Jesus - Christos, Chrestos or Messiah
What’s In A Name?
Introduction
Christology is the study of the nature of
Jesus Christ, specifically the relationship between his human and divine
personalities. Most Christian Churches
these days hold to the definition of the nature of Jesus that was set out in
the First Council of Nicaea in 325, from which we get the Nicene Creed. This established the doctrine of the Trinity
as the basis of Orthodox Christology and Jesus was declared both fully God and fully human. As the
second person of the Trinity, Jesus is considered to be the Logos or Word of
God, the Son of God – begotten not created.
Jesus is known as the Christ, which is a translation of Messiah from the
Hebrew Moshiach), and means the ‘anointed one’. Christ is not his surname, but a title that
proclaims he is the long awaited Messiah of the Old Testament.
This article is not concerned with the
doctrine of the Trinity as such.
Instead, it considers the meaning of Jesus’ name and some of the titles
that have been given to him. Most people
are not aware that these do have quite specific meanings that go to the heart
of just who the Church proclaims Jesus to be.
However, an examination of them also reveals a great deal of other
information that leads us to a reappraisal of their Orthodox meanings. The English Folk Church believes that there
was a real human being on whom the Christian religion is based, but that a
great deal of myth and allegory has been grafted on to this historical
figure. From this study, it is hoped to
learn more about the development of this myth and what deeper reality it is
seeking to tell us. In doing this, we
should bear in mind that myth is not simply stories that have been made up. Whilst we do not hold myth to be literally
true, it is nevertheless the symbolic expression of an underlying truth.
Jesus – the name
Only two of the four canonical Gospels have
a nativity story; Mathew and Luke. In
Mathew, God tells Joseph (Mary’s betrothed) that she has become pregnant by the
Holy Spirit and the child must be called Jesus.
This is because ‘he is the one to save his people from their sins’. Luke’s nativity story tells us that the Angel
Gabriel announces to Mary that she is to bear a son by the Holy Spirit and that
she must name him Jesus. She is also
told that he will be great and will be called the ‘Son of the Most High’. So in both of these Gospels, God clearly instructs that the child conceived through the Holy Spirit
should be called Jesus. Whilst a common
name amongst Jews of this era, the fact that these two Gospels tell us that God
commanded him to be named Jesus must be significant.
Jesus is an Anglicisation of the Latin
Iesus, which comes from the Greek Iesous
(Iesous). This Greek word can refer to
two similar but separate Hebrew names; Yehoshua or Yeshua. Yehoshua is the oldest of these and appears
to have been shortened to Yeshua (or sometimes to Yesu), during the second
temple period (538 BC to 70 AD). Most
references in the Old Testament are to Yeshua, although Yehoshua continued to
be used as well. Thus the name ‘Jesus’
could stem from either Yehoshua or its shortened form Yeshua, although in
practice these are the same names.
The name Yehoshua has two possible
meanings. The first is derived from the
Jewish personal name for their god, Yahweh (Jehovah), and the Hebrew word
‘shua’ which means a cry for help.
Yehoshua would thus mean ‘a cry to God for help’. Another explanation is derived from Yahweh
and the letters Yod, Shin and Ayin and which means to rescue or to
deliver. In this case, the name Yehoshua
would mean to be rescued or delivered by God or, put simply, Yahweh rescues or
delivers. Furthermore, it is likely that
the name Yehoshua was originally Hoshea, which means ‘he rescued’. At some point, it changed from Hoshea (he
rescued) to Yehoshua (Yahweh rescues).
This is evidenced by Yehoshua the son of Nun of the Old Testament,
better known by the anglicised name of Joshua, who was originally known as Hoshea.
So we have here two possible meanings of
the name ‘Jesus’; one implying a sense of someone who cries out to God for help
or through whom we can cry out to God.
Or, it could imply someone through whom we can be rescued or delivered
by God. The former implies a sense of a
conduit through whom we can reach out to God.
The latter a sense of someone through whom God acts to rescue or deliver
us. Interestingly, the name Yehoshua, from which Jesus is derived, is the same as
Joshua – the Israelite prophet and warrior. Which, as we will see, is significant to
the development of orthodox Christology.
