JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA - Hope of Israel Ministries · exciting than that of the drama of Joseph of...

We get a fleeting glimpsein the New Testament. This greatman of god strides onto center-stage, commands our attentionfor a few short verses then, justas quickly, disappears -- never tobe heard from again! Yet thisman, whose life is just as fasci-nating or as intriguing as that ofPaul or Peter, performed a VI-TAL MISSION in the plan ofGod!

Matthew records in chap-ter 27: "Now when evening hadcome, there came A RICH MANfrom Arimathea, named JO-SEPH, Who himself had also be-come A DISCIPLE OF JESUS.This man went to Pilate andasked for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate commanded thebody to be given to him. Andwhen JOSEPH had taken thebody, he wrapped it in a cleanlinen cloth, and laid it in his newtomb which he had hewn out ofthe rock; and he rolled a largestone against the door of thetomb, and departed." (Verses57-60, NKJV).

With these words Josephof Arimathea disappears fromthe pages of the Bible.

The other gospels coverthe SAME EVENTS, adding de-tails that Matthew doesn't men-tion. We read in Mark:

Now when evening had come,because it was the Preparation Day,

that is, the day before the Sabbath, Jo-seph of Arimathea, a PROMINENTCOUNCIL MEMBER, who was him-self WAITING FOR THE KINGDOMOF GOD, coming in and taking cour-age, went in to Pilate and asked for thebody of Jesus. Pilate marveled that Hewas already dead; and summoning thecenturion, he asked him if He had beendead for some time. And when hefound out from the centurion, hegranted the body to Joseph. Then hebought fine linen, took Him down, andwrapped Him in the linen. And he laidHim in a tomb which had been hewnout of the rock, and rolled a stoneagainst the door of the tomb. -- Verses42-46, NKJV.

Luke adds little that is notcovered by Matthew and Mark:"And behold, there was a mannamed Joseph, A COUNCILMEMBER, A GOOD AND

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA

ANDDAVID'S THRONE IN BRITAIN!

TRIUMPH PROPHETIC MINISTRIES (CHURCH OF GOD) * ALTADENA * CALIFORNIA *

With a brief mention in the four gospels, Joseph of Arimathealeaves the New Testament record never to be heard from again.However, this intrepid and fearless man of God is NOT lost fromthe pages of secular records. History and tradition records the in-credible story of Joseph's relationship to Christ and the journeysthey made together to the western confines of the Roman Empire.Joseph's business interests, and how he transferred the PHAREZLINE OF DAVID to Britain after the death of Christ, makes fasci-nating reading and reveals a part of God's intricate plan for the re-demption of His people Israel! No story is more riveting or moreexciting than that of the drama of Joseph of Arimathea and thefounding of the Church of God in the tin islands of Britain!

John D. Keyser

JUST MAN. HE HAD NOTCONSENTED TO THEIRCOUNSEL AND DEED. He wasfrom Arimathea, a city of theJews, who himself was also wait-ing for the kingdom of God. Thisman went to Pilate and asked forthe body of Jesus. Then he tookit down, wrapped it in linen, andlaid it in a tomb that was hewnout of the rock, where no onehad ever lain before." (Luke23:50-53, NKJV).

John, the apostle of love,tells us a little more:

After this, Joseph of Arimat-hea, being a DISCIPLE OF JESUS,BUT SECRETLY, FOR FEAR OFTHE JEWS, asked Pilate that he mighttake away the body of Jesus; and Pilategave him permission. So he came andtook the body of Jesus. And NICODE-MUS, who at first came to Jesus bynight, also came bringing a mixture ofmyrrh and aloes, about a hundredpounds. Then they took the body of Je-sus, and bound it in strips of linen withthe spices, as the custom of the Jews isto bury. Now in the place where Hewas crucified there was a garden, andin the garden a new tomb in which noone had yet been laid. So there theylaid Jesus, because of the Jews' Prepa-ration Day, for the tomb was nearby. --John 19:38-42, NKJV.

To most readers of theBible, therefore, Joseph of Ari-mathea is remembered in passingas the rich man who took thebody of Christ down from thetree and placed it in his own pri-vate sepulcher. He then silentlypasses out of the Scriptural re-cord leaving no trace whatsoeverin the Word of God!

As E. Raymond Captnotes: "Strangely, the Bible hasnothing further to say about

Joseph of Arimathea, followingthe crucifixion. Surely this manwho was a disciple of Jesus; whohad shown rare courage in beg-ging the body of Jesus, wouldhave become a close follower ofChrist after the transforming ex-perience at Pentecost. The Biblenever mentions him again, yetwe are not left in the dark con-cerning the DOMINANT ROLEJoseph played in the spreadingof Christianity." (The Traditionsof Glastonbury. Artisan Sales,Thousand Oaks, CA. 1983.P.21).

WHO was this man who,in all probability, risked thewrath of the Jewish authoritieswhen he requested the body ofChrist for burial?

A Man of Substance!

In reading these versesfrom the Bible we can glean anumber of things. First, and fore-most, is the fact that he was aRICH MAN from Arimathea.Ancient traditions note that Jo-seph was a man of refinement,well educated and possessingmany talents. He evidently hadextraordinary political and busi-ness abilities that helped him tobecome one of the wealthiestmen in the world of that time.His financial and social standingcan be estimated when we real-ize that he owned a palatialhome in the city of Jerusalemand a country estate just outsidethe confines of the city. Thesesame traditions reveal that Jo-seph also owned another spa-cious estate several miles northof Jerusalem at ARIMATHEA --

"The Bible never men-tions him again, yet we arenot left in the dark concern-ing the DOMINANT ROLEJoseph played in the spread-ing of Christianity."

which is known today asRamalleh.

