the
temple of Herod in 70 CE.
Scillies’ Two hundred or more Islands
One Cornish story, told from antiquity, was that Jesus actually taught the miners how to extract tin and purge it of its wolframite ore. When they arrived in this region along the Cornwall Peninsula, according to another story, Joseph would anchor their small ship into a natural made harbor at the mouth of the Camel River. There he would go to a local well for water to carry on his ship.
Since time immemorial this ancient well was called the “Jesus Well”, with sacred legends of its healing powers that were testified by the stream of pilgrims over the centuries. This site was documented as early as the 13th century CE, and testified by the remains of an ancient chapel, whose foundation can be seen to this day. (E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury”, pg. 29-31)
The Scottish Archeologist E. Raymond Capt testified of a persisting legend that has been documented by an ancient pre-Norman carving:
Archeologist E. Raymond Capt – “Another Cornish link between Jesus and the tin trade of Britain is found in the almost unknown “Place Manor Church” of St. Anthony-in-Roseland. Carved upon the pre-Norman stone arch over the south door of the church is a story in ancient pictographs.
Place Manor in Cornwall, England
The carvings are over 1000 years old and display an anchor, a lamb, and a cross insignia, a symbol of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. The story told by the carvings is about Jesus and His uncle coming to Place for tin. Their boat got into difficulties, during a storm, and washed ashore on the headland where the modern lighthouse now stands. The local inhabitants (operating the trading post there) brought Joseph’s damaged boat into the lee of the headland by Place. While repairs were being made Joseph and Jesus stayed there, and before they left they erected a little shrine with an account of their visit in that region there.
The pictographs (carvings)
were interpreted by an archeologist familiar with Egyptian and
Phoenician symbols. He stated that He had seen similar symbols
on a doorway to one of the temples at Denderah in Lower
Egypt, belonging to the later Hyksos Dynasties.
South Door Arch of Place Manor Church –
“The Tradition of Glastonbury” by Raymond Capt
His interpretation not only confirmed the coming of Jesus to Place, but His birth and the date of His suffering. Part of the interpretation is “The lamb and the Cross are facing the rising sun – this means that He was here in the early years of life. His future was before Him. Because He is on the left of the center line – it means He was here in December (before the end of the year). (Edward Harte, “The Story of Place”, cited by E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury”, pg. 29-31)
It was in 1835 that a lighthouse was erected at “Place” over the foundation of an ancient chapel that was dedicated to the grandmother of Jesus (Yahshua), Hannah (Anna), who has now been identified as the daughter of Yahshua III, the High Priest of Israel. According to Cornish legends, this same Anna traveled to the region of “Place” from across the channel at Brittany. For the next fifteen hundred years, this site was memorialized by the St. Anthony Monastery, whose principle duty was to keep an eternal light burning at night to warn ships away from the rocky Cornish coastline.
Nearby
at St. Just,
another Cornish harbor is the recipient of another series of
legends about Yahshua coming to this region. It is commemorated
by a “rock”
in which is reputed that Jesus walked upon coming to the shore.
Like the meaning of the Plymouth Rock commemorating the landing
of the Pilgrims to Americans, so a stone, found in 1932, was discovered
blocking the culvert of another legendary landmark, the “Christening Well”.
This stone was “covered with curious and unintelligible
markings.” This gives this ancient legend the sense of
authenticity to the local people that they speak of it as
“it was as much as your life was worth.”
(E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of
Glastonbury”, pg. 33)
Celtic Tunic Crosses with Boy Blessing with Outstretched Hands
Then to
the western sector of Cornwall there was found recorded on
Old Ordinance
Map of the region that depicted the sites of two rich lodes or
veins of tin
that were also found in that mining region surrounded by an abundance
of ancient Celtic crosses called the “Tunic Crosses.”
The names of these two mines on the maps were called, “Corpus Christi”
or the “Body
of Christ”
and the “Wheel
of Jesus” in which the word “wheel” was an
ancient Cornish name for “mine”, hence the name, the “Mine of Jesus.”
The “Tunic
Cross” monuments were also a unique testimony seen only
in this site in Britannia. On one side was carved a traditional cross
and on the other
side, there is chiseled not the resemblance of a person
nailed to a cross but a young lad with his arms outstretched in the portrayal of
giving a blessing. Such are the depths of the meaning
found on the antiquities and their ancient legends. (E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury”, pg.
33-34)
Celtic Cross Tombstones overlooking the English Channel off Coastline of Cornwall – Photo by Robert Mock
The second set of traditions about Jesus visiting in Britain was found just north of Glastonbury. Here were the ancient Jewish mining camps in the Mendip Hills at Somerset County. In these mines was extracted lead and copper that were used as alloys with tin. There was something unusual for in these regions the researchers did not find a repeat or retelling of the traditions indigenous to other counties or countries. Each place had its own traditions that were new and unique. When you linked them together, they formed a tapestry upon which a wondrous picture was being portrayed.
As the Jewish great uncle, Yosef (Joseph) and his young nephew Yahshua (Jesus) first arrived by ship and upon the southwestern regions of Southern England, Prince Joseph made his routine touring and inspections of the tin and lead mines along the Cornwall Peninsula. Then they traveled north towards Somerset County. This is where Yahshua (Jesus) learned, according to legends, to extract the tin, purge it from its ore and impurities and watch as it was smelted and molded into ingots of lead. Here the ancient legends speak of Jesus arriving with Joseph in a ship from Tarshish. They came to the land called the “Summerland” that was nearby a place called “Paradise”. (Rev. C.C. Dobson, M.A., “Did our Lord Visit Britain as they say in Cornwall and Somerset?, pg. 13)
The Parish Church of Priddy in the Mendip Hills
An interesting tradition near the Sea of Galilee that collaborates with the above Cornish tradition was recorded by Ivor C. Fletcher when he discovered among the Maronite and Catluei villages near Galilee the legends when Yahshua (Jesus) in his youth became a shipwright on a trading vessel from Tyre, or the noted biblical “ships of Tarshish.” This tradition tells of Yahshua one winter becoming “storm-bound” on the western coast of Cornwall, England at a place called “The Summerland”, an ancient name for the region of Somerset. On old maps of the region can be seen that a district in Somerset was recorded on these maps a place called “Paradise”. (Ivor C. Fletcher, “The Incredible History of God’s True Church”, cited by “Joseph of Arimathea and David’s Throne in Britain”)
The legends
of Somerset
County state that Joseph and his assistant, the boy
Jesus, had first gone to the Scillies Islands and then to Cornwall and finally
came to the Mendip
Mining Region at Somerset. There at the Parish Church of Priddy near the peak
of the Mendip hills, the old timers would exclaim an old
saying that has persisted for generations, “As sure as Our
Lord was at Priddy” while the children sang a ditty,
“Joseph
was a tin merchant, a tin merchant, a tin merchant”.
(E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of
Glastonbury”, pg. 29-31) We are reminded today, that these Cornish traditions are bolstered by singing
ditties that the local inhabitants up to a century ago were sung
with traditional tunes, “Joseph was in the tin trade”. (S. Baring Gould, “Cornwall”, pg. 57, cited by E.
Raymond Capt, A.I.A, F.S.A. Scot, 1983, pg. 28) All the tales
describe Joseph accompanied with Jesus arriving by sea in a boat.
Celtic Crosses in Cornwall Cemetery at Rosecarne, Cornwall – Photo by Robert Mock
The third set of Welsh and Cornwall traditions were found near the ancient Somerset limestone hills that were riddled with caves. These caves lay fourteen miles from the seacoast. Here were found traces of the “Belgic Briton” and “Roman Era Mines” where the ancient Saracens extracted silver, lead among ore with twenty eight other minerals in the Mendip Mines. These mines traveled along existing cave passageways as the Jews worked beneath the depths of the earth.
Then the fourth set of traditions spoke of the Prince of David making his residence first with his great uncle on the Isle of Avalon where the city of Glastonbury resides today. Later the traditions speak of Yahshua (Jesus) returning as a young adult and living by himself in a sheltered area nestled between some of the great centers of Druidism.