Jesus as Messiah
Christianity proclaims Jesus to be the long
awaited Messiah of the Old Testament. It
is often said that the times of Jesus were times of Messianic fervour when the Jews
of the day expected the Messiah at any time.
But what was it that they were actually anticipating? What, or who, was the Messiah meant to be and
how does this fit into orthodox Christian theology of Christ being God in human
form? To answer this question, we need
to delve a little bit into the history of ancient Israel and see how the
concept of Messiah developed over time and what it meant just before and during
the life of Jesus.
The golden days of ancient Israel were a
very long time ago. King David ruled a
united Israel approximately 3000 years ago in 1000 BC and his son Solomon began
his rule in about 965 BC. After
Solomon’s death the Kingdom was ruled by his descendents until about 920 BC
when it split into two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the
south. In 722 BC, King Sargon of Assyria
(roughly modern Iraq) completed a process of conquering the northern kingdom of
Israel and the Old Testament records its people being taken into captivity. These Israelites were never heard of again,
sparking off a myriad of theories about the ‘lost Tribes of Israel’ – which
includes the ‘British Israel’ theory that they escaped into North Western
Europe and became the ancestors of the Anglo Saxon and British peoples! Another important point is that the Assyrians
settled non Israelitish peoples into the territory of the northern kingdom of
Israel.
Some 150 years later, in 586 BC, the
southern kingdom of Judah was conquered by the Babylonians (also broadly modern
day Iraq). The Temple was destroyed and
many of their people were carried out into exile in Babylon. It was in, and immediately after, this
Babylonian captivity that the ancient Israelitish religion gave way to, or was
refined into, what we would now call Judaism.
This is the period that much of the Old Testament as we have it today
was written down. It is also the point
at which we could say biblical Judaism emerged, strongly influenced by the
prevalent Zoroastrian religion of the Babylonians. As with Israel, many people from elsewhere in
the Babylonian empire were settled in the lands of Judah.
In 539 BC, Judahites (the Israelitish
people of Judah) were allowed to return to Judah from Babylon and begin work in
rebuilding the Temple. Completed by
about 516 BC, this became known as the second Temple. The 5th Century BC, in which the
whole area came under Persian rule, saw a period of reformation and
scholarship, including the institution of Synagogue prayer services and public
reading of the Torah (first 5 books of the Old Testament or Pentateuch). Then in 331 BC, the Persian Empire was
defeated by Alexander the Great and the land of Israel came under Greek
rule. Following Alexander’s death in 323
BC, his Middle Eastern lands entered a period of instability and eventually
split into an eastern part of Syria and Babylonia ruled by the Seleucids and a
western part of Egypt ruled by the Ptolemies.
Both the Seleucids and the Ptolemies were Hellenist (Greek) dynastic
elites who ruled great swathes of lands populated by people with quite
different backgrounds and religious systems.
For much of the early part of this period, Israel was ruled by the
Ptolemies. It was in this period that
the schools of the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Essenes had their
beginnings.
By the second century BC, Israel had come
under the wing of the Seleucid Greeks.
Between 175 and 164 BC, the Seleucid Empire was ruled by Antiochus IV
Epiphanes. This was a troubled time for
the Seleucids, as Greek power was beginning to give way to Roman. Different Greek dynasties were also regularly
fighting each other and Antiochus spent much of his time fighting the Egyptian
Ptolemies. It was during one of his
Egyptian campaigns that a riot broke out in Jerusalem that forced him to return
and quell in 167 BC. Following this, he
decided to strengthen his hold over the Judahites, by Hellenizing them and
forcing them to worship Zeus as supreme God.
The Judahites strongly resisted this, considering it the
utmost sacrilege and rose up against the Greeks again. There was a terrible massacre in the Temple
that is still commemorated to this day as the festival of Chanukah. The result was a full scale rebellion by a nationalist
group called the Maccabees which defeated the Seleucid armies sent against
them.
The next 100 years or so saw the
re-emergence of an independent Judahite state for the
first time since the conquest of Judah in 586 BC. This dynasty, called the Hasmonean dynasty,
was established by the Maccabees and lasted on and off until 37 BC. It was recognised by the Roman senate in
about 139 BC, though the Romans then started to extend their own power into it. By 64 BC, the kingdom was incorporated as Iudaea province under the Roman governor of Syria. Rome’s hold on the Jewish kingdom temporarily
weakened as a result of wars to the east and the Hasmonean
kingdom reasserted its independence for a while until 37 BC when it became a
Roman client state. The Romans were
content to rule indirectly through a Roman procurator and Jewish Herodian kings
under a system of local Jewish autonomy.