Ramalleh was the birth-place of Samuel the prophet andis called, in the Greek Septuagintversion of the Old Testament,Arimathaim. This town was lo-cated on the busy caravan routebetween Nazareth and the HolyCity, and may therefore havebeen a large factor in Joseph'schoice of a profession. All theinformation we have about Jo-seph indicates that he wasa man of unusual businessabilities within the Jewishand Roman trading circlesof his day.

All four of the gos-pels state that he was "adisciple of Jesus" who washimself "waiting for thekingdom of God." Johnadds that Joseph was a dis-ciple of Jesus "secretly, forfear of the Jews." It is obvious,then, that Joseph of Arimatheawas well aware of the person andministry of Christ in his home-land and, in order to protect hisstanding and business interests,was a "secret" disciple of Jesus.The religious hierarchy of theday, made up of the Phariseesand Sadducees, could have eas-ily ruined Joseph if they wereaware of his religious affiliation.Therefore Joseph chose, at thistime, to keep his connection withChrist secret. However, there ismore to Joseph's connection withChrist than meets the eye!

Luke mentions that Jo-seph was a COUNCIL MEM-BER, and Mark adds"PROMINENT" to the term

council member. This would in-dicate that he was a member ofthe GREAT COUNCIL or SAN-HEDRIN of the Jews -- the su-preme national tribunal estab-lished at the time of the Mac-cabees, or perhaps earlier in thetime of Ezra.

That Joseph was presentat the trial of Jesus before theSanhedrin is evident by Luke'scomment that Joseph "had notconsented to their counsel and

deed." In fact, there is evidencethat Joseph of Arimathea led animpassioned defense of Christ atthe trial. In the crowded assem-bly of the Sanhedrin, Christ wasled to face Caiaphas and hisfather-in-law Annas who, as thereigning High Priest of Judaism,represented the Sadducean fami-lies of which they were mem-bers. George F. Jowett relateswhat transpired:

Contrary to the common beliefthat Jesus was completely surroundedby enemies at that strange midnighttrial, the light of recent findings proveit to have been very much otherwise.

That Jesus was encompassedby a vengeful, hostile group whosought His total extinction is substanti-ated, but THE BRILLIANT BATTLEFOR THE DEFENCE against the sav-age demands for destruction has,

unfortunately, never been sufficientlyreported. Today, we know the trial forlife was fought out on the floor of theSanhedrin with all the stormy violenceof a bestial, prejudiced fury on one sideand the granite uncompromising cour-age of the defence by men who knewthat by the very act of their challengethey had signed and sealed their owndeath warrant. -- The Drama of theLost Disciples. Covenant PublishingCo. Ltd., London. 1980. P.13.

Jowett goes on to say that"on this particular occasion wesee the opposition potent with

prejudice, slashing atChrist with their verbaldarts, subtly fanning theflame of antagonismagainst Him. On the otherside, we see the championsof the defence strikingback with rapier swiftness.The history of the Trial, asit has come down to us,shows that the defencefought back with all theresolute heroism of fearless

warriors, invincible in the cour-age of their firm convictions."

The defense of Christ byJoseph and those who supportedhim must have been brilliant,and a classic in the legal annalsof Judea at the time. When thevote was cast, forty out of theseventy-one legislative membersof the Sanhedrin voted for thedismissal of the case and thefreedom of Christ. This the Sad-ducees never forgot. They con-trolled all the wealthy rulingfamilies of Jerusalem and thesurrounding areas -- with the ex-ception of the intrepid Joseph!His influence was so great that itstretched beyond the boundariesof Jewish politics into the highplaces of Roman administration.

In the Roman Empire of the time ofChrist, the term "DECURIO" wascommonly used to designate AN OFFI-CIAL -- under Roman authority --WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF METALMINING. The implication is that Jo-seph was a PROVINCIAL ROMANSENATOR in charge of Rome's over-seas mining interests.

"He is the man who at this stageof events quietly moves into thescene. He was the power behindthe throne who backed up theexhortations of the Liberal Partyin the Sanhedrin, and the manwho stood behind the defence ofJesus with his resourcefulsupport on that fatefulnight." (Ibid., p.15).

At this pointCaiaphas demanded thatJesus be tried before Pon-tius Pilate, the RomanProcurator of the RomanProvince of Palestine, onthe charge of treason.What happened next is re-corded in the pages of theBible.

The British TinIndustry

In the Latin Vul-gate of the Gospel ofMark (15:43) and Luke(23:50) we find the term"DECURIO" used insteadof "COUNCIL MEM-BER" to describe Joseph'soffice or occupation. InJerome's (Catholicscholar, 345?-420 A.D.)translation of the Vulgatethe term "NOBILIS DE-CURIO" is used -- theNOBLE DECURIO!

Not only that, but earlydocuments of Britain and Gaulrefer to Joseph in the same man-ner. The Welshman Maelgwynof Llandaff calls Joseph the"NOBILIS DECURIO," as wellas Rabanus Maurus (776-856A.D.), Archbishop of Mayenceand writer of the manuscript

called the Life of St. MaryMagdalene.

A copy of this documentis to be found in the MagdalenCollege Library at Oxford, Eng-land, and dates from the early

part of the fifteenth century. Nohistory is known of this manu-script; but it is neatly written onparchment and beautifully illu-minated in colors and in gold.Experts note that the writing andillumination is very similar to

that of the manuscript copy ofthe Tertius Opus of Roger Ba-con in the Bodleian Library ofthe University of Oxford, whichis generally considered to datefrom the end of the fourteenth orbeginning of the fifteenth

century.