It was here
that several traditions appear to mesh and converge. Besides
learning the extracting and smelting art of mining, Jesus was credited with building his own home,
a rounded oracle of a hut. It was built with
the traditional building materials of the mud and wattle.
Sheep Herding in the Field in Central Highlands of Cornwall, England – Photo by Robert Mock
It appears that just before beginning His official three and a half year ministry in Galilee, with the mission to find the “Lost Sheep of the House of Israel”, Yahshua (Jesus) needed a place of quiet repose, for meditation and prayer. Besides, He was near His own people, the Jews, and could walk, talk, reminisce and minister to the scattered “chosen ones” of Judah living in the Diaspora.
Nowhere on the Eurasian continents was a place so quiet, protected, and close to nature as at Avalon. There on the Isle of Ynis-wytrin, Yahshua used this home as his place of retirement, meditation, and to ascend His mind on the merkabah, the “Holy Chariot” to His Father’s throne. This very site became another prime source of historical legends, accounted for by Augustine of Canterbury, when he proclaimed that this revered sanctuary of worship at Glastonbury was “built by the very hands of our Lord”.
Also
upon this isle called Avalon, the life of Jesus was documented
as sharing the great mysteries of His Father in heaven
with the great
Master of Druidism, the Arch Druids, were spellbound and amazed
just like the sages and esteemed elders of the Jewish
Sanhedrin were amazing with the boy Yahshua’s command of the Torah
at the age of
twelve.
Ageless Portrait no doubt seen by the Boy Yahshua in Cornwall – Photo by Robert Mock
This tradition of interacting with the Arch-druids and priests on the Island of Britannia was recorded five centuries later in the histories by Taliesin, the Prince-Barb of the Druids, that was written only fifty years prior (550 CE) to the letter, “Epistolae ad Gregoriam Papam”, written by Augustine of Canterbury to Pope Gregory the Great after 597 CE.
Taliesin – “Christ (Messiah), the Word from the beginning, was from the beginning our teacher and we never lost His teaching.”
Here the
spiritual and sublime truths of the Great Plan of Salvation
was given to these islanders, whose spiritual traditions
went back almost two thousand years to about 1800-1900 BCE.
During this ancient era, Hu Gadara arrived on the island from the Middle East. It
was Hu’s mission to secure a safe haven, where the spiritual
and religious teachings of Noah and the great Righteous King,
Shem the
Melchizedek would reside in its pristine and uncorrupted
purity until the Messiah; the “Lamb of God” would grace its
hallowed shores.
The Stunning Lavender Iris in a Garden of Delight that could have been Viewed by the Manifestation of the Divine’s Messiah – Photo by Robert Mock
This land would someday be the dwelling place for the descendants of the Tribe of Ephraim of the House of Joseph. This was noted by the name of this land called England that came from the name of its inhabitants, the Engel-Sacae, or the People of Ephraim and Isaac who were called the Anglo-Saxons. They would reside here until the time of the end. At that time, the Earth Beast of Islam would force them to return to their homeland in Greater Israel and reunite with their cousins, the rest of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and the Jews of Judah in Israel.
It is
believed by some archeologists that the magnificent constellation
and solar observatory at Stonehenge, only forty miles away,
was erected in the Early Bronze Age, about the year of 1800 BCE. Many
archeologists tie these two testimonies suggesting that Stonehenge was built
by Hu Gadara. With the knowledge entrusted to him
by Shem the
Mechizedek, Hu
Gadara, took the knowledge
of the heavens as given by the Maker of the Universe from
the regions of Ararat to the isles in the west. We are reminded by
Josephus’ testimony that it was their Patriarch Seth and his
descendants that were entrusted by God, the knowledge
of the stars in the heavens, the constellations and their paths
of orientation that portrayed the great Plan of YHVH’s
Salvation. The Patriarch Seth entrusted these astronomical
secrets to Methuselah,
from Methuselah to Noah and Shem, and from Noah
and Shem
to Abram.
Along the Atlantic Coastline Joseph and Boy Yahshua would Travel by Small Skiff to their Final Destination at the Isle of Avalon – Photo by Robert Mock
It was this knowledge that Abram, the Sumerian potentate, was given custody of these natural truths when he lived with Noah and Shem for almost fifty years. It was the knowledge of the stars in the heavens that Abram took and shared with the ancient Egyptians. It was in the custody of Hu Gadara the Great, that the knowledge of the stars and the exalted concepts of the Divine were given to take to the outer western rim of the Eurasian continent; to the western isles of Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. There he planted the Druidic religion of Shem to be preserved until the arrival of the Cimmerian Celts and the Anglo-Saxons, the Engel-Sacae or the “people of Ephraim and Isaac” to these sacred shores. They would also imbed the message and wait with patience for that day would come when the physical manifestation of the “God of the future”, Yesu, would be revealed as the Messiah. That day arrived soon after 30 CE when Joseph of Arimathea arrived back on the island bringing with him the “Good News”.
Did Yahshua go and watch the great processions that were celebrated at the megalithic observatory temple at Stonehenge? We can only speculate. There is no doubt that He was here to learn and to share the knowledge of His Father in heaven as He would later share in Galilee and in Judea. What He found was a religion that held more sway over the minds and lives of any people on the planet earth. It was these people, that were prophesies to Abram, that his descendants would be like the stars of the heavens. They were now scattered from Britain, Ireland and Scotland, over to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, up through the Scandinavian countries of Denmark (D(a)nmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and then over to Russia, the Balkans, and along the Black and Caspian Sea. While corruption and perversions of truth crept into many of the druidic centers in Gaul, Egypt, and Crete, the purest of the teachings of the sages of the Druids were found only in the western regions of Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
The Tin Mines and Jews Houses at Cornwall
From the days
of antiquity the British Isles were known for the mining
of tin as spoken by the ancients as early as 1500 BCE. It
was Sir Edward
Creasy (1812-1878) who wrote in his “History of England”
Photo of Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy, British Historian, in Ceylon
Sir Edward Creasy – “The British mines mainly supplied the glorious adornment of Solomon’s Temple.” (Sir Edward Creasy, “History of England”, cited by Reverend C.C. Dobson, “Did out Lord Visit Britain as they say in Cornwall and Somerset?”, 1936, reprint 1993, pg. 19-20)
It was the early Phoenicians, allied with the Tribes of Dan and Asher
that had a monopoly on the early tin trade. The historical evidence
suggests that the Tribe of Asher
was associated or had the monopoly on the tin mining in Cornwall.
It was William Camden (1551-1623) the greatest English antiquarian
and historian of his era, who wrote the first
historical account of the reign of Elizabeth
I of English. He made the following remarks in the first
topographical survey of the Island of Great Britain, in his first volume on “Brittannia” that was published in 1608.
William Camden (1551-1623), British Antiquarian and Historian
William Camden – “The merchants of Asher worked the tin mines of Cornwall, not as slaves, but as masters and exporters.”
Earlier, we read that Herodotus in the 5th and 6th century documented the arrival of the Lost Tribes to the regions of the Caspian Sea and in the Crimean Region of the Black Sea. He also spoke of the Isles of Britannia as the Tin Islands or the Cassiterides. What was more interesting was that Herodotus recorded these histories as though he was himself an Israelite.
In fact, it was around 450 BCE that the elusive Tin Islands were discovered by Hamilco, the Phoenician ruler from Carthage, who sailed his vessels through the Straits of Gibraltar and when heading north discovered Cornwall on the Isle of Britannia which became a rich lode of tin and copper for the Carthaginian Empire. It was over to Iberia on the Island of Ireland where the richest mines of silver were discovered. From there also pearls, gold, and copper were transported from New Carthage back to Old Carthage on the Mediterranean. (Frederick Charles Danvers, “The Portuguese in India”, 1894, 579 pages)
For centuries, it was the Danite Phoenicians
from Cadiz, who, according to the Archeologist Raymond Capt, kept
a virtual monopoly of the source of the British tin that
was mined on this island. Their secrets were guarded with great
diligence. If any Phoenician-Danite
sailing vessel was being followed, the captain would sail
a deceptive course. If that tactic failed, they would purposefully
wreck their ship, knowing that it was “insured” and reimbursed
from the treasuries of the Phoenicians.
