The Order of Melchizedek is so ancient it is almost totally pre-historic. To be prehistoric there must be no written records. And we do have the slightest of written records regarding the Order of Melchizedek as recorded in the books of Genesis, Psalms and the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. So we are an historic Order coming out of the ages of the past where ancient members of our families, yours and my ancestors, revered the forces of the universe as sacred and meaningful. They worshiped in sacred places performing rites and ceremonies whose roots go back to the dawn of recorded time. These same rites are still practiced today in their purist original form, especially here in the Order of Melchizedek.
The Order of Melchizedek consists of working priests and priestesses
called the Kohanim. Kohanim is a plural semetic, Phoenician, Ugarit,
Hebrew word meaning the priesthood made up of priests and priestesses. You
are about to become one of them and will be initiated into the mysteries--the
sacraments--of the Melchizedek Kohanim.
The Bread and Wine are central to our Order. Their sanctification, imbuement,
"sacrifice" and partaking constitute not only our most powerful rite, but
the rites of almost all the world's great religions. Hinduism offers
milk and honey and rice to a flame while burning incense. We offer
bread and wine while burning incense. The Celts and Teutonic tribes
burned incense too and offered ale or mead (alcoholic beverage) and either
oat-cakes or bread. Some of the Teutonics later turned the bread into
a meat offering, just as the Levitical priesthood in Jerusalem turned the
Melchizedek Eucharist into animal sacrifice. Though we do not practice
animal sacrifice, the Melchizedek Kohanim never did, we shouldn't condemn
those ancient priesthoods and cultures who did. Animal sacrifice was
not just wasted animals. The animals donated for sacrifice fed the
large priesthoods of the ancient world. Leftovers were given to the
poor. The Israelite priesthood that performed animal sacrifice numbered
in the hundreds and eventually in the thousands. A family would be blessed
for donating a sheep, bull or bird for sacrifice, the God(s) would be pleased,
and the priesthood would not only get to work for a living but would be fed.
Today we still kill our animals before we eat them. But we do
it without the prayers and dedications in large slaughter-houses and
butchershops.
Sacrificing food before eating it was a common ritual in the ancient world,
including northern Europe from which many of us have our ancestral roots.
The pagan Romans and Greeks offered meat and grain sacrifices constantly
to their gods. The Israelites offered animals, birds and grain, too.
As a result, all forms of Christianity have some form of mass, eucharist
or holy communion in which the bread and wine are partaken "in remembrance"
of the divine sacrifice. Sacrifice--a sometimes scary word--uses death to
give life.
Life eats. Death is a form of giving. Remember the covenant our ancestors had with the animal kingdom in which the animals willingly gave their lives so that we could eat. They gave, but only if the human doing the slaughtering asked nicely and politely and agreed not to destroy the animal's habitat and species. In like manner our ancestors asked permission of any tree they cut down as part of the covenant with the vegetation kingdom.
Exercise 1: Look up Melchizedek in all the places mentioned in the Bible. Come on, really do this. Get your Bible and look up each of the following verses. If you have the New American Bible for Catholics be sure to read the cool study notes in the margins of these verses.
Genesis 14: 18 - 20
Psalms 110: 3 - 4
Hebrews 6:20, 7:1-4
Exercise 2: Check out this list of all the places Melchizedek is mentioned, in Gnostic Scriptures, Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls, in end-of-the-world scenarios, equated with Michael (are they the same being?) etc.
More Possible Kristian Connections:
James the Just, Tsedek the "upright"
The names Sydik, and Tsedek mean upright, righteous person, God of Justice,
Justice, Just, etc. James the Just was probably a priest in the order of
Melchizedek as was his brother Yeshua (see Hebrews). We know James lived
and worked at the Temple and was a priest which would mean he had to be a
Levite, because ALL Hebrew priests were Levites. Or would it?. Jesus, the
brother of James the Just wasn't known to be a Levite at all. He was a Galilean
with northern accent, so his biological brother was, too. Since they were
from Galilee of the Gentiles, a land full of Syrians and Arameans (from ancient
kingdom of Assyria, rival to Egypt with the Holy Land caught in the
middle).
Yet James the Just did live at Solomon's Temple (really Herod's Temple
also called "the Second Temple"). He ran the first Jerusalem Kristian "church",
and eventually was executed by being thrown from the Temple mount by the
Romans who wanted to silence him.
James had to have a good reason to live down in Jerusalem away from his Galilee
homeland and family. He must have been a Melchizedek priest, and a magi,
too.
Therefore, at the last supper when they had communion the focus was on Passover,
yes, but also on the ancient eucharist of Melchizedek, as given to the great
patriarchs of the Hebrews such as Avram/Abraham.
Then there is the poignant story of James after the Last Supper and the arrest
of Yeshua, refusing to eat another bite or drink another bit of wine unless
his brother Yeshua delivered it to him personally. "Let his last supper be
my last supper." Legend says that when Yeshua arose on Sunday morning he
had to hurry to his brother James in order to give him that drink, one can
only live three days without drink, after all. Where did Yeshua go knowing
his brother resided there, and where did this dramatic reunion occur? In
James' room on the Temple Mount in the priestly "dormitories."
Cut and paste the following questions, insert your answers, and email them to the Mystery School, with "AOM Postulant 4" in the subject line.
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1. List the three scriptural references to Melchizedek.
2. T/F - The Kohanim is the priest(ess)hood of the Order of Melchizedek.
3. What languages is the word Kohanim derived from?
4. T/F - The Order of Melchizedek practices animal sacrifice.
5. List all of the religions listed in the article that practice a type of Bread and Wine offering.
6. T/F - Animal sacrifice was "evil" just because they could have offered Bread and Wine.
7. List the cultures given in the article that offered their food as sacrifice to their gods.
8. T/F - It is all right to disrespectfully kill animals and eat them, according to our original covenant with them.
9. How is the way we slaughter animals today different from the way we slaughtered animals in ancient times?
10. T/F - There is a covenant with the plant kingdom that requires us to respectfully kill them, not just hack them down.
Essay Question: As Esoteric Kristians, we actually practice the offering of Bread and Wine and a form of flesh sacrifice as well. This is because, as a species, we have not been able to move past the need to ritually sacrifice and resurrect our Shepherd God. Eventually we may evolve past the need for such sacred, but repetitive, remembrance. The Order of Melchizedek assists in this planetary evolution, but we'll cover that in future lessons. Tell in which way we offer our sacrifice weekly, and in which way we offer our sacrifice yearly.