It is abundantlyclear that this copy of theLife of St. Mary from Ra-banus' original is writtenby a professional scribe.The careful "illumina-tion," the various copyingerrors, and the fact that atthe end of the manuscriptthe writer goes on to tran-scribe a homily (sermon)of Origen (the celebratedwriter, teacher and theolo-gian of antiquity) on MaryMagdalen, lends credenceto this being a faithfulcopy of the original.

As J.W. Taylornotes, "the original workof which this is a copywas undoubtedly writteneither by Rabanus him-self, or its author musthave made considerableuse of the Homilies of Ra-banus, for the generalstyle and composition ofthe work (as M. Faillon

has well shown) CLOSELYFOLLOWS that of its reputedauthor." (The Coming of theSaints, p.81).

The book in the Mag-dalen College Library has beenrecognized as a work of Rabanusin past centuries, and appears assuch in the well-known list orcatalog of William Cave

The First Page of the Manuscript of Rabanus

(Scriptorum EcclesiastiicorumHistoria Literaria, vol.ii, p.38Oxford, 1740-1743).

In the 22nd chapter ofthis manuscript an account of theembalming and burial of Christby Joseph of Arimathea and Ni-codemus is related, along with adetailed description of the mau-soleum and sepulcher that Jo-seph had hewn out of the rockfor his own use. Then the manu-script states that Joseph wasknown as the NOBILISDECURION.

Gildas Badonicus (516- 570 A.D.), one of theearliest British historians,also refers to Joseph as"NOBILIS DECURIO."What does this Latin title mean?

In the Roman Empire ofthe time of Christ, the term "DE-CURIO" was commonly used todesignate AN OFFICIAL -- UN-DER ROMAN AUTHORITY --WHO WAS IN CHARGE OFMETAL MINING. The implica-tion is that Joseph was a PRO-VINCIAL ROMAN SENATORin charge of Rome's overseasmining interests. Ivor C. Fletcheradds that "the office seems tohave been a lucrative and muchcoveted one. Cicero [Romanwriter, statesman and orator(106-43 B.C.)] remarked that itwas easier to become a Senatorof Rome than a DECURIO inPompeii." (The Incredible His-tory of God's True Church. Tri-umph Publishing Co., Altadena,CA. 1984. P.54). The office ofDecurio is also known to haveexisted UNDER THE ROMAN

ADMINISTRATION INBRITAIN!

It is an historical fact thatTIN was mined and exported tothe European continent in largequantities from CORNWALL,ENGLAND, during the Romanperiod (Funk & Wagnalls NewEncyclopedia, vol. 23. Pp.163-164). The EncyclopediaBritannica reports that "tin wasIMPORTED FROM CORN-WALL INTO ITALY after, if

not before, the invasion of Brit-ain by Julius Caesar. (1943 edi-tion. Vol. 22, p.233). The tinmines of Cornwall were a majorsource of this metal; and in Ro-man times the metal was INGREAT DEMAND because tinwas used in the making of alloys.

In his book entitled Ro-man Britain, I.A. Richmondtells of the development andgrowth of the British tin industryand trade with the continent ofEurope:

Much of the most famed ofBritish metals in the days before theRoman occupation was TIN. The vividaccounts by Diodorus Siculus [1st cen-tury B.C. Greek historian], of overlandpack-horse transport of CORNISH TINfrom the Gallic [French] coast to Narbo(Narbonne) in the FIRST CENTURYB.C., and of the ISLAND EMPORIUMON THE BRITISH COAST, fromwhich merchants obtained it, all speakof a brisk and flourishing early trade,

monopolized in Caesar's day by theBeneti of Brittany. -- Page 156.

Diodorus Siculus himself,in book V of his history of theworld, details the British tinindustry:

They that inhabit THE BRIT-ISH PROMONTORY OF BELERIUM[old name for Cornwall], by reason oftheir converse with merchants, aremore civilized and courteous to strang-ers than the rest. THESE ARE THEPEOPLE THAT MAKE THE TIN,which with a great deal of care and la-

bour they dig out of the ground;and that being rocky, the metalis mixed with some veins ofearth, out of which they melt themetal and then refine it. Thenthey beat it into four squarepieces like a die and carry it TOA BRITISH ISLE, near at hand,CALLED ICTIS. For at low

tide, all being dry between them andthe island, they convey over in cartsABUNDANCE OF TIN. But there isone thing that is peculiar to these is-lands which lie between Britain andEurope: for at full sea they appear to beislands, but at low water for a long waythey look like so many peninsulas.Hence the merchants transport the tinthey buy of the inhabitants of Gaul,and for thirty days' journey they carryit in packs upon horses' backsTHROUGH GAUL TO THE MOUTHOF THE RIVER RHONE.

And again:

This TIN METAL is trans-ported OUT OF BRITAIN INTOGAUL, the merchants carrying it onhorse-back THROUGH THE HEARTOF CELTICA TO MARSEILLES andthe city called NARBO. -- DiodorusSiculus, Booth's translation, vol.i,p.311.

The promontory of Corn-wall is rich in the remains of oldmining works and debris. ThePhoenicians were probably the

Along with the traditions of Jewishpresence in Cornwall, THERE ARETRADITIONS OF JOSEPH havingvisited the area in the course of hismining business.

first to utilize Cornish tin; andsome mines, like the Ding-DongMine, can be traced to a high an-tiquity. The oldest crude pitscontaining smelted tin are called"JEWS' HOUSES," the traditionbeing that THE TIN MINES OFCORNWALL were"WROUGHT BY THE JEWSwith pickaxes of holm, box andhartshorn -- tools sometimesfound among therubble of suchworks." Thesedate to very re-mote times.