But there is another twist to the
story. To the south of the kingdom of
Judah, lay the non-Israelitish kingdom of Edom.
The Edomites were the sworn enemies of the Israelites and Judahites and had helped the
Babylonians defeat the southern kingdom of Judah in 586 BC. With the fall of Judah, the Edomites extended
their power into its territory making Hebron their capital. But following the return of Judahites from Babylonian
captivity in 539 BC and their growing military and political power under the
Maccabees, the Edomites were driven back south-eastwards. Then, in 109 BC, the Edomites were completely
defeated by the Judahite king John Hyrcanus and told that they would only be allowed to remain
in their lands if they converted to the religion of Judah. This the Edomites
did with various levels of enthusiasm, but began to extend their own power into
the very heart of Judahite society. Gradually they became a majority of the
population, observing the same religion but not being Israelites. They started to control the Government and
religious institutions, particularly after 37 BC when the Romans established
indirect rule and called the new state Judea – an amalgamation of Judah and Idumea – the Edomite’s kingdom. The Romans ruled through a Roman Procurator
and local Herodian kings. But these
kings were not true Judahites. They were Edomites who had
usurped the Government and were despised by many ‘true’ Judahites. This is why the Bible emphasises that Jesus
was of the true Judahite royal line of David and why
Herod tried to kill him as a baby. Furthermore, the Pharisees also came to be
dominated by Edomites, again explaining Jesus’ antipathy towards them. However, Judahite desire
restoring their own position and for independent nationhood remained in the
background, especially amongst the Zealots – a hard line nationalist group that
opposed Roman rule.
This was the world that Jesus of Nazareth
was born into. One of Roman rule through
proxy kings who were resented by the true Judahites and a ferment of nationalism
that wanted to reassert the full independence of the Hasmonean period. The Judahites looked to a national saviour
who would who would re-establish their independence from both the Romans and
the Edomites amongst them.
As mentioned in the introduction, the term
‘Messiah’ means one who has been anointed with oil. This process of anointing with oil is a
symbolic recognition that the person being anointed has been chosen by God to
undertake some momentous task. The Torah
(first five books of the Hebrew bible or Tanakh) uses the term to refer to
Priests, Prophets and Kings. Elsewhere
in the Hebrew Bible, there are prophecies referring to Messiah as a descendent
of King David who will be anointed as the leader (Moshiach). He is expected to usher in the Messianic age
– which will be a golden age of peace and prosperity. At the time of Jesus, the Messiah was
expected to be a military leader of the Royal line of David, who would
overthrow Roman rule and replace it with an independent Israel.
Orthodox Christians believe that prophecies
in parts of the Hebrew Bible do point to the Messiah as a spiritual leader,
indeed God in human form. Thus, Jesus
does fulfil the requirements of Messiah as set out in scripture even though he
did not fulfil the expectations of a military leader. There remains therefore a significant
difference in interpretation between mainstream Judaism and Christianity as to
what the Messiah would be.
Joshua
The best known Joshua of the Old Testament,
or Hebrew Bible, is Joshua the son of Nun who succeeded Moses as leader of the
Israelites. Moses had led the Israelites
out of Egypt towards the promised land of Israel – but was not permitted by
Yahweh to enter that land himself. This
task was to fall to Joshua who led the Israelite armies in their conquest of
the land of Canaan. So Joshua was seen
by later generations of Israelites as the warrior king who had conquered their
land for them – effectively created their homeland of Israel out of the land of
the Canaanites – from whom the Edomites were descended. This he did with the guidance and blessing of
the Israelites’ god Yahweh, but also with his active support in the
battles. In his later years Joshua was
also seen as a wise and humble man who exhorted his people not to forsake
Yahweh and is still revered as a prophet.
As mentioned earlier, his name was originally Hoshea, which means
salvation. But this became Yehoshua
which means Yahweh saves or delivers.
Joshua was clearly a Messianic figure!