The Greek Geographer Strabo, reputed to be of Israelite or Jewish Bloodlines
It was the Greek geographer Strabo, who was no doubt a Lost Israelite or Jew, born in the region of Georgia, the “Israel of the Caucasus”, who documented about 25 CE the following in his writings:
Strabo – “Anciently the Phoenicians alone, from Cadiz, engrossed this market, hiding the navigation from all others. Then the Romans followed the course of a vessel that they might discover the situation, the jealous pilot willfully stranded the ship, misleading those who were tracing him to the same destruction. Escaping from the shipwreck, he was indemnified for his losses out of the public treasuries.” (Strabo, cited by E. Raymond Capt, A.I.A, F.S.A. Scot, 1983, pg. 28)
For centuries, it was the Danite Phoenicians from Cadiz, who, according to the Archeologist Raymond Capt, kept a virtual monopoly of the source of the British tin that was mined on this island. Their secrets were guarded with great diligence. If any Phoenician-Danite sailing vessel was being followed, the captain would sail a deceptive course. If that tactic failed, they would purposefully wreck their ship, knowing that it was “insured” and reimbursed from the treasuries of the Phoenicians.
It was Pythea (352-323 BCE), who talked about the tin trade along with Polybius about the year of 160 BCE. Then there was Diodorus Siculus who detailed the industry of the tin miners and traders.
Diordorus Siculus – “They that inhabit the British promontory of Belerium, by reason of their converse with merchants, are more civilized and courteous to strangers than the rest. These are the people that make the tin which with a great deal of care and labor they dig out of the ground; and that being rocky, the metal is mixed with some veins of earth, out of which they melt the metal and then refine it. Then they beat it into four square pieces like a die and carry it to a British isle, near at hand, called Ictis. For at low tide, all being dry between them and the island, they convey over in carts abundance of tin.
St. Michael’s Mount at Low Tide with a Sand Causeway to the Island – Photo by Robert Mock
But there is one thing that is peculiar to these islands which lie between Britain and Europe: for at full sea they appear to be islands, but at low water for a long way they look like so many peninsulas. Hence the merchants transport the tin they buy of the inhabitants of Gaul, and for thirty day’s journey they carry it in packs upon horses’ back through Gaul to the mouth of the river Rhone.” (John W. Taylor, “The Coming of the Saints”, pg. 143)
This strategic metal in the Roman military was mined, beaten into squares, and then carried to the Isle of Ictus. This isle was linked to the southern mainland of the peninsula of Cornwall during low tide, a location that was uniformly identified as Mount St. Michael but some scholars still feel it is Falmouth.
Then the
tin traders plied the tin bars by skiff over the English
Channel to the Isle
of Marlaix on the French coast. The tin was transported
by pack horses over the mainland of France to Narbonne
and Marseilles, France. From there it was shipped in earlier
years to Phoenicia and in later ones to the Roman Empire.
This was the metal mining interest that was controlled by the
agents of Joseph
of Arimathea between the years of 20 BCE to 60 CE.
St. Michael’s Mount at High Tide as an Island off the Coastline of Cornwall – Photo by Robert Mock
Here in this auspicious town of Arimathea in Judea, where merchants arrived from the four corners of the earth, the young orthodox Jewish lad, Yahshua ben Yosef, visited his favorite maternal uncle, the famous traveler and metal merchant who traveled frequently the path of the ancient Phoenicians to the exotic isles to the far west called Britannia and no doubt Scotland and Ireland.
Today the remains of these mining works and debris show evidence of great antiquity. Some mines like the Ding Dong Mine were known to have been active mines in the ancient mythical era of traditions and lore. The oldest of these mines, long neglected, were but shallow pits with smelted tins. They are called today, “Jews Houses” meaning “Judahites” from the Tribe of Judah. (Polwhele’s History of Cornwall – 1803, cited by E. Raymond Capt, A.I.A, F.S.A. Scot, 1983, pg. 28) With these ancient traditions the tin mines were “wrought by the Jews with pickaxes of holm, box and hartshorn – tools sometimes found among the rubble of such works” (Edwards cited by John W.Taylor, “The Coming of the Saints”, pg. 145) Here lay the remains where lead and tin were extracted from the earth upon this land.”
According to Robert Hunt, in his book titled, “The Romances of the West of England”, we find the following description of the ancient Cornish tin trade where Joseph and even his nephew, Yahshua (Jesus) were involved in the mining, extracting and shipping.
Robert Hunt
– “There is scarcely a spot in Cornwall where tin is at present
found that has not been worked over by the “old men”, as
the ancient miners are always called;…upon whatever spot
the old miner has worked there we are told the Phoenician has
been or the Jew has mined. The existence of the terms “Jew’s houses”, “Jews’ tin”, “Jew’ leavings”, “attal” and “attal Saracen”,
prove the connection of these strangers with the Cornish
mines” (Robert Hunt, “Romances of the West of
England”, 1923) cited by John W.Taylor, “The Coming of the Saints”, pg. 145)
The Ding Dong Tin Mine at Cornwall
This same theme was carried out by Richard Potwhele’s History of Cornwall where the ancient smelting places were called “Jews’ houses”, where “Jews’ pieces” were found that were old blocks of tin were left behind. The streams works of the surface mining by the Jewish miners were called “Jews’ works” or “attal Saracen”. As Potwhele wrote:
Richard Potwhele – “The Jews appear to have called themselves or were called by the Britons of Cornwall ‘Saracens’.” (Richard Potwhele, “History of Cornwall, 3 vol. 1803 cited by John W.Taylor, “The Coming of the Saints”, pg. 145)
Then the
actual presence of the Jews in ancient Cornwall was left
their Jewish signature with such words as; “Boje-wyan” (abode of the Jews),
“Trejewas”
(Jew’s village),
“Market Jew”
as mercantile agents at the local markets and the historical “Jewish windows”
in St. Neot’s Church. (John W.Taylor, “The
Coming of the Saints”, pg. 145)
Ancient Tin Mines in Central Cornwall – Photo by Robert Mock
Carrying such a distinguished responsibility from the Caesar and the Roman Senate, Joseph worked with diplomatic and business acumen representing the imperial interests of Rome in negotiation with the kings and royal families in Southern England, Cornwall and Wales. It suggests that Joseph of Arimathea was not only well acquainted with this royal family dynasty in Cornwall and Wales, but according to ancient traditions that he also had married one of their daughters to be the mother of one daughter, the Davidian Princess Anna, and a one son, the Prince of David, Josephes.
The Vetusta Ecclesia that was “built by the Hands of Christ Himself
The traditions of Cornwall also came with the legend that Jesus erected the first house of worship, a hut of wattle and mud upon these isles as he communed with his “Father in heaven”. This sacred and hallowed site first became known as the Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Synagogue) and later became a larger yet still primitive worship building called the “Ealde Chiche”, or the “Old Church”. This edifice became the foundation of the future Glastonbury Monastery a millennium later. Even the noted William Blake wrote:
William Blake –
“And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon England's mountains green:
And was the Holy Lamb of God, on England's pleasant pastures seen!
And did the
Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here, among these dark Satanic Mills?
William Blake, English Poet and Artist (1757-1827)
Lionel Smithett Lewis,
the former Vicar of Glastonbury, was one of the prime
investigators, in his book titled, “St. Joseph of Arimathea
at Glastonbury” published by James and Clarke and Co, Ltd
in Cambridge on the year of 1922, about the legends of Jesus in the first decade or two
of the 20th century. This documentation
was later bolstered by the research of the Reverend C. C. Dobson,
in his little book, titled, “Did our Lord Visit Britain?”, published by the
Covenant Publishing Co., Ltd at London on the year of 1932, when he
based his affirmation by the letter St. Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604 CE) he wrote to Pope Gregory the Great
where he recorded that the first followers of Jesus visited
England.
