[Note: All Basque words are in Italics and Bold-faced Green]
THE
EARLY BENEDICTINE CLERGY
1
A review derived from the following: Nyland, Edo. 2001. Linguistic Archaeology: AnIntroduction. Trafford Publ., Victoria, B.C., Canada. ISBN 1-55212-668-4. 541 p.
----Please CLICK on underlined categories for detail [to search for Subject Matter, depress Ctrl/F ]:
Next►
Pope Felix IV
(526-530 AD.) asked St. Benedict of Nursia to establish an order of highly
motivated and well-educated monks to evangelize Western Europe. This involved the introduction into these
lands of a new culture, a foreign religion and many new languages. Nyland
(2001) suggested that this was a very tall order, because each group of monks
was instructed to:
developed
DIFFICULT TIMES FOR THE
EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH
The task
assigned to Benedict was to train monks to go out into western Europe and
create a Roman Catholic Christian presence in areas where many Gnostic
Christian missionaries from Ireland had long been active. After the
Benedictine monks had established themselves in secure monasteries they were
to do everything within their power to destroy not only the deep-rooted
belief in the very ancient Ashera religion with its supreme Goddess, but also to re-evangelize the areas
where Gnostic evangelists from Ireland had spread their own Gospels. Most of
these were very different from those in the New Testament. (See "The
Gnostic Gospels" by Elaine Pagels, Vintage Books 1989). The name 'Gnostic' is shorthand for five agglutinated
words: .g. - no - os. - .ti -
ik.
The only thing
the two forms of Christianity could agree on was the teachings of Christ, and
even here were differences; all other aspects were at odds. It was considered
of great urgency to teach orthodox Christianity because the Gnostic
missionaries had already converted all of Ireland to their particular type of
worship and were having great success in large parts of the continent. These
evangelists had no real disagreement with the ancient Goddess faith, its
culture or its language. They were on talking terms with the abade, the male clergy of the
Ashera religion, many of whom they converted to Christianity to become the
most dedicated and enthusiastic evangelists of the Gnostic Christian church.
In short time they spread their form of Christianity over much of western
Europe, establishing numerous monasteries in England, Germany, Switzerland,
Austria, France, Italy and Spain. One of the best
known Benedictines, Bonifacius, was disgusted with the looks of these
energetic and incorruptible monks. In the style of the abade of the Goddess
religion they painted their upper eyelids purple, shaved the front half of
their heads from ear to ear (instead of a circle on top of the head like the
Benedictines) and wore long white woolen cloaks, which made them recognizable
and highly respected among the peoples they set out to convert. The
free-spirited Gnostic Christianity they preached was abhorrent to Bonifacius
who complained to the Pope and asked him to place two of them, the respected
monks Adalbert and Clement the Irishman, into solitary confinement. At the
same time, these two gentlemen reported Bonifacius to the same Pope asking
that Bonifacius be removed because of his inconsiderate and ruthless
behaviour. The Pope was caught in the middle. The R.C. church could not do
without either of the complainants because the Irish monks would preach in
the universal (Saharan/Basque) language of the people and introduce a basic
Christianity to the people. These Gnostic evangelists were very welcome
wherever they went and, most important of all, they never had to worry about
personal safety. On the contrary, many of the dogmatic orthodox missionaries,
Bonifacius among them, were martyred in the evangelizing process in areas
where the Gnostic monks had not done their "softening-up" work
first. The town where
St. Boniface was murdered is said to be Dokkum in Friesland. However, the
translation of the name of the nearby town of Drachten appears to indicate
that he may have been killed there. Like Gnostic, Drachten
is shorthand for a sentence of five words: .d.-.ra-ak.-.te-en:
Irish Gnostic Christianity
proved to be popular among the people of the continent. It was considered a refinement and natural
growth of the ancient religion. They also promised to end the voluntary
sacrifice of a worthy young man. The ease with which the Gnostic monks successfully
converted the people of Western Europe was a most unnerving threat to the
ambitious Roman Catholic Church. The church fathers' plan to bring Orthodox
Christianity to this huge area was being pre-empted by this "heretical
cult". The word "Heretic" was especially coined for them by
a church-grammarian and means: he - ere - eti - ik.:
A most unfair label
for these selfless and dedicated followers of Christ. The Roman Catholic
leadership decided it had to do something drastic and proceeded with an
aggressive and far-reaching solution. SCHOLARLY EVANGILISTS
The search was on
for a highly educated, strong-minded and absolutely devoted man to organize a
monastic Order of disciplined, scholarly commandos to thrust into the
opponents' territory, to courageously and aggressively establish monasteries
and to bring the "right" form of Christianity to the
"heathens" of the Ashera religion. The search for this super
apostle ended in 528 when Benedict was found, who was then approximately 48
years old. He quickly was given all necessary resources and support to build
and staff the headquarters for his new Order. He was to train monks for the
dangerous and almost overwhelming task of evangelizing all of western Europe.