There ishardly a tin-bearing spot inCornwall thathas not beenworked over bythe "OLDMEN," -- as theancient miners ofthe land are al-ways called."....upon what-ever spot theOLD MINERhas worked there we are toldthe Phoenician has been orTHE JEW has mined. The ex-istence of the terms "JEWS'HOUSES," "JEWS' TIN,""JEWS' LEAVINGS," "AT-TALL" and "ATALL SARA-CEN," prove the connection ofthese strangers with the Cornishminers." (Romances of the West,by Hunt. London, 1872).

In Polwhele's History ofCornwall (Falmouth, 1803) weread that "the OLDESTsmelting-places are called'JEWS' HOUSES,' the old blocksof tin occasionally found are

called 'JEWS' PIECES,' and thestream works of tin that havebeen formerly deserted by the la-bourers are called 'JEWS'WORKS' or 'ATTALL SARA-CEN.' The JEWS appear to havecalled themselves, or were calledby the Britons of Cornwall,'SARACENS.' "

All through the land of

Cornwall the ancient presenceand influence of the JEWS ismarked by names and places like"BOJEWYAN" (ABODE OFTHE JEWS), "TREJEWAS"(JEWS' VILLAGE) and "MAR-KET JEW." These, as well as thehistorical "JEWISH WIN-DOWS" in St. Neot's church andother Jewish monuments andmemories, abundantly supple-ment the older traditions of the"JEWS' HOUSES" and "JEWS'LEAVINGS."

The Encyclopedia Bri-tannica (1943 edition) notes that"the wealth of CORNWALL...lies not so much in the soil, asUNDERGROUND and in thesurrounding sea. Hence the fa-vourite Cornish toast, "fish, tinand copper." The tin of Cornwallhas been known and workedFROM THE BRONZE AGE. Byancient charters the "TINNERS"

were exemptfrom all juris-diction (save incases affectingland, life andlimb) other thanthat of the Stan-nary Courts, andpeculiar lawswere enacted inthe Stannaryparliaments. ATAX on the tin,after smelting,was paid to theearls and dukesof Cornwall."(Vol.6, p.453).

What does all this have to dowith Joseph of Arimathea?Just this: Along with the tradi-

tions of Jewish presence in Corn-wall, THERE ARETRADITIONS OF JOSEPH hav-ing visited the area in the courseof his mining business. Frag-ments of poems and miners'songs, handed down through thecenturies, make FREQUENTREFERENCE TO JOSEPH. Onerefrain runs, "Joseph was a tinman, Joseph was in the tintrade." (Cornwall, by S. Baring-Gould, p.57). In the Guide toPenzance, Land's End andScilly, the author states that

The "Ictis" of Diodorus

"there is a traditional story thatJOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA wasconnected with MARAZION [asmall seaport of Cornwall -- 2miles east of Penzance] when heand other Jews traded with theancient tin-miners of Cornwall"(5th edition, Ward, Lock andCo., London).

Is it really so incrediblethat Joseph of Arimathea hadcommercial interests in the Brit-ish Isles -- the Cassiterides or"Tin-Islands" of the an-cient world? After all SE-NECA, the Romanphilosopher, dramatist andstatesman who was ap-pointed tutor to Nero andhad great influence withthe emperor, amassedgreat wealth as a result ofhis business interests andinvestments in Britain. Un-fortunately, Seneca obtained hisvast fortune by trickery and pro-moting usurious loans to theBritish. Joseph, on the otherhand, was impeccably honest inall his business transactions.Virtually all the early recordsand traditions concerning JosephASSOCIATE HIM WITH THEMINING ACTIVITIES OFCORNWALL AND THE MEN-DIP HILLS OF SOMERSET!

The Royal Link

Some early historicalmanuscripts refer to Joseph as"Joseph de MARMORE" as wellas "Joseph of Arimathea." "Mar"is an Eastern term for LORD and"more" or "mawe" signifiesGREAT. Therefore, his titlewould mean "the Great Lord Jo-seph of Arimathea" -- a title that

has great significance, as weshall soon see!

WHY would Joseph begiven such a title in the manu-scripts? WHY would he becalled "the Great Lord Joseph ofArimathea"? BECAUSE HEWAS OF THE ROYAL LINEDESCENDED FROM KINGDAVID, and this title was inkeeping with his birth as APRINCE OF THE HOUSE OFDAVID! That makes him related

to Christ!

Ivor C. Fletcher revealswhy this is apparent:

The gospel record of Josephburying the body of Jesus in his ownsepulchre STRONGLY SUPPORTSTHIS TRADITION. A casual readingof the account would lead one to as-sume that Joseph claimed the bodyfrom Pilate on the grounds of being afriend or follower of the dead man.

This is far from the case, how-ever. The chief priests, with the per-mission of Pilate, had made specialarrangements regarding the security ofthe body of Jesus for the express pur-pose of keeping it out of the hands ofHis followers (Matt. 27:62-66).

We are told that Joseph didnot reveal at that time that he was a fol-lower of Jesus. He was a disciple "se-cretly for fear of the Jews" (John19:38).

If Joseph did not approach Pi-late on the grounds of being a disciple,

WHAT EXACTLY WAS HISSTATUS?

The only grounds which hecould have had which would be inagreement with Jewish AND Romanlaw and at the same time avoid givingoffence to the chief priests, would be asTHE NEAREST RELATIVE OF THEDEAD MAN.

