User:Pseudo-Richard/Johannites

New Testament

The Johannites are mentioned in brief passages of the New Testament, in arguments over who is the true Messiah between Jesus and John the Baptist.

In Luke 7:18 - 23 John (who, we are told, has earlier met Jesus and fallen at his feet) sends a message to Jesus saying "Art thou he that should come or do we wait for another?" Shortly after this John is killed apparently to appease the whim of Salome.

Some Johannites believe that Christ and/or his followers killed John and took over the church that he had created. This belief is called the Great Heresy.

Gnostics

The Johannites are a sect of Gnostics who acknowledge John the Baptist as the prophesized [[Messiah that was to come before the greater Messiah, and Jesus Christ as the greater Messiah. The Church itself was founded by St. Bernard. The Church believes that Christ passed down his Gnosis to John the Divine and Mary Magdalene, who some also believe to be the equivalent of Jesus as the Daughter of Sophia and Venus/Aphrodite.

Knights Templar

The Knights Templar were secret adherents to Johannism when they came upon documents in Solomon's Temple and made Mary Magdalene their patroness.

Mandaeans

Main article: Mandaeans

The Mandaeans of modern Iran and Iraq have held John in special reverence for 2000 years calling him the "High King of Light." Jesus is referred to as a "usurper" who "perverted all the cults and turned light into darkness."

Mandaeans recognize several prophets, among whom Iahia or Iuhana "John the Baptist" is accorded a special status, higher than his role in Christianity and Islam. In contrast to common belief, Mandaeans do not consider John to be the founder of their religion but merely revere him as one of their greatest teachers, tracing their beliefs back to Adam.

Mandaeans maintain that Jesus was a mšiha kdaba "false messiah" who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John. The Mandaic word k(a)daba, however, derives from two roots: the first root, meaning "to lie," is the one traditionally ascribed to Jesus; the second, meaning "to write," might provide a second meaning, that of "book"; hence some Mandaeans, motivated perhaps by an ecumenical spirit, maintain that Jesus was not a "lying Messiah" but a "book Messiah", the "book" in question presumably being the Christian Gospels. This seems to be a folk etymology without support in the Mandaean texts.

Russia

A mystical sect of prerevolutionary Russia, founded on tenets from Father John of Kronstadt. The sect published a periodical and spread their propaganda by means of itinerant pamphlet sellers. They were said to abduct Jewish children, and because of this rumor they sometimes came under police supervision. On various occasions they unsuccessfully forecast the date of the Last Judgment. They declared that all the powers of heaven had descended into Kronstadt and were personified in the entourage of Father John.

They exhorted all believers to make confession to Father John, who alone could rescue sinners from the depths of hell. The orthodox clergy would not know the Lord, but Father John would gather together in Kronstadt 144,000 of the blessed and then "leave the earth." Another tenet of the Johannities was that all newborn babies were "little devils" who must be "stamped out" immediately after birth.

The Johannites urged people to sell all their possessions and send the proceeds to Father John, or entrust them to the keeping of the pamphlet sellers. It seems, however, that Father John was unaware of the abuse of his name, and on one occasion, in reply to a telegram from Bishop Nikander of Perm, he strongly repudiated any connection with certain Johannite propagandists in the Perm government.

Holland

Another well-known sect of Johannites existed in seventeenth-century Holland. They were a less rigid branch called the Mennonites. They were first known as Anabaptists, but this name became distasteful because of the excesses of the Anabaptists under such fanatics as John of Leyden, and in 1537 the priest Menno Simonis gave his name to the movement. The members of the Johannite branch were also known as "Waterlanders," from the name of the Waterland district in North Holland where they lived. Other Mennonite sects immigrated to the United States.