The name he was given by the Pope was "Benedict of Nursia",
analyzed with the VCV formula: .be-ene-edi-ik.-.t.
.nu- ur. - .si - i.a
Benedict's new
monastic order was awarded a distinctive habit, which was a loose black gown tied
around the waist with a rope, with large wide sleeves and a cowl on the head,
similar in design to what had been worn by the Gnostic St. Pachomius and his
anchorite brothers of the Sinai monastery some centuries before. Black was
chosen to clearly distinguish the Benedictines from the white-robed Gnostic
monks. Black clothes had also been adopted many centuries before by the
Luwian pre-Hebraic clergy, who wanted to be distinguished from the
white-gowned abadeak (priests) of the Ashera religion, who had been given the
derogatory title: Druids .d. - .ru - id. Benedict's first
action was to get organized in the area of Subiaco, east of
Rome, while he searched for a suitable headquarters site. .su-ubi-ako
This refers to
the voluntary sacrificial death of a young man in the whirlpool of
Corrivreckan 70 km west of Glasgow. This event, which occurred once every
eight years, was of course unacceptable to the Christian church and the name
Subiaco became the Benedictines' rallying cry and they even carved it on
pre-Christian standing stones in Ireland, using Ogam characters (e.g.
Llominaca #121, Litubiri #131, Lubbais #152, Corbi #244, Caveti #433, see
Macalister). The task was of such importance that the Pope ordered Benedict
not to deal with any bishops or other intermediaries but to report directly
to him on all matters. The general had given his marching orders and the
commando units would soon fan out over Western Europe to spread their own
variety of Christianity, which had married Christianity to Judaism. The
Pope's order to have Benedict report directly to him applied to every
Benedictine Abbot from then on, until rescinded in 1893 by Pope Leo XIII who
created the office of the Abbot Primate of the Federation of Autonomous
Congregations. EARLY YEARS OF SAINT
BENEDICT
No reliable
information exists about Benedict's birth but it is estimated that he was
born in 480 and lived until 547. As an educated young man from a well-to-do family,
he had observed the shocking licentiousness of life in Rome. In his early
twenties he decided upon a life as an ascetic and then spent three years
living the life of a hermit, first near Enfide in the Simbruinian Hills,
later to move into the cave of Sacro Speco, above the lake then existing near
Nero's ruined palace at Subiaco, some 65 km east of Rome. Sacro Speco
decodes as: .sa-ak.-.ro
.spe-eko
There were
several small monasteries near Subiaco and he was asked to become abbot of one
of these. Although bored stiff, the young man denied the offer and returned
to his cave, where he then came to the conclusion that self-torment in
solitude was not nearly as constructive as group living, communal worship and
doing good works. By now the fame of his sanctity was spreading and disciples
started to flock to him. To take care of his many devoted followers he
organized twelve monastic homes, each with 12 novices, patterned after
Christ's 12 apostles, with himself in general control. Senators and other
influential people came from Rome to offer their sons to be trained as monks
under his direction and two of these young men, Maurus and Placid, became his
lifelong trusted disciples. Maurus is a contraction of Marurus: .ma - aru - uru - us.
Placid
Many of his
associates followed him to Monte Cassino. To this day Subiaco is considered
the mother-house of the Benedictine Order, but the use of the name as a
rallying cry has been forgotten. The militant
aspect of the new Order was clearly demonstrated in the type of site chosen
for their main monastery. The summit of a rocky hill located between Rome and
Naples was selected, which had been a major holy Ashera site of the Volski
people. At one time the town of Casinum had existed there in the 5th century
bce. This action set the example for all future monasteries to be
established; when entering a new region, it became a tradition for the monks
to conquer the most important religious center of Ashera, devastate it,
desecrate the holy well and cave, cleanse the site by prayer and build a
monastery on the ruins. On the mainland
these sites had usually been on very prominent locations, steep rocky hills
or centrally located islands, preferably near a year-round flowing well and
sacred cave. On the Atlantic islands the Sea-Peoples had chosen similar sites
if they were available, such as Mont St. Michel in Normandy, Mount St.
Michael in Cornwall, England and Talamhantu on Barra, Scotland. Where such
prominent sites were not available, small and centrally located islands had
been selected with the result that a few of the new Benedictine monasteries
ended up in some of the most out-of-the-way places, only accessible by boat,
which created problems for the landlubbers among the monks, e.g.