With that pronouncementFletcher continues:

Under both Jewish and RomanLaw it was the responsibility of theNEAREST RELATIVES to dispose of

the dead, regardless of the cir-cumstances of death.

Mary, the mother ofJesus, would clearly be in no fitemotional state for such a task,which would have been consid-ered "man's work" anyway. Thebrothers of Jesus as young menor teenagers would have lackedthe maturity to perform such aduty, LEAVING JOSEPH (AC-CORDING TO TRADITION

THE UNCLE OF MARY) THE NEXTIN LINE.

Unless Joseph had STRONGLEGAL GROUNDS, as described, forclaiming the body, the Jews wouldhave RESISTED the idea of a man --whom they hated and had caused to beexecuted -- given the honour of beingburied in a private sepulchre, instead ofthe official burial place for criminals.

The last time that Joseph, thelegal FATHER of Jesus, is mentionedin scripture is when Jesus is twelveyears old (Luke 2:44-52). From then onthe Bible speaks only of His motherand brothers. The clear implication isthat Joseph died when Jesus was ayoung man or teenager. The people ofhis home town of Nazareth asked thequestion, "Is not this the carpenter, theson of Mary? (Mark 6:3). A son wouldonly be spoken of in this way if the fa-ther were dead.

Under Jewish law THENEAREST MALE RELATIVE wouldhave the clear responsibility to assistthe widow and her children. As we sawearlier, this role would almost certainlybe taken up by JOSEPH OF

This, then, was the man God used toESTABLISH THE DAVIDIC LINEOF PHAREZ in the final home of thewandering ten tribes of Israel! It wasJOSEPH, not Jeremiah, who plantedthe seed of David in the islands ofBritain.

ARIMATHEA. -- The Incredible His-tory of God's True Church. Pp.53-54.

E. Raymond Capt alsoshows that it had to be a RELA-TIVE who claimed the body ofChrist:

It is quite obvious that thehusband (Joseph the widower and car-penter) of Mary died while Jesus wasyoung. Under bothROMAN AND HE-BREW LAW, theNEXT MALE KINautomatically becomesthe LEGAL GUARD-IAN of the family. Inthis case it was Josephof Arimathea....

We also can-not overlook the factthat Joseph "went inBOLDLY untoPilate...and (Pilate)gave the body to Jo-seph." (Mark15:43-45) The Sanhed-rin had declared Jesus a criminal. Ac-cording to both ROMAN ANDJEWISH LAW, unless the body of anexecuted criminal was immediatelyclaimed BY THE NEXT OF KIN, thebody of the victim was cast into a com-mon pit, where as with others, allphysical record of them was com-pletely obliterated. Certainly, the fa-natical Sadducean element of theSanhedrin who sought the total extinc-tion of Jesus, even in death, wouldhave allowed NOTHING SHORT OFA LEGAL CLAIM on the body ofChrist. -- The Traditions of Glaston-bury, pp.19-20.

We must also realize thatJoseph of Arimathea was a manwhom the Sadducees DAREDNOT OPPOSE without runningup against the Roman admini-stration of the land. Joseph's in-fluence was so great it stretchedbeyond the borders of Judea intothe upper echelons of Romanauthority. The Sadducees,

therefore, had to defer to Jo-seph's claim. Joseph's act ofclaiming the body of Christmade him a MARKED MAN,and the hatred of the Sadduceestoward him must have been sur-passed only by their hatred of Je-sus. Also, we must remember, itwas Joseph who led the defenseof Jesus before the Sanhedrin.

This did not win him too manypoints with the Jewishauthorities!

Ancient traditions, heldclose to the heart of the EasternChurch, claim that Joseph wasrelated to Christ and was, in fact,His GREAT-UNCLE! The Jew-ish TALMUD states that Josephwas the YOUNGER BROTHEROF THE FATHER OF MARY,and therefore was her uncle anda GREAT-UNCLE TO JESUS.George F. Jowett, in his bookThe Drama of the Lost Disci-ples, also states that "accordingto the Talmud, Joseph was theYOUNGER BROTHER OFTHE FATHER OF THE VIR-GIN MARY. He was her uncle,and therefore a great-uncle to

Jesus." (P.18). The HarleinManuscripts in the British Mu-seum (38-59f, 193b) further sup-port the claims that Joseph ofArimathea was uncle to Mary themother of Jesus. One of themanuscripts adds that he had adaughter, ANNA, calling her"consobrina" or COUSIN OFMARY. In the High History of

the Holy Grail itplainly states that"Joseph was his[Christ's] mother'suncle" and "this Jo-seph, as the Scrip-ture witnesseth, washis [Christ's] UN-CLE" (Appendix M,The Coming of theSaints, by J.W. Tay-lor. P.245). This ex-plains the closerelationship Christhad with Joseph of

Arimathea.

George F. Jowett remarkson this relationship:

During the lifetime of Jesusthere constantly appears reference tohis association with a RELATIVE atJerusalem. Profane history is morepositive on the matter, identifying theconnection with Joseph. As we studythe old records we find there is a validreason for the close association of Je-sus and his family with Joseph. It isquite obvious that the husband of Marydied while Jesus was young. UnderJewish law such a circumstance auto-matically appointed THE NEXTMALE KIN OF THE HUSBAND, inthis case Joseph, legal guardian of thefamily. This fact explains many things.History and tradition report Jesus, as aboy, frequently in the company of HisUNCLE, particularly at the time of thereligious feasts, and declares that JE-SUS MADE VOYAGES TO BRITAINwith Joseph in his ships. CORNISH

A Stater of Augustus

TRADITIONS abound with this testi-mony and numerous ancient landmarksbear HEBREW NAMES recordingthese visits.