Indeed, it was a return of the warrior Joshua that the Zealots, were
looking for as their Messiah. He would
be the one to deliver them from Roman rule through the active involvement of
Yahweh.
Much is made in modern Judaism about how
Jesus could not possibly be the Messiah, since he will be a human leader and
not God in human form. However, there is
a growing view that some forms of the Hebrew religion around the time of Jesus
did see the Messiah as divine. For
instance, Philo of Alexandria (BC20 – AD50) sought to harmonise Greek Pagan
Philosophy with the Hebrew religion of his day.
He tells us of the Therapeutae, who practiced a
form of mysticism based on an allegorical interpretation of the myths of Moses
and Joshua. Indeed, they interpreted
much of the Hebrew Bible as myth and allegory rather than literal fact as did
other Hebrew sects such as the Pharisees – hence the friction between
them. The Therapeutae were also
followers of the Greek pagan philosopher Pythagoras. Philo himself was also known as both ‘Philo
the Hebrew’ and ‘Philo the Pythagorean’.
Early Christians were very interested in Philo’s ideas, many of them
seeing him as a herald of Christianity.
It is interesting to note that St Paul was also
a Hellenised Hebrew. The author William
Smith wrote in 1911, ““The doctrine concerning Jesus was a pre-Christian one, a
cult which at the meeting of the centuries (BC100 to AD100) was widespread
among the Hebrews and especially among the Hellenists”. This divine leader was called Joshua
(Yehoshua or Yeshua) as that name symbolised someone through whom God spoke and redeemed. It is thought that this cult emerged after
the Judahites returned from Babylonian captivity, where their religion had been
influenced by the ancient Aryan religion of Zoroastrianism. The Old Testament was written down during the
Babylonian exile and was influenced by the prevailing Zoroastrian religion of
their captors. When the Judahites returned
to Jerusalem, they brought with them a revised version of the old Israelite
faith – one that included Zoroastrian dualism, such as Satan as the force of
evil opposing God. It is also thought by
some scholars, that a cult grew up around a redeemer figure called Joshua based
on the Zoroastrian Saoshyant. In
Zoroastrianism, Saoshyant means ‘one who brings
benefits’ and is associated with bringing about the final renovation of the
world – the completion and perfection of the process of creation. This was a different kind of Joshua, one that
emphasised his later
life as a wise prophet rather than a military leader. He was a saviour of a different kind.
And so we have the story of the gentle Jesus (Joshua) of
the New Testament who is very different to Joshua the warrior of the Old
Testament. He preaches peace and
compassion rather than an eye for an eye and critisises
much of the religion and religious teachers around him. He preaches the message of Socrates that we
should love our enemies. He embodies
much of the Aryan folk religion expressed through the Greek mystery religions
and the underlying natural law of God. This
is why so much of what he teaches us resonates with our Indo European or Aryan
culture and identity.
Christos and Chrestos
The term Messiah was translated into Greek
as Christos (Cristos), from which we get our English word ‘Christ’. Both mean to anoint with oil and both are
titles rather than names. Before
exploring the origins of the term Christos, it is interesting to note that the
Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible or the Septuagint (which is roughly the
same as the Old Testament), which was completed before the time of Jesus,
translates all references to Messiah as Christos. In otherwords, the use of the word Christos
to translate the word Messiah was not unique to Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, the context of its usage was
often in respect of Israelite Kings and Priests who would have been anointed
with oil. Christos was therefore
considered to be an appropriate translation for entirely human, albeit exalted,
people. However, orthodox Christianity
understands Jesus as Messiah very differently to orthodox
Judaism. Using various prophecies of the
Old Testament (especially Daniel and Isaiah), orthodox Christians see the
Messiah as God in human form, who suffered death on the cross to redeem the
sins of human kind. This Messiah will
rule over the earth in peace and justice for a long period of time. His kingdom is the kingdom of heaven, not of
earth. Thus, the use of the term
Christos in orthodox Christianity has come to have a different meaning to its
use as a translation of the word Messiah in the Septuagint – reflecting the
different view of Messiah itself.