Iona.(Scotland) and Griend (Friesland). There was a practical side to this
aggressive action, because these were the sites where very large stone
monuments, such as barrow tombs, had existed, the stones of which were then
put to good use in the new monastery construction. The other major Ashera
sites, which had not been used by the monks, were leveled with the ground, e.g.
the Talamhantu center on the Isle of Barra. Benedict named his first
monastery: Monte Cassino. It is desirable to explain this name because the
theme expressed in it would be repeated over and over in many of the later
establishments. "Monte Cassino" .mo - on. - .te
The word
"monte" therefore means a "welcoming refuge", which later
was used for the French word "mont" and English "mount and
mountain". Benedict's sister, Scholastica, established a
convent near Monte Cassino. She was allowed to adopt for her nuns the
same habit as the monks wore. Her name comes from: .skola-asti-ika
Another major Benedictine
monastery using "mont" was built in northeastern Spain called Mont Serrat,
also built on a high rock outcrop .mo-on.-.t.
.se - er. - .ra - at.
In the above text,
some of the important names of the Benedictines are translated. All of their
names can be readily translated with the use of the VCV formula and the
modern Basque dictionary which means that this language has changed very
little over the last 1500 years. Even the name "Vatican" proves to be
pure Basque when analyzed with the VCV formula: .ba - ati - ika - an.
The fact that
the pre-Christian, universal language is still clearly discernable in the
majority of words and names we speak means that an important element of the
Neolithic civilization is still with us in a very fundamental way. BENEDICTINE CLERGY DAILY ROUTINES
After some years
on the job, Abbot Benedict realized that much greater discipline among the
monks was required if the Pope's enormous ambitions were to be realized. In
about 535 A.D. he wrote his "Little Rule for Beginners"
known as the "Rule of St Benedict", which provided complete
instructions for monastic government, spiritual and material well-being. The
"Little Rule" dictated a routine that filled day and night and
established a highly disciplined pattern, later adopted by other monastic
orders. The Rule divided the day into strict periods of prayer, sleep,
intellectual and manual work. It wasn't long before the Monte Cassino
monastery was renowned for its teaching, scholarship, devoutness and above
all, its discipline. The novices were put through a tough training course and
had to perform as was expected of them or else they were punished, often with
floggings. It was the first Orthodox Christian place of higher learning in
western Europe and its methods of corporal discipline carried on into later
secular institutions. The activities in
the scriptorium section of the monastery were two-fold, one was public and
the other secret. To outsiders it was a workshop where monks preserved and
multiplied Christian writings and where the ancient legends and myths of the
people were written down and preserved for eternity. Scriptorium: .s. - .k. - .ri - ip.
- .to - ori - um.
What the public
did not find out about until later was the work the "grammarians" did.
These highly skilled professional linguists, some were monks, others were
Ligurian laymen, were hard at work at Monte Cassino developing Latin as the
Christian liturgical language, to replace the Ligurian tongue which was still
spoken by a majority of inhabitants of Italy. They also trained specialists
in the art and science of language invention, to be put into practice in
areas the monks were evangelizing in the north. To make up new Latin words,
they made use of the eolithic language, which in reality was the
Saharan/Basque/Ligurian language. The scriptorium was the only place in the
monastery where the ancient language was allowed to be spoken and
consequently was out-of-bounds to all those not involved in language
invention. The name Ligurian tells us what was in store for
it: li-igu-uri-an
The church was
not entirely successful in reaching this goal in northern Italy because
Rhaeto-Romance, also called Ladin, is the last remnant of Ligurian still
spoken in a few out-of-the-way valleys in the Alps (Lahovari). THE
PRE-CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
Another task assigned
to the Order was the gathering, translating and censoring of large numbers of
classical Greek and Roman writings. In the process of translating, these
documents were cleansed of all references to the global pre-Christian
civilization and religion, its elaborate rituals, celebrations, sacraments
and other unwanted wisdom, all aimed at wiping out any memories of this very
early and peaceful civilization. Those references to the Ashera religion that
remained, were twisted routinely to put the ancient religion in a cruel or
decadent light, always referring to it as pagan, heathen, idolatrous, savage,
barbaric, cruel etc. often followed by "cult", something
despicable. Many years later Charlemagne re-enforced this policy by making it
an official order in his Edict #78, dated March 23, 789. It read: #78. "let no
false writings and doubtful narratives, records which entirely contradict the
Catholic Faith, ....let not such documents be believed or read, but be destroyed
by fire, lest they lead people into error. Only the canonical books and
Catholic treatises and the sayings of sacred writers are to be read and
delivered" (Duckett p122). After the
censor's work was done, the original document containing the objectionable
passages was burned as ordered, even if it had been borrowed from elsewhere,
in which case a cleansed copy was returned. The censored manuscript was then
sent to the copiers in the scriptorium for multiplication. Epics like Homer's