Jowett continues:

Even during the short periodof the ministry of Jesus there is defi-nitely shown to exist A CLOSE AF-FINITY between them, far greater thanone would expect from an ordinaryguardianship. It was fatherly, loyal,with a mutual affection death could notsever.

We know that Joseph neverforsook his nephew. He stood by Himas a bold, fearless defender atthe notorious trial, and DEFIEDTHE SANHEDRIN by going toPilate and boldly claiming thebody when all others feared todo so. His arms were the first tocradle the broken corpse whentaken down from the cross andplace it in the tomb. After deathhe continued to protect the mutilatedbody of Jesus from the conspiringminds of the Sadducees. He risked hisall, wealth, power and position in thosecrucial years fulfilling his obligation asguardian of Jesus and of the family ofMary. He loved Jesus dearly. The dis-ciples spoke of Joseph with an affec-tionate regard. They wrote he was a"just man," a "good man," "honour-able," and "a disciple of Jesus." Thelatter clearly indicates that all throughtheir association Joseph must have en-couraged Jesus in His great work andthat he was aware of the mystery of Hisbirth and probably His destiny. All evi-dence proves that Joseph believed inthe validity of all Jesus taught and ulti-mately suffered for. -- The Drama ofthe Lost Disciples, pp.18-19.

This, then, was the manGod used to ESTABLISH THEDAVIDIC LINE OF PHAREZ inthe final home of the wanderingten tribes of Israel! It was JO-SEPH, not Jeremiah, whoplanted the seed of David in theislands of Britain. And what bet-ter man than Joseph with his

great mercantile fleet and mininginterests in Britain, coupled witha deep LOVE OF THE TRUTHof God, to transfer the SEED OFDAVID and establish the Churchof God in the tin islands ofBritain?

The Missing Years!

The pages of the Bibleare strangely silent concerningJesus' life between the ages of 12and 30. The only incident of His

childhood is to be found in Luke2, where He goes missing and isfound sitting in the midst of theteachers at the Temple:

And when He was twelveyears old, they went up to Jerusalemaccording to the custom of the feast.When they had finished the days, asthey returned, the Boy Jesus lingeredbehind in Jerusalem. And Joseph andHis mother did not know it; but sup-posing Him to have been in the com-pany, they went a day's journey, andsought Him among their relatives andacquaintances. So when they did notfind Him, they returned to Jerusalem,seeking Him. Now so it was that afterthree days they found Him in the tem-ple, sitting in the midst of the teachers,both listening to them and asking themquestions. And all who heard Himwere astonished at His understandingand answers. -- Verses 42-47.

The last mention in theNew Testament of the boy Jesusis found in Luke 2:52, whichsimply states: "And Jesus in-creased in wisdom and stature,

and in favor with God and men."Then there is a gap of eighteenyears in the life of Christ --eighteen years in which the NewTestament is totally silent aboutthe activities and whereabouts ofthe growing Messiah. Most peo-ple have thought that Jesus livedin the town of Nazareth, workingas a carpenter until He com-menced His ministry at the ageof thirty. However, there are anumber of implications in theNew Testament that indicate oth-

erwise -- that indicate Hewas OUT OF THE CON-FINES OF PALESTINEduring these years!

Notice what Lukesays in Luke 4:16-22: "SoHe came to Nazareth,where He had been

brought up. And as His customwas, He went into the synagogueon the Sabbath day, and stood upto read...And the eyes of all whowere in the synagogue werefixed on Him...So all bore wit-ness to Him, and marveled at thegracious words which proceededout of His mouth. And they said,'Is this not Joseph's son?' " Thereare a couple of things that standout here. First of all, the use ofthe expression, "where He hadbeen brought up," seems to im-ply that while Christ had spentHis childhood in Nazareth, Hehad not continued to live there.Obviously, He had not livedthere for some time. This impres-sion is reinforced by the questionHis hearers ask in the syna-gogue: "Is this not Joseph's son?"-- almost as if they were in doubtregarding His identity.

Another story tells how Jesus, visit-ing the mines of Cornwall with His un-cle Joseph, taught the miners how toextract tin from the ground andPURGE IT of the ore wolframite.

The same incident is re-corded in Matthew 13, withadded questions posed by thesynagogue worshippers: "Is thisnot the carpenter's son? Is notHis mother called Mary? AndHis brothers James, Joses, Si-mon, and Judas? And His sisters,are they not all with us?WHERE then did thisMan get all thesethings?" (Verses 55-56).Clearly, they were notvery familiar with Je-sus! He was such aSTRANGER to themthat the people couldnot even refer to Him byname, but only by Hisrelationship to the othermembers of His familywhom they knew."WHERE then didTHIS MAN get all thesethings" clearly indicatesthat Christ did not re-ceive His knowledge inthe town of Nazareth!

Let us now in-vestigate another pas-sage in the NewTestament which indicatesChrist's absence from the area:"After they arrived in Caper-naum the men collecting theTWO DRACHMAS [tax] ap-proached Peter and said: 'Doesyour teacher not pay the TWODRACHMAS [tax]?' He said:'Yes.' However, when he enteredthe house Jesus got ahead of himby saying: 'What do you think,Simon? From whom do thekings of the earth receive dutiesor HEAD TAX? From their sonsor from the STRANGERS?'When he said: 'From theSTRANGERS,' Jesus said to

him: 'Really, then, the sons aretax-free. But that we do notcause them to stumble, you go tothe sea, cast a fishhook, and takethe first fish coming up and,when you open its mouth, youwill find a STATER COIN. Takethat and give it to them FOR ME

AND YOU.'" (Matthew17:24-27, The Kingdom Inter-linear Translation of the GreekScriptures).