|
|
But the title Christos
has its origins in Greek paganism and not Jewish Messianism. The classical Greek word, Cristos, predates both the New Testament and the
Septuagint by centuries. It is thought
to derive from a proto Indo-European root ‘ghrei’ which means ‘to rub’. For instance, Homer uses the word
‘Christos’ to refer to rubbing ones body with oil after bathing. However, the classical meaning of Christos
has another dimension to it. There is
a prophecy of the Erythrean Sybil which states, “IESOUS CHREISTOS THEOU HUIOS
SOTER STAURUS”. This literally means
“Iesus, Christos, God, Son, Saviour, Cross”. This is quite weird when you think that it
was made by a Pagan oracle several hundred years before the birth of Jesus of
Nazareth! It is thought to refer to
the coming down to earth of the Spirit of Truth (the Christos) who will usher
in a golden age in which God is revealed to humankind. However, this blessed condition is only
reached through a process of crucifixion of the flesh, which probably refers
to a process of asceticism in which the worldly matter of the flesh is
subordinated to the spirit. |
In the mystery religions of ancient Greece,
the act of anointing with oil was a symbol of initiation. It was an outward sign of a person having
achieved spiritual enlightenment or union with the inner dwelling Spirit of
Truth – the Christos. The person thus
became a Christos following a long period of study and ascetic practice. We could say that a Christos is someone who
has obtained Gnosis, knowledge of God and of themselves – spiritual
enlightenment. A Christos is therefore
someone who has fully joined with the Spirit of Truth. In esoteric Christian terms, this can be
seen as an expression of the human Jesus being fully united with the Spirit of
God. Through Jesus, God came amongst us
(Emmanuel).
Another title that dates back to classical
Greece is Chrestos (Crhstos). Cristos and Crhstos differ
from each other only in the third vowel, both of which would have been
pronounced similarly – ee – as in Hreestos
with a soft ‘ch’ at the beginning.
They are clearly related as Greek typically uses permutations of common
root words to express subtlety different aspects of the same or similar concept. By the time of Jesus, though, Chrestos had
acquired an outward meaning of a kind, good or honourable man – a title that
would precede a person’s name much like ‘the honourable …’ in modern English. Chrestos continues to mean ‘honourable,
upright or virtuous’ in modern demotic Greek.
But, in earlier antiquity and within the
mystery religions, the term Chrestos had a deeper meaning than simply a good
man. It referred to a disciple of the
religion, someone who was actively seeking the Truth. As noted above, when he had achieved this he
was anointed with oil to signify his change of status into a Christos. As a disciple of the Spirit of Truth, a
Chrestos was associated with the Temple of the Oracle as Priest and Prophet or
interpreter of the Word or Oracle. A
Chrestes was the one who explained the oracle, a priest, prophet or soothsayer
and a Chresterios the one who belongs to, or is in the service of, an oracle,
god or master. It could also refer to
the word of God itself. For instance, in
470 BC, the Aeschylus refers to ‘pythochresta’ or oracles delivered by a Pythian god through a priestess or Pythoness. In 460 BC the words ‘Chresten
Oikistera’ are found in Pindar, meaning ‘the oracle
proclaimed him the coloniser’. Such a
man was known as a Chrestos. In 420 BC,
Herodotus explains the word ‘Chreon’ as that which an oracle proclaims – in
other words the prophecy or word of God.
In classical Greek, the word ‘Chraomai’,
meaning consulting an oracle, also implied being fated by an oracle. A ‘Chresterion’ was not only the seat of an
oracle, but also an offering to or for the oracle. There was therefore a sacrificial element to
the term.
The title Chrestos was also used to refer
to gods themselves. There is, for
example, evidence that the Egyptian sun god Osiris was called Chrestos, whilst
the word Chrestos can be seen on a Mithraic relief in the Vatican. Mithras was a sun god popular in Rome around
the time of Jesus, many aspects of whose cult (including his birthday of 25
December) were absorbed into Roman Christianity. In this sense, the title Chrestos was linked
to the god as a saviour figure or Soter.
This is reflected in the prophecy of the Erythrean Sybil mentioned above
(“IESOUS CHREISTOS THEOU HUIOS SOTER STAURUS”).
It is also evident in the name Jesus itself, rescued or saved by
God. Jesus is in effect a title as much
as Christ.