Iliad and Odyssey, Apollonius' Voyage of the Argo and many others were thus
censored and shorn of any favorable references to the previously omnipresent
supreme Goddess and Her civilization. This savage censoring has done enormous
harm to the wonderful classical and ancient literature which had been passed
on by word of mouth for many centuries without change. Much of this
historical information was located in several world class institutes of
learning such as the famous Library of Classical Antiquity at Alexandria,
founded by the Ptolemies about 300 bce. Another famous
library was started by Ptolemy III in the Temple of Saragis. The knowledge
contained in these institutes left no doubt that a world-wide civilization
speaking a universal language (Genesis 11:1) had existed before the coming of
Judaism and the library's existence was a major irritation for the Christian
church in Rome, which had decided to deny the existence of this Neolithic
civilization. As the church had no direct control over these educational
facilities, special action was necessary. The oldest and best library was
targeted first and burned just before 300 A.D. The satellite library in the
Temple of Saragis was attacked and burned in 391 A.D. The confusing
inconsistencies, the invented and inserted mythologies and glaring gaps in
the Odyssey and the travelogue of the Argonauts are obviously the work of
crude censorship. But the ancient oral traditions were never completely
eradicated by the church and to this day are remembered as folklore and myths
which make it possible to get some idea about the early civilization of our
ancestors. Any
"heathen" population was invariably described in these censored
documents as having its own primitive and distinct language, which covered up
the fact that they had all been speaking exactly the same highly evolved
universal language. Many early personal and geographical names, even words,
managed to survive unaltered, which allowed me to prove that all the tribes
had spoken the same language. It is true that, after Emperor Charlemagne's
reign, no more classical literature was lost due to fire, wars or neglect,
however, it is also true that all the surviving literature which had gone
though Charlemagne's cleansing sieve, was severely mutilated, often rendered
useless and embellished with phony information. Not until archaeologists
discovered the huge libraries of clay tablets in long-ruined palaces of the
Near East, dating from classical and ancient civilizations, would we have
access to authentic, unaltered original literature. Even so, when documents
such as the Dead Sea
Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi library were discovered early in the 20th
century, the church managed to assign trusted censors who succeeded in
delaying and obstructing release for many decades, to the point where we do
not know today how much of the literature disappeared or was hidden before
the remainder was made public. OPERATIONS MANUAL OF THE BENEDICTINES
We would not have
known about the activities inside the protecting walls of the scriptorium,
were it not for an amazing book called the "Auraicept na n'Ecez", the Benedictines'
operational manual (see Ogam ). Parts of this book dated from different centuries, the
earliest we have are from about 700 A.D., but it must have been first
initiated the moment language invention was started in Monte Cassino. There
is little doubt that this manual was confidential and should not have been
released to the public. However, some parts of it found their way to the
British Museum in London and Trinity College in Dublin and are now available
in print (Calder) and reprinted recently in Ireland. Irish scholars insisted
that the book was written in "Celtic" but were unable to provide a
single translation that made sense, although they tried very hard. The
language of the Auraicept is
Basque, more accurately: coded Basque, which can be decoded by using the VCV
formula and a modern Basque dictionary, as shown. In the Auraicept it is described how the grammarians made up languages
and that they took a great deal of pride in their work as for instance the Auraicept indicates in: Beithe-luis-nin
(Auraicept lines 1057, 1134, 4013)
(Nyland 2001). .be - ite
lu - is. ni - in.
Some of the
linguists who knew the universal language best, worked on specially organized
dictionaries for the use of the grammarians, the creative minds who assembled
the words using pre-determined linguistic rules. Nyland (2001) thought that for a short time,
the Benedictine clergy in Ireland made good use of the pre-Christian Ogam
writing system. Between 500 and 1500 A.D. these hard working Basque-speaking
grammarians created all west- and central European languages, including
Celtic, French, Spanish, German, Hungarian, Scandinavian, even Finnish and
Polish, an enormous accomplishment. LEARNING CENTERS
In order to get
an idea of the extent of the Benedictine effort and the long time period over
which their efforts were spread, Some of the most important monasteries and
scriptoria are listed, complete with dates of establishment, if these are
available.
The very first
monasteries created by the Benedictines were probably small establishments
with limited staff, similar to the monastic houses that Benedict had established
near Subiaco. These were well suited for initial take-over of the new site,
exploratory evangelical work and scouting out of new locations and attitudes,
but inadequate for sustained social development, language invention and
language introduction, which required a much larger and more diverse
establishment. Benedictine
establishments were known as "Missions", which word expresses the purpose of the order, seen from
the monks' point of view. The following analysis shows that "Mission" was originally written with one "s", .mi - isi - on.:
|