The Round Mud and Wattle Hut built by the
Hands of Yahshua at Glastonbury
Augustine of Canterbury arrived on the island about the year of 597 CE believing that the whole island of Britain was pagan with no knowledge of Jesus and the God as His Father in heaven. This is interesting how uninformed the Roman Christian Church was, for the British Cymric Culdee Nazarene Ecclesia started by Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Martha and Mary Magdalene on the Isle of Avalon had already been a witness to the death and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah Yahshua for over 550 years.
What Augustine of Canterbury found was that only the new arrivals to the island of Britannia with invasion of the Anglo-Saxons were pagan. To the single focused mentality of Roman Christian Orthodoxy, they did not know that these tribal invasions were waves of the Long Lost Tribes of House of Israel who were finally arriving to their divinely guided final destination. That day had come when the repatriation and redemption of the Lost Tribes of Israel would begin so that someday in the future, their own restoration in brotherly union with the Jews of the House of Judah would be accomplished. These were the prophecies 12 centuries earlier by the prophets of Israel.
Yet, Augustine also came upon a rude awakening. Not only was there a thriving messianic community of believers in Jesus the Messiah, but they also had their own developed liturgy, festivals and strong historical traditions that were different to the Roman Catholic Church. They were more akin to the Jewish traditions than the Roman Catholic traditions.
What was even more surprising, one of the strongest of the traditions was that Jesus, Himself had traveled to this island as a child, and later as a young man. He lived here and studied with the Druids, built His own oratory dwelling that became later a House of Worship, a “Bethel” or “House of God” upon these islands. This edifice was revered and later preserved for over five hundred and fifty years. This sacred house of worship was guarded and preserved over the years with great diligence and care. With this astounding information, Augustine wrote a letter back to Pope Gregory the Great called the “Epistolae ad Gregoriam Papam” when he penned these following words that were preserved as early as the years of 1129-1139 CE by William of Malmesbury in his book, “The Antiquities of Glastonbury”.
St. Augustine of Canterbury England – “In the Western confines of Britain there is a certain royal island of large extent, surrounded by water, abounding in all the beauties of nature and necessaries of life. In it the first Neophytes of Catholic Law, God beforehand acquainted them founded a Church constructed by no human art, but by the hands of Christ Himself, for the salvation of His people. The Almighty has made it manifest by many miracles and mysterious visitations that He continues to watch over it as sacred to Himself, and to Mary, the Mother of God.” (Lionell Smithett Lewis, “St. Joseph of Arimathea”, 1922, 1988, pg. 86)
This revelation was so astounding that an ecclesia or synagogue existed as a house of worship that was build above the ground. The Roman Gnostic Christian Church had been worshipping in ancient sites of worship at Rome that were constructed underground in catacombs or burial tombs of the dead for two centuries in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, by the time the Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Synagogue) was discovered.
Whereas the first house of worship, built by the hands of Yahshua, was built prior to His ministry in Galilee as early as 26 CE, and later enlarged and rebuilt by Joseph of Arimathea and the apostolic twelve as early as 36 CE, it would not be until after 51 CE that the Palace of the British, the Palladium Britannica would became the first home church for the gentile citizens of Rome. They were baptized into the Roman Nazarene faith of the British Culdees (Refuges); Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene and Martha. How could that be? The home church at the Palace of the British was hosted and ministered by the royal Cymric converts of Joseph of Arimathea; the Roman Senator Rufus Pudens and his Cymric wife, the Princess of Siluria in Wales, Gladys Claudia Britannica Pudentianna. This early Roman Nazarene Ecclesia was patterned after the Jewish faith with a synagogue service yet was located at a different site than Jewish Synagogue in Rome that was hosted by the orthodox Jews and friends of the Apostle Paul; Aquilla and Priscilla.
Yet, a controversy still erupted over the accuracy of the translation of the letter that has been debated for centuries. Reverend C.C. Dobson translated this paragraph in 1932 as “found a Church constructed by no human art, but divinely constructed, for the salvation of His people.” Yet, R. W. Morgan in his 1860 book called, “St. Paul in Britain”, claimed that the translation, “but by the hands of Christ Himself” was a true translation of the “Epistolae ad Gregoniam Papam” for he was quoting from an earlier manuscript with this same title. It was Dobson who noted that William of Malmesbury used the Latin expression of “a Deo paratam” meaning “actually by God Himself” and that there were two other manuscripts by an anonymous Saxon priest “B” who used the written expression “Coelitus paratam” meaning “Divinely constructed”. The reality was that a literal and material building was constructed that was for centuries used as a house of worship and contrasted by the Almighty Deity who subsequently watched over this sacred edifice for centuries.
The Ancient Synagogue (Vetusta Ecclesia) in Glastonbury
What
materials was the Ancient Synagogue (Vetusta Ecclesia) constructed? According to the ancient
records here at Glastonbury on the ancient protected isle of Avalon, a mud and wattle
constructed building was found six centuries later. When first viewed by
Augustine, it was still intact and revered over all these centuries.
This island was called by Augustine the “Royal Island”.
It was documented to have been given as a gift of royal
patronage and was dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. This fact was
later confirmed about the year of 450 CE by Maelgwyn of Llandaff
and later in the 11th
century by William of Malmesbury.
The “Lady Chapel” built over the Vetusta Ecclesia –
Photo Robert Mock MD
This revered and sacred site was built of fragile construction material, mud and wattle (twigs and limbs), yet was still intact over five hundred years later. The oracle or house of worship was covered over with boards to protect it by Paulinus, the companion of Augustine of Canterbury, as documented by William of Malmesbury in the article titled, “Church at Glastonbury” in his book, “The Acts of the Kings of Britain”.
The British Culdee Church (Cymric Ecclesia of the Jewish Refugees) was to become a rival to the Roman Christian Church, for here was evidence of a more ancient house of worship than any in Rome. It would compete with Rome for ecclesiastical authority in the future. Yet, these thoughts were not prevalent at that time, for to stand in an edifice that the hands of the Jewish Messiah Yahshua (Jesus) had touched and built would have superseded any conception of jealousy for the reverence to its own historical origin.
St Augustine, Archbishop of Canterbury from "Les Petits Bollandistes:
Vies des Saints," by Msgr. Paul Guérin (1882)
St. Augustine of England – “God beforehand acquainted them, found a Church constructed by no human hand, but by the Hands of Christ Himself for the salvation of His people.”
These traditions were attested to four hundred years later by non other than the St. Augustine of Britain. He confirmed these traditions in a letter recorded in the “Epistolae ad Gregoriam Papam” to the Pope that this “wattle and mud” hut and altar was “built by the very hands of our Lord (Jesus)” and attested in confirmation by the ancient Celtic Triads that Yahshua’s (Jesus’) sanctuary in the wilderness on the Isle of Britannia was still standing intact when Joseph and his companions arrived about six years after Yahshua’s death, resurrection, and ascension in the spring of 30 CE. (Taylor, pg. 69)
The historical documentation of an apostolic mission to Britain had already been documented by the British historian, Gildas Badonicus (516-570 CE), decades prior. Yet with this testimony, and of whom was he speaking that brought this “knowledge of his precepts, to this island’ comes under more scrutiny.
Gildas Badonicus of Britain – “These islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in distant region of the world, remote from the visible sun received the beams of light, that is the holy precepts of Christ, at the latter part, as we know, of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.” (E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury”, pg .47)
To see how
different, translations can be made of a certain ancient
document, we read:
Christ, the True Sun, afforded His light, the knowledge of His precepts, to this island during the height of, or the last year (37 CE) of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.” (Reverend C.C. Dobson MA, “Did our Lord Visit Britain as They say in Cornwall and Somerrset?” 1936, reprint 1993, pg. 26s
The Domesday Book – UK National Archives
BibleSearchers, along with hundreds of other historians, have testified that this primal information by Gildas gives testimony of the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea with the “Good News” to the Cymric region of ancient Britain. It makes the testimony of Gildas more important in that he lived the last years of his life at Glastonbury and was buried in its sacred and hallowed cemetery.
But, maybe we should reconsider our premises. The latter translation does not suggest that emissaries of the Messiah came to testify of the death and resurrection of the Messiah. It may rather suggest that it was Yahshua (Jesus) as the Messiah (Christ) who “afforded His (own) Light” and gave the “knowledge of His (own) precepts” by personally coming to this island and testifying to the knowledge of the God of Israel as the Creator of the Universe. He did this at least before the year of 37 CE when Tiberius Caesar died on the Isle of Capri off the coastline of Italy south of Rome. So then let us relook at a few other ancient testimonies that actually state that Yahshua (Jesus) came to the Isle of Britannia.
It
would be another five centuries, in the year of 1066 CE, when
King William of
Conqueror, the Norman duke would conquer England. Twenty years later
he took a census and a list of all the properties on the
island. It was documented in the Doomsday Book of 1086 CE. Recorded now, one thousand and thirty
years later, William the Conqueror testified on the public
record that followed:
Domesbury Book of 1086 CE – “The Domus Dei in the great Monastery of Glastonbury, called the Secret of the Lord. This Glastonbury Church possesses in its own Ville XII hides of land which have never paid tax.” (Domesday Survey folio p. 249 b, cited Reverend C.C. Dobson MA, “Did our Lord Visit Britain as They say in Cornwall and Somerrset?” 1936, reprint 1993, pg. 27 and E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury”, pg 41
Here was documented the royal gift of “twelve hides” (1900 acres) of marshy cluster of miniature islands at “Ynis-wytrin”. It was given by King Arviragus to Joseph of Arimathea and his twelve companions. It later was called the Isle of Avalon. This historic book was the royal records of all the prior records, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that were rechecked and updated culminating in the Laud Manuscript in the year of 1154 CE.
In this same era, William of Malmesbury, the historian of Glastonbury, wrote an “account of the writings of the ancients” that he was researching in the Glastonbury Library, one of the most famous libraries in the ancient world. A man noted for his accuracy, he had access to documents that soon would be destroyed forever. He appealed that the authority of his writings came from “the writings of the ancients” which were part of the archives of the Glastonbury Library.
In the year of 1184 CE, the entire monastery burned down, including; the Virgin’s Chapel, known as the ancient Old Church of Glastonbury that was build by Joseph of Arimathea , the Library, and the entire magnificent monastery. The sacred edifice of the Ancient Synagogue was later enclosed with wood and then later overlaid with lead. After over 1150 years of preservation, the Vetusta Ecclesia was now destroyed.
It was this William of Malmesbury who wrote concerning the donation of the twelve hides of land that was given to Joseph of Arimathea. As the Abbey records quoted by William of Malmesbury record:
William of Malmesbury – “In
the year of our Lord, 63 (or 36 CE), twelve holy
missionaries, with Joseph of
Arimathea (who had buried our Lord) as their head, came
over to Britain, preaching the Incarnation of Jesus
Christ. The king of the country and his subjects refused to become
proselytes to their teaching, but in consideration that they
had come a long journey, and being somewhat pleased with
their soberness of life and unexceptional behavior, the king,
at
their petition, gave them for their habitation a certain
island bordering on his region, covered with trees and bramble
bushes and surrounded by marshes, called Ynis-wytrin.
Drawing by A. Forestier's (1911) - Glastonbury Lake Village
Afterwards two other kings, successively, although pagans, having information of their remarkable sanctity of life, each gave of them a portion of ground, and this, at their request, according to the custom of the country, was confirmed to them – from whence the “twelve Hides of Glastonbury”, it is believed, derived their origin.
These holy men, thus dwelling in this desert place, were in a little time admonished in a vision by the Archangel Gabriel to build a church in honour of the of the Blessed Virgin, in a place to which they were directed. Obedient to the Divine precept, they immediately built a chapel of the form of that which had been shown them: the walls were of osiers wattled together all round.” (John W.Taylor, “The Coming of the Saints”, pg. 145)
With legal title to the land, the group of thirteen
began the process of constructing a cluster of homes, built
in the manner of the natives upon this land. What they also
found nearby, according to tradition was the sacred rounded hut
that Yahshua (Jesus), the Carpenter’s son had built when he
was taking a Sabbatical retreat in preparation for His
ministry in Galilee and Judea. At that 
site,
where the hands of the “Word” that was the manifestation of God
in human flesh had earlier lived, studied, meditated, and worshiped,
they began to build the first Jewish Nazarene Ecclesia. It was
to be known as the first Nazarene synagogue, built above ground
in the world, outside of Jerusalem.
The ‘Vetusta Ecclesia’ – the Wattled Jewish Synagogue built by Joseph of Arimathea and the twelve disciples– Stough, “Dedicated Disciples” pg. 80.
The construction of this synagogue was with timbered pillars. The framework was doubly wattled inside and out, and its roof was thatched with reeds. When painted with lime as a sealant, it was a very sturdy construction. According to Giraldus Cambrensis when writing about the earliest construction of the Pembroke Castle, he wrote:
Giraldus Cambrensis – “Arnulphus de Montgomery, in the days of Henry I (1068-1135 CE) built a small castle of twigs and slight turf.” E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury”)
This type of construction was also the same that was used to build the primitive capital of Rome as recorded by Ovid in “Faesti ad Fest Roma”. According to the archeological reconstruction of that era by F. Bligh Bond F.R.I.B.A. who was the director of the Glastonbury Abbey Excavations and member of the Somerset Archaeological Society, claimed that the first ecclesia, named after the Jewish Nazarene Ecclesia in Jerusalem, was called the Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Synagogue).
The Ancient Sanctuary Synagogue (Vetusta Ecclesia) was 25 feet in diameter encircled with twelve huts so that each disciple would have its own residence in private. This entire community was then encircled with a large stockade to protect them from wild animals. It is believed that the oratory of Yahshua was enclosed over, by the larger worship building in the center. It was designed to be their synagogue and there they continued to worship all the 613 commands in the Torah of the Lord, including traveling back to Jerusalem at least once every Sabbatical week of years (seven years) for the Festivals of the Lord.
The Vetusta Ecclesia and the “Rest” of Princess Miriam
One of the critical questions concerning the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea was, did Mary the mother of Yahshua (Jesus) go to the Isle of Britannia with Joseph of Arimathea? What we do know, after Pentecost, Princess Miriam disappears from the canon of the New Testament.
It is of interest, one of the earliest traditions of the British Culdees in Britain was testified about in an early document in England called the Magna Glastoniensis Tabula at Naworth Castle. It left a profound hint as to what happened to the Princess Miriam, the mother of Yahshua, after Yahshua’s death and resurrection.
The Mount of Offense (Center), a Ridge of the Mount of Olives (Left) as seen from the Palace of Ananias the High Priest – Photo by Robert Mock
Magna Gastoniensis Tabula at Naworth Castle – “St. John, while evangelizing Ephesus, made Joseph Paranymphos (Guardian of Mary the mother of Jesus).”
(E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury”, pg 50)
What was known from scripture was at the execution of Yahshua on the “tree” with a crossbar (“Cross”) on the “Mount of Offense” high up on the Mount called Olivet, Jesus’ mother Miriam was there the whole time with her love and support for her son. For this act, she was memorialized for eternity. What an agonizing moment of time this must have been. It was there hanging on the tree, when the Jewish Messiah Yahshua reached out to his mother with love, adoration, and great sympathy. Turning to his cousin, the Apostle John, Yahshua spoke to Him his final wish:
John 19:27 – “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ The He said to the disciple, ’Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”
The first thing that we note was that the last phrase, “eis ta idia” or “idia” was written as a possessive pronoun, and therefore literally interpreted as the Apostle John “took her to his own.” The word “home” was added by the translators for it cannot be found in any of the original texts. In essence, the Messiah was entrusting his own mother to the care of his cousin, Yohannes (John) but there was no intent that John was to take her to his own home, but make sure that she was cared for the rest of her life.
Understanding
the traditions of the Jews in the care of the widows,
the next of kin was the legal heir to assume responsibility
for the care of the mother of the Messiah. As we now
understand, Miriam’s
father, Prince
Alexander III Helios, the biblical Heli, was executed in the
year of 23
BCE. Princess Miriam,
was an only child, and therefore had no brothers to watch
over her. The closest of kin, was the brother of Mary’s father,
Heli, who was Joseph
of Arimathea, the “rich man of Jerusalem”.
German Augustinian Nun and Visionary, Anne Catherine Emmerich
When the Apostle John first went to assume the leadership
of the Jewish
Nazarene Ecclesia in Ephesus we do not know. 
According
to Roman Catholic tradition, the Apostle John and the Virgin
Mary moved to the city of Ephesus, where both of them died
and were buried. The most prominent tradition in Christendom
still held by many Orthodox Christian communities was that the mother
of the Messiah died about a decade after the resurrection
of Yahshua (Jesus). But where did this happen? This
tradition that Mary the Mother of Yahshua was buried in Ephesus
appears late, around the year of 1841. This tradition was centered upon the visions
of a German Augustinian nun, Anne Catherine
Emmerich.
Differing against the Ephesus traditions was the 4th century Egyptian Coptic text called the “20th Homily of St. Cyril of Jerusalem”. Here in this ancient work, Cyril claimed that Mary’s death did occur in Jerusalem on the Mount called Zion, on the 15th day of August, in the year of 43 CE. He claimed that she was buried in the garden called Gat Shemen (Gethsemane) where an underground crypt is dedicated to her death remains today.
The
strongest of all the traditions is that Miriam, the mother of
Yahshua was buried at Glastonbury. These traditions
go all the way back to the 1st century where, according to the
traditions of the Culdees, the ancient oratory hut “built”,
according to Augustine of Canterbury, “by the hands of Jesus”
was enclosed next to or within a larger “church”. Knowing historically
the religious traditions of Joseph of Arimathea and the eleven apostles,
who were orthodox Jews, this religious sanctuary was actually
a Jewish
Nazarene
Synagogue. As testified by the Scottish Archeologist E. Raymond Capt
in his book called “The Traditions of Glastonbury”:
The Church with the Upper Room over the Tomb of King David that became the Jewish Nazarene Synagogue of Jerusalem – photo by Robert Mock MD
E. Raymond Capt – “According to one Tradition of Glastonbury, after Mary’s death, a building of wattle construction, sixty feet in length and twenty-six feet wide (following the pattern of the Wilderness Tabernacle) was built over her home. This building became known as the “Lignea Basilica (Wooden Church)” or the “Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Ecclesia)” and the “Ealdechurche” or “Old Church.” Later it was called the “Culdee Church” or “Church of the Refugees.”)
The existence of a mud and wattle church at Glastonbury is historically proven by two royal Charters which are in extant. Both were actually signed in the “Lignea Basilica” (Wooden Basilica) – one by King Ina, in A.D. 704, and the other by King Cnut in A.D. 1032.”
This quotation from an archeologist and an antiquarian but not necessarily a church historian highlights an interesting phenomenon; the migration of the name of this one sanctuary that ended up as one of the most magnificent of the Basilicas upon the Island of Britannia. These names included:
The Oratory Sanctuary built by Yahshua (Jesus) and Dedicated to His Mother Miriam à
The Vetusta Ecclesia or Ancient Synagogue à
The Culdee Church or the Church of the Refugees à
The Ealdechurche or the Old Church à
Lignea Basilica or Wooden Basilica that covered the Ancient Synagogue à
Major Basilica of St. Ina that rebuilt over the Lead coated Wooden Basilica à
The Glastonbury Abbey and Monastery
This sanctuary was dedicated and preserved over the centuries so that it could be the future home for the descendants of Joseph, the Viser of Ancient Egypt; the Tribe of Ephraim. Is it of interest that “Ephraim” would become symbolic, by the prophets of Israel, of the Ten Lost tribes of the House of Israel? Of all the ancient traditions that have risen out of the Arimathean Mission, the one element that has been missing is the historical fact that this mission was not a Christian mission. Christianity, at this early date, in 36 CE did not even exist. All these earliest participants that were cast off the shoreline of Judea in a small boat with no sails or rudders presumably to their death were orthodox, not reformed nor conservative but orthodox Jews. They worshipped in their synagogues, celebrated the feasts of the Lord in the Temple of Herod, and believed with all their hearts that the fulfillment of the prophets of old had been realized in the life and ministry of that Jewish Messiah, Yahshua ben Yosef (Jesus son of Joseph).
When they
arrived to the Isle
of Avalon near Cornwall, England, the site of the sacred
building that they chose to eventually worship in to the Eternal
One of Israel, was the first home of Yahshua ben Yosef. By tradition, this same site was
later lived in by his own mother, Princess Miriam
of the House of King David. This oratory hut was later
incorporated into a larger house of worship, a synagogue,
for it was first called the Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Synagogue) but it was
not a church, but an ecclesia (assembly of worshippers) patterned after the Jewish synagogues.
Only later would this house of worship become a “Church” called
the “Ealdechurche”
or “Old
Church”, which was later called the “Lignea Basilica”
of “Wooden
Basilica” when the ancient sanctuary, that was constructed
of osiers, the rods or branches of willows that were woven
or wattled together along with its pliable twigs as they did in basketry
and furniture making, was later built over with a Wooden Basilica.
The 13th Century Chapel Built on the Site of the House with an Upper Room that became the Jewish Nazarene Synagogue in Mount Zion – Photo by Robert Mock
The size and structure of Wooden Basilica was structured to preserve the Jewish Nazarene Synagogue’s original form that was built to the dimension and form of the Wilderness Sanctuary, designed by YHVH God, and built by the Children of Israel at the Mount called Sinai. So revered was this sanctuary that even today, its memory is a memorial to the original refugees from Judea as seen in its name as the British Culdee Church or the “Church of the Refugees.”
A historical fact, little known, was when the first printing press was invented; it was the Bible that was the first book to ever be printed. What was not known, soon afterwards, Wynkyn de Worde printed the “Life of Joseph of Arimathea” and near the same time, Richard Pynson, between the years of 1516-1520 CE, printed two separate manuscripts on the Arimathean Story at Glastonbury. Within one of these documents was written:
“Now here how Joseph came into Englande;
But at that tyme it was called Brytayne.
Then XV yere with our lady, as I understand,
Joseph wayted styll to serve hyr he was fayne.”
(E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury” pg. 53)
After fifteen years living in Glastonbury, Mary, the mother of Jesus (Yahshua) was laid to her rest. Born about the year of 20-19 BCE to Prince Heli, who was known in Jewish classical history as the Hasmonean Prince Alexander II Helios and his wife, Hannah, the youngest Levite daughter of the Jewish High Priest, Yahshua III, the Princess bride of Prince Joseph the Carpenter was laid to her rest at Glastonbury at nearly 68 years of age in the year of 48 BCE. It was here at Glastonbury about the year of 540 CE that Maelgwyn of Llandaff, known today as Melchinus of Avalon the uncle of David of Menevia, recorded in his “Historia de Rebus Britannicis”, the following:
Maelgwyn of Avalon – “In this church they worshipped and taught the people the true Christian faith. After about fifteen years Mary died and was buried at Glastonbury. The disciples died in succession and were buried in the cemetery.” (W. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury” pg. 51)
William of Malmesbury, researching in the ancient library of the Glastonbury Abbey that was burnt to the ground in the year of 1180 CE, did preserved the records in which he investigated only a few years earlier between the years of 1125-1135 CE. His written testimony and legacy is called “The Antiquities of Glastonbury”. His witness collaborated with the testimony of Maelgwyn of Avalon when he wrote:
William of
Malmesbury – “Now St. Philip, as Freculphus testifieth in his second
book, chapter iv, coming into the country of the Franks to preach,
converted many to the faith, and baptized them. Therefore,
working to spread Christ’s Word, he chose twelve from among
his disciples, and sent them into Britain to bring thither the good news
of the Word of Life, and to preach the Incarnation of Jesus
Christ, after he had most devoutly spread his right hand
over each. Their leader, it is said, was Philip’s dearest friend, Joseph of Arimathea,
who buried the Lord. Coming therefore into Britain sixty-three years
from the Incarnation of the Lord, and fifteen from the Assumption of Blessed
Mary, they began faithfully to preach the faith of Christ.”
The Ruins of the Glastonbury Abbey that was Destroyed in the Year of 1539 CE - Photo by Robert Mock
The “true Christian faith” that Maelgwyn was talking about was the Orthodox Jewish Nazarene faith in the “Jerusalem Mother Ecclesia” and “Synagogue” in the “House with the Upper Room in Jerusalem”. Maelgwyn then went on to describe this sacred cemetery where over the five centuries innumerable early adherents to the sacred truths of the Hebrew Nazarenes living on the Isle of Britannia died. They were laid to rest awaiting the sound of the Great Shofar and the arrival of the Messiah ben David as He enters through the Eastern Gate overlooking the Kidron Valley and the Mount of Olivet behind. The most noted of these resting places was the tomb of Miriam the mother of Yahshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah) and Joseph, the Prince of David called Joseph de Marmore of Arimathea.
Later this same Maelgwyn wrote in reference to the early Nazarene saints that were buried in that area:
Maelgwyn of Avalon – “Who there awaited the day of resurrection under the protection of the Mother of God.” (W. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury” pg. 53)
This fact of Mary’s residence at Glastonbury was also confirmed by a French convent in Alexandria, Egypt. Here once lived, a group of nuns who were all members of the old French nobility. At their convent, they were taught that:
French convent at Alexandria, Egypt – “St. Joseph of Arimathea took the Blessed Virgin with him to Britain and she died there."
The context of the message of Maelgwyn was that the physical body of the early Jewish refugee (Culdee), the Princess of David, Miriam bat Heli (Mary daughter of Heli), was buried under the floor of the ancient Wattled Synagogue called the Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Synagogue). The preservation of this fact was no doubt the reason why the Ealdechurche was later called the “Mary’s Chapel” and the “St. Joseph’s Chapel”.
The Secret of the Resting Place
The testimony of Maelgwyn of Avalon was also collaborated with the Glastonbury historian, William Malmesbury in his history called the “Acts of the Kings”. This historical text that was written about the year of 1135 CE, added to the mystery with another enigmatic statement about Mary’s Chapel in which Malmesbury also felt was the exact location where the body of Mary, the mother of Yahshua (Jesus) was laid to rest:
William of
Malmesbury – “The very floor, inlaid with polished stone, and
the side of the altar itself above and beneath, are laden
with the multitude of relics…” and “where also one can notice
in the pavement stones are carefully set side by side, either in triangularly
or squarely and sealed with lead, under which I believe
some sacred
secret to be contained. I
shall not be an injury to religion.”
(W. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury”
pg. 51)
The Ancient Polished Stone Flooring of the Glastonbury Abbey – Photo by Robert Mock
Was this “secret” the resting place of Princess Miriam, the mother of Yahshua? In the international world in which the Roman Catholic dogma dominated the ancient Roman Empire, its political and religious power was only enhanced by its reconstructed history of the ancient messianic faith of Judaism; the Jewish Nazarenes. What were the Jewish Nazarenes were now called Roman Catholic Christians. With this fact, William of Malmesbury was not willing to say more.
The reverence for this sanctuary held a special identity above all other places of worship to the ancient Cymrics and later the Anglo-Saxon, all of which have been identified as the Lost Tribes of Israel. Looking back to this day, a thousand years later, William of Malmesbury wrote about the power of the sanctity of this “sacred place” in his book, the “Acts of the Kings, Book 1”. His thoughts are illuminating:
William of Malmesbury – “The Church of which we are speaking – from its antiquity called by the Angles (Engle Tribe of Ephraim) by way of distinction “Elde Churche” that is “old Church” of wattle work at first, savoured somewhat of heavenly sanctity even from its foundation, and exhaled it over the whole country, claiming superior reverence though the structure was mean. Hence, here arrived whole tribes (Lost Tribes of Israel) of the lower orders, thronging every path; here assembled the opulent of their pomp; and it became the crowded residence of the religious and the literary….This church then is certainly the oldest I am acquainted with in England, and from this circumstance derives its name.
In it are preserved the mortal remains of many saints, some of whom we shall notice in our progress, nor is there any corner of the church destitute of the ashes of the holy. The very floor, inlaid with polished stone, and the sides of the altar, and even the altar itself above and beneath, are laded with the multitude of relics. The antiquity and multitude of its saints have endued the place with so much sanctity that, at night, scarcely any one presumes to keep vigil there, or during the day spit upon its floor; he who is conscious of pollution shudders through his whole frame. No one ever brought hawk or horses within confines of the neighbouring cemetery who did not depart injured either in them or in himself. It is sufficiently evident that the men of that province had no oath more frequent or more sacred than to swear by The Old Church, fearing the swiftest vengeance on their perjury in this respect.
In the meantime it is clear that the repository of so many saints may be deservedly called a heavenly sanctuary on earth. There are numbers of documents, though I abstain from mentioning them for fear of causing weariness, to prove how extremely venerable this place was held by the chief persons of the country, who there more especially chose to await the day of resurrection under the protection of the Mother of God.” (William of Malmesbury, “Acts of the Kings, Book I” cited by George F. Jowett, “The Drama of the Lost Disciples” pg 236-237)
It was only sixty years later, after Maelgwyn of Avalon wrote his history (540 CE) when the Roman Catholic Church deified the “Virgin Mary” in the year of 600 CE. This was an act which the British Culdee Nazarenes refused to do. They firmly believed that the God of Israel was the One and only One True God of the Universe. They also believed that the physical manifestation of YHVH God was sent to this planet as His Messiah. As such the Messiah was the physical manifestation of the Divine or the physical manifestation of the Torah (revelation of the Deity) in the flesh. This young maiden, Miriam the Princess of the Royal House of King David became only a maternal instrument to bring the Torah, the Word, or the physical manifestation of the Divine into human physical reality.
About the year when William of Malmesbury wrote “Acts of the Kings”, the Roman Catholic Church began to dedicate their cathedrals and basilicas around the world to the “Virgin Mary”. The most famous of these dedications were the cluster of Gothic cathedrals in the Catholic nation of France. These Gothic cathedrals, called the Notre Dame, were imprinted upon the French landscape with the diagram of the Constellation of Virgo (Virgin) that was hovering overhead during that same era.
On the other hand, British Culdees never dedicated their ecclesias or synagogues to Mary, with one exception. One thousand years prior, they named the “Mary’s Chapel at Glastonbury” in memory of the dedication of this same edifice to her, by her son, Yahshua HaMaschiach. Such was the Messiah’s love for His human mother. As Raymond Capt wrote in “The Traditions of Glastonbury”:
E. Raymond Capt – “This early dedication (of the Vetusta Ecclesia) had to be for a reason other than deification perhaps this was a continuation of the tradition that Jesus, Himself, dedicated to His mother the little “temple” He had built with His own hands at Avalon.” (W. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury” pg. 51-53)
Returning back to the statement of Maelgwyn of Avalon when he stated that the Jewess Princess mother Miriam died after fifteen years, he was not specific as to when the fifteen years began. Did it begin with the resurrection of Yahshua (Jesus) in the year of 30 CE, the arrival of the Nazarenes to the Isle of Avalon in Britain in the year of 36 CE, or the year in which Joseph of Arimathea became the Jewish male Guardian, the “Paranymphos”, or the “Bridegroom” of the Messiah’s mother?
According to the Magna Gastoniensis Tabula at Naworth Castle, the date of the beginning of these fifteen years began after the Apostle John began his first evangelistic campaigning at Ephesus on the Greek Isles. There he “made Joseph Paranymphos (Guardian of Mary the mother of Jesus).” (W. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury” pg. 51)
The Dedication Plaque of “Jesvs-Maria” put on the Exterior Stone Walls over the Vetusta Synagogue (Ancient Synagogue) when St. Ina’s Basilica was Built – Photo by Robert Mock
By tradition, Mary died in the year of 48 CE. This date has several early textual collaborative witnesses to the same date. They include the Cotton MX Titus plus the Novo Legend Anglo by John Capgrave that was the “Principle of the Augustine Friars in England” in the year of 1466 CE. We also find this testimony in the old Glastonbury Abbey records that stated that the Mary’s Chapel was built over the remains of the tomb of Mary by Dewisant (David) of Menevia that was verified by erudite Druidic bard, historian and Cymric philosopher, Maelgwyn of Avalon, who wrote:
Maelgwyn of Avalon – “Ye ealde chyrche was built over the grave of the Blessed Mary.” (W. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury” pg. 53-54)
It is also from Maelgwyn of Avalon that we receive the touching and tender primitive Cymric Druidic and Jewish Nazarene testimonies about this apostle that Yahshua (Jesus) loved:
Maelgwyn of Avalon - Apostle John “gave Mary into the trust of Joseph, under the peculiar title of being her “bridesman”; that he was present at her death, as were other apostles and disciples who came at her bidding to be by her side as Mary breathed her last.” (E. Raymond Capt, “The Traditions of Glastonbury” pg. 54)
Historically, fifteen years after the year of 33 CE may actually be a reasonable date for the Apostle John’s first missionary trip to Greece. It was also within the historical time period when the Sauline Pogrom against the Jewish Nazarenes began (33-36 CE) in which the later Pharisee called the “Apostle Paul”, as an agent of the High Priest Jonathan along with Sadducee high priest family of Hanan (Ananias) was trying to drive or destroy all of the Nazarenes out of Jerusalem and Judea. The early Sadducee driven Sauline pogrom was so bold to even take their campaign of Jewish messianic extermination into Damascus in Syria.
This historical
fact appears to be reproduced today as the corrupt Masonic governments
of the Labor
Zionist State of Israel have historically been attacking and suppressing
the orthodox Jewish voices of protest. It began with earnest in the
days of Rabbi
Meir Kahane and later his son, Rabbi Binyamin Kahane, who were killed
with the assassins bullet, and remain today as the missiles of
destruction consistently come down upon orthodox Jewish conclaves
from the Amalek driven hatred by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian Hamas,
and the Shi’ite Iranian driven hatred of Nazrallah’s Hezbollah.
The Prominent Druidic Gorsedd called the Glastonbury Tor on the Isle of Avalon near the Home of Joseph of Arimathea – Photo by Robert Mock
During the era of 33-36 CE, Joseph of Arimathea, Philip, Lazarus, Martha and Mary Magdalene and many others of the apostles were living as refuges in the Roman security zone at Caesarea. There they lived in the home of the Apostle Philip and his daughters the prophetesses. The presence of the Apostle John was strangely silently and absent. Within two to three years later, (35-36 CE), their fateful journey in the boat without sails, rudders, or oars, would lead them to their divine destiny on the Glassy Isle called Ynys Witrin. There upon this beautiful island protected and secured in a marshland not far from the Atlantic Ocean, the Arimathean refugees called the Culdees were directed by the God of Israel to live in the safest and most protected region on this planet earth. When the invasion of the Roman legions landed upon the southeastern coastline of Britain in the year of 43 CE, never once did any Roman military presence penetrate this isle protected by the armies of Caratacus, the Pendragon of Britain. Over the centuries the “Glassy Isle” called “Glastonbury” would have several names. According to William of Malmesbury in his book, “The Antiquities of Glastonbury” he wrote:
William of Malmesbury – “This island was at the first called Ynyswytrin by the Britons, then, by the Angles (when they had conquered the land), Glastinbiry – their rendering in their own tongue of the old name; or else they called it so after the Glasteing spoken of in the last chapter, from whom it was very frequently called “the Island of Avallonia,” of which name this was the origin.
It was said above that Glasteing found his sow under an apple tree beside the Old Church, whereupon, because, when he first came he found apples very rare in those parts, he called the island in his own speech “Insula Avallonia,” that is “Apple Island”; for Avalla in the Ancient British is “poma” in Latin, “apples” in English. Or it is so called from a man named Avalloc, who is said to have lived there with his daughters because this place was remote.” (William of Malmesbury, “The Antiquities of Glastonbury”, 1129-1139 CE. Facsimile reprint, 1992, pg. 14-15)
The era of living presence of Joseph of Arimathea, the Bethany family, Mary the mother of Yahshua (Jesus) and many others would soon be over. The twelve guardians of the Vetusta Ecclesia (Ancient Synagogue) were replaced one by one, either they died or moved to other parts of the continent of Gaul as emissaries of the divine mission to begin the salvation, redemption, and reclamation process of the Yahshua’s divine mission; to find the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel.
This tiny tabernacle later rebuilt over the oratorical hut where Yahshua once lived, meditated, studied, and worshipped in that natural island sanctuary would retain a special reverence and awe to the generations that followed. It had the aura that the divine had been here, and truly He had. The most complete of the seven emanations of the Sefirot of the Eternal One of Israel that could be manifested in the flesh dwelled in this tiny abode. Over and over through the centuries, this special “sacred place” was preserved, first by a wood encasing, then lead encasing and finally surrounded by fine masonry stone of a tiny basilica. Thousands would flock to its site every year and bathe in its spiritual reflections. The Tribes of Israel would be given the Messiah, but they would still be lacking their identity hidden in the Torah from Mount Sinai. Someday they would be reconnected with Judah, the guardians, the Mechoqeck (judicial authority) of the covenant, the oracles, and the Torah (law).
Genesis 49:10 – “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver (mechoqeck) from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.”
Go to Section Six
“The History of the Vetusta Nazarene Synagogue (Ancient Ecclesia)”
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Kol Ha Tor, the Voice of the Turtledove,
As a Reception from the House of Judah is forming to await the returning House of Israel
We are Associated Supporters of the Kol HaTor Vision
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The Divine Mission to Restore the Lost Sheep (Tribes) of the House of Israel
Part Eleven
Go to Section One –
“Joseph of Arimathea, the Jewish Metal Merchant and Apostle to Britannia”
Go to Section Two –
“The Jewish Nazarene Refugees Flee to the Isle of Avalon”
Go to Section Three –
“The Jewish Nazarene Culdee Yeshiva and the British Cymric Druids”
Go to Section Four –
“The Early Formative and Lost Years of Jesus”
Go to Section Five –
“The Vetusta Ecclesia – The Ancient Synagogue built by the Hand of God’s Messiah”
Go to Section Six –
“The History of the Vetusta Nazarene Synagogue (Ancient Ecclesia)”
Go to Section Seven –
“The Exile of the Ten Tribes of Israel”
Go to Section Eight –
“The Early Israelite Migrations”
Go to Section Nine –
“God’s Battle-Axe – Mystery of the Pashtun Israelites of Afghanistan”
Go to Section Ten –
“The Durrani Pashtun Afghan Bani-Israel Empire and its Legacy –
the Islamic Messiah, the Mahdi and the anti-Messiah, the Dajjal”
Go to Section Eleven –
“The Israelite-Scythian Migration to Europe”
Go to Section Twelve –
“Finding a New Home for the Lost Tribes of Israel”
Go to Section Thirteen –
Go to Section Fourteen –
“The Final Days of the Labor Zionist State of Israel as the
Messiah calls the Lost Tribes of Israel to come Home”
Message from BibleSearchers
BibleSearchers scans the world for information that has relevance on the time of the end. It is our prayer that this will allow the believers in the Almighty One of Israel to “watch and be ready”. Our readiness has nothing to do trying to halt the progression of evil on our planet earth. In our readiness, we seek to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah of Israel so that goodness and evil will be manifested in its fullest. Our preparation is a pathway of spiritual readiness for a world of peace. Our defender is the Lord of hosts. The time of the end suggests that the Eternal One of Israel’s intent is to close out this chapter of earth’s history so that the perpetrators of evil, those that seek power, greed and control, will be eliminated from this planet earth. The wars of the heavens are being played out on this planet earth and humans will live through it to testify of the might, power, justice and the love of the God of Israel. In a world of corruption and disinformation, we cannot always know what the historical truth is and who is promoting evil or mis-information. We cannot guarantee our sources but we will always seek to portray trends that can be validated in the Torah and the testimony of the prophets of the Old and the New Testament.
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