These concepts passed into New Testament
times and the development of Christian theology. For instance, in 10 AD, Philo of Alexandria
speaks of ‘Theochrestos’, which means ‘God-declared’ or one who is declared by
God. He also refers to the ‘Logia
Theochresta’, meaning “sayings delivered by God”. There is here a clear connection between the
words ‘Logos’, the Greek Pagan title for the communicating mind of God, and the
title Chrestos, the one through whom God communicates. This connection precedes those famous opening
lines of St John’s Gospel ‘in the
beginning was the Word’ by almost a century.
Many early Christians, including some of
the Church fathers such as Justin Martyr, actually called themselves Chrestians
rather than Christians. Marcionites
referred not to Jesus Christ, but to Isu Chrestos. The oldest known Christian inscription,
dating from 318 AD, was found over the doorway to a Marcionite Church and read,
“The Lord and Saviour Jesus the Good” – the title Chrestos being used rather
than Christos. According to Lactantius,
another early Christian writer, “it is only through ignorance that men call
themselves Christians instead of Chréstians."
The title ‘Chrestos’ is used in the New Testament in its mundane
meaning of simply a ‘good man’. For
instance, Luke
(vi: 35), where it means kind and merciful, ‘chrestos estin epi tou’. Also, in I
Peter (ii: 3), where it is said, "Kind is the
Lord," ‘Chrestos o Kurios’. It is used by Clement of Alexandria as simply
meaning a good man; "All who believe in Chrest (a good man) both are, and
are called Chrestians,
that is good men."
However, its more esoteric meaning is also hinted at. Clement was originally a Platonist and this
no doubt influenced his thinking and use of language. As a former Platonist and student of the
mystery schools, he would have known that a Christos was the glorified Spirit
of Truth whilst a Chrestos was a disciple seeking that truth. St Paul also knew this. In Galatians iv: 19 and 20, he says “I am again in
travail until Christ be formed in you” (palin odino, achris ou
morphothei Christos).
The deeper, esoteric meaning of
this is ‘until you find the Christos (Spirit of Truth) within yourselves’.
We see here a way
of understanding the gospel stories handed down to us – as myth and allegory
rather than literal fact. But the myth
is in practice only telling us at a deeper level what the literal story
purports to. You do not have to believe
in the literal truth of the Virgin Birth or that Jesus Christ had two natures,
one human the other divine, to believe that God came amongst us in Him. You do not necessarily have to believe that
Jesus was a real person as opposed to an entirely mythical character. The message is the same. But the esoteric understanding goes
further. It explains how the Christos and
the Logos are part of God and exist outside space and time. It tells us that the Christos also dwells
within us and that our search for divine truth is as much a search within
ourselves as any external religion. It
tells us that we can join to the Christos and become Christ like
ourselves. Indeed, this is our ultimate
goal, the achievement of Gnosis or enlightenment. The esoteric Christ story does not just tell
us how God came amongst us and taught us.
It tells us that we ordinary mortal human beings can become Christ like
or sons of God. Indeed it is showing us
precisely the path we should seek to follow.
This is the esoteric meaning of the resurrection, a rebirth not just
into another life or the heavenly realm – but a rebirth into union with God.
There is an interesting parallel between the
esoteric view of Jesus as Christos and that of Woden seeking knowledge and
finding it in the Runes. One of Woden’s
many names is Grim. This name is usually
associated with Woden as the hidden one or masked one. But the word Grim actually has a common
origin with the root word of Christos – both come from the Indo European word
Ghrei – meaning to rub. Our word Grim
has become more associated with grime than with anointing, but they do share a
common origin. We know that Woden is
strongly associated with esoteric wisdom and the search for knowledge – or
Gnosis. This he finds through the Holy
Runes in the depths of the World Tree or Irminsul. This is an esoteric expression that the root
of all knowledge lies at the heart of the cosmos which
is as much within us as around us and beyond us. It is in the Christos, the Spirit of
Truth. Thus there is a strong connection
between Woden’s search for Gnosis and the Christos which is the source of that
Gnosis.
The connections between Woden and the
Christos are an important element in understanding the deep connectivity
between esoteric Christianity and our ancient folk faith. For instance, Woden is the Grim Reaper. But Grim in this sense does not simply mean
death. As with our goddess Hel, death is
followed by rebirth. We can see the Grim
Reaper as calling us out of this world, but we can also see him taking us to
the next world. These will be explored
in further articles.
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