In a number of Bibletranslations they call the "TWODRACHMAS" Temple tax,however the Temple tax waspaid with a Jewish shekel -- acoin especially minted for thatpurpose. In the above passagewe find Jesus being asked aboutHis liability to pay the twodrachmas or "strangers' tax"which was a Roman poll-tax lev-ied against FOREIGN VISITORS

to Capernaum. Most often, thesewere merchants and traders whoconducted their business there.Evidently the tax collector con-sidered Jesus a "stranger" or a"foreign visitor." When we con-sider this incident, there is morethan a suggestion that Jesus had

been absent from Pales-tine for a considerablelength of time.

The same conclu-sion becomes apparentwhen we consider Johnthe Baptist's reaction toChrist. E. RaymondCapt explains:

When Jesus appearsupon the banks of the JordanRiver where John was bap-tizing, the Baptist seemsscarcely to recognize Jesus,even though they were firstcousins and must haveknown each other duringtheir early childhood. Fi-nally, John recognizes whothe STRANGER is and ex-claims: "Behold the Lamb ofGod!" Now, if Jesus hadbeen living in Nazareth allthose surely John would nothave appeared puzzled as to

His identity. Then, later, John sent twoof his disciples to make a peculiarquery: "Are you he who should comeor look we for another?" Apparently,the two had not met for years sinceJohn displays a profoundly IMPER-FECT KNOWLEDGE of the Onewhom he was proclaiming. -- The Tra-ditions of Glastonbury, p.6.

There is yet another inci-dent in the New Testament indi-cating that Jesus was absent fromHis homeland for a considerableperiod of time. In the book ofJohn we read the following:

Philip found Nathanael andsaid to him, "We have found Him ofwhom Moses in the law, and also theprophets, wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth,the son of Joseph." And Nathanael saidto him, "Can anything good come outof Nazareth?" Philip said to him,"Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanaelcoming toward Him, and said of him,"Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whomis no guile!" Nathanael said to Him,"HOW DO YOU KNOW ME?" Jesusanswered and said to him, "BeforePhilip called you, when you were un-der the fig tree, I saw you." -- John1:45-48.

Nathanael lived inCana of Galilee, which islocated about five milesfrom the city of Nazareth.If Jesus had been living atNazareth during his youth-- some eighteen years -- itseems very strange thatNathanael would not haveknown Him. Both Nathanael andPhilip should have been ac-quainted with Jesus' command ofthe Scriptures -- it would havebeen known far and wide! Notonly that, but would the verySon of God have no effect uponthe community in which He sup-posedly lived for eighteen years?The implication can only be thatJesus had not been in Palestinefor a long period of time.

Now, naturally, thisbrings to mind the followingquestions: If Jesus was absentfrom Palestine for what appearsto be a considerable period oftime, then WHERE was He be-tween the ages of 12 and 30? Isthere any evidence that shedslight on his whereabouts duringthese years? The answer is adefinite YES!

The Traditions of Cornwall

"Legends exist that Jesustraveled far and wide. The relig-ious teachers of INDIA assert Hehad dwelt among them studyingthere for three years before trav-eling on to what is now Tibet.Ancient religious books of Indiarecord Jesus visiting the Himala-yan kingdom of Nepal. Othertraditions take Jesus to Egypt"(The Traditions of Glastonbury,p.7). While it is certainly possi-

ble that Jesus did visit othercountries, the STRONGEST andMOST PERSISTENT traditionsplace a young Jesus in CORN-WALL and the ISLE OFAVALON near the little Somer-set town of Glastonbury inEngland!

A number of legends linkthe boy Jesus, and Joseph of Ari-mathea His uncle, with THE TINMINES OF CORNWALL. Onestory relates how Jesus and Jo-seph often anchored their ship inthe natural harbor at THEMOUTH OF THE CAMELRIVER to come ashore and col-lect water for the ship. "Nearby,is an ancient well that sinceolden times has been known as'JESUS' WELL.' It was regardedas having healing powers. Forcenturies pilgrims came to thewell and the remains of a chapel,erected over it, are still discerni-ble. Records of its existence go

back to the 13th century, buteven then, the date and origin ofits name is unknown." (The Tra-ditions of Glastonbury, p.29).

Another story tells howJesus, visiting the mines ofCornwall with His uncle Joseph,taught the miners how to extracttin from the ground and PURGEIT of the ore wolframite. At thesame time, according to localtradition, Joseph also taught theboy Jesus how to extract the tin

and purge it. Is it not sig-nificant that Malachi theprophet, in his prophecyand analogy of Jesus, castsChrist in the ROLE OF AREFINER OF METALS(Malachi 3:2-3)? Malachimentions silver, and it is afact that silver was often

extracted from Mendip lead dur-ing the time of Christ.

Associated with themines of Cornwall are the minesof the MENDIP HILLS, north ofGlastonbury -- in the county ofSomerset, England. During Ro-man times these mines producedlead, copper and other metalswhich form alloys with tin. Thegreat war-machine of the RomanEmpire consumed vast quantitiesof these alloys in the productionof weapons. There are traditionsamong the people of the hillcountry of Somerset that Joseph,after first seeking tin from theSCILLIES (islands off of Corn-wall) and in Cornwall itself,came to the Mendips -- accom-panied on a number of occasionsby a YOUTHFUL JESUS.

E. Raymond Capt notesthat "at the parish Church of

Tradition and written testimony as-sert that Jesus did indeed reside on theIsland of Avalon, and there created abuilding to live in which was latercalled a "church."

PRIDDY, high on the top of theMendips, they have an old say-ing: 'As sure as OUR LORDWAS AT PRIDDY.' And a carolsung by the children of PRIDDYbegins: 'JOSEPH WAS A TINMERCHANT, a tin merchant, atin merchant,' and goes onto describe him arrivingFROM THE SEA IN ABOAT [WITH THE BOYJESUS]." (The Traditionsof Glastonbury, p.34).

St. Just, in CORN-WALL, also has LEG-ENDS OF JESUSCOMING TO THE DIS-TRICT. Among the manytraditions is one that re-lates the story of aSTONE Jesus stepped onwhen he first landed there.In 1932, while cleaningout a blockedCULVERT,workmen cameacross a flatstone coveredwith curious andunintelligiblemarkings. Sincethis stone wasblocking the flowof water from awell known asthe "CHRISTEN-ING WELL," thepeople of St. Justimmediatelythought that itwas the one of legend -- the oneChrist stepped on when Helanded. They reasoned that thestrange markings on it wereplaced there later when the iden-tity of their visitor becameknown. "Even before the findingof the stone, the old folks would

tell visitors to the area the HolyLegend of Christ COMINGTHERE AS A BOY WITH HISUNCLE. They spoke of the leg-end and 'it was as much of yourlife was worth' to express anydoubt about Christ coming to

ST. JUST." (Ibid., p.33).

The old Ordinance mapsof the west part of CORNWALLshow two rich lodes or veins ofTIN, bearing the names "COR-PUS CHRISTI" (BODY OFCHRIST) and "WHEEL OF

JESUS." (Wheel is an old Cor-nish word for "mine").

Another LINK betweenJESUS AND THE TIN TRADEOF CORNWALL is found in St.Anthony-in-Roseland. Here is

located an almost un-known structure called"Place Manor Church"with a Pre-Norman stonearch over the South Door.Carved in this arch are an-cient pictographs -- esti-mated to be more than a1000 years old -- tellingthe story of Jesus and Hisuncle coming to Place fortin. According to the pic-tographs their boat gotinto difficulties during astorm, and was washedashore on the headlandwhere the modern light-

house nowstands. The op-erators of a localtrading postmanaged tobring Joseph'sdamaged boatinto the shelteredside of the head-land, by Place,where repairswere carried out.Joseph and Jesusstayed at thetrading postwhile the boatwas being re-

paired. The pictographs go on tosay that before they left the area,they erected a stone with an ac-count of their visit there.

Scattered throughout thetin mining areas of Cornwall areto be found a number of very

ancient CELTIC CROSSEScalled "TUNIC CROSSES."These crosses, found alongsideroads and in church cemeteries,are of a type found NOWHEREELSE IN THE BRITISH ISLES-- or anywhere else in the world,for that matter! States E. Ray-mond Capt: "On one side of thecross is a crudely cut Christiancross and on the other, THEFIGURE of what can only be ABOY, DRESSED IN A KNEE-LENGTH TUNIC. Here we haveNOT a crucified Christ,nailed to a cross, but AYOUTH WITH HISARMS OUTSTRETCHEDIN AN ATTITUDE OFBLESSING. These crossesmay well portray the AGE-OLD MEMORY of thevisits of the young Jesus tothese shores in the company ofHis uncle Joseph" (The Tradi-tions of Glastonbury, p.34).

Apart from the places al-ready mentioned, West Countytraditions also associate St. Mi-chael's Mount, Redruth andGlastonbury with a visit from Je-sus. Ivor C. Fletcher uncovered atradition in Upper Galilee thattells of a visit to Glastonbury:

Among the Maronite and Cat-luei villagers of Upper Galilee the tra-dition lingers that Jesus as a youthbecame a shipwright on a trading ves-sel from TYRE, one of the biblical"ships of Tarshish."

According to the story, Hewas storm-bound on the WESTERNCOASTS OF ENGLAND throughoutthe winter. The location of the visit isgiven as "THE SUMMERLAND," aname often used in ancient times forthe modern COUNTY OF SOMER-SET. A district associated with thisvisit to Somerset is known as

"PARADISE." This place is sometimesfound on old maps of the area. -- TheIncredible History of God's TrueChurch, p.51.

Jesus at Avalon

The strongest and themost persistent traditions placethe young Jesus on the mysticalisland of AVALON -- later tobecome the little Somersetcounty town of Glastonbury.Here, as the story goes, Jesusand His uncle constructed a wat-

tle hut similar to those at thenearby Glastonbury Lake Vil-lage. The site they chose was atthe base of a hill from which rana spring of water, later known asChalice Well.

In early times AVALONwas a small island at the back ofa large, marshy estuary known asthe Uxella. The estuary was cov-ered by waters from the BristolChannel, and received the watersof the rivers Axe, Parret and theBrue. The River Brue was anavigable river from the foot ofthe nearby Mendip Hills to thesea -- just south of Bristol.

Rising above the land-scape is the hill, known today asGlastonbury Tor. Once a placeof Druid worship, the 500 foottor may have also been the chiefstronghold of one Melwas, kingof the "Aestive Regio" (the Sum-mer Kingdom) of Somerset. It is

likely that the tor stronghold wasthe political center of a muchwider area than Glaston- bury.

Archaeologist E. Ray-mond Capt notes that "the earli-est name of Glastonbury was"YNIS-WITRIN" (Ynys gyrdyn-- British; Glaestingabyrig --Anglo-Saxon) or the "GLASSYISLAND." Later, when it wasfound to be fruitful and ideal forthe cultivation of apples, it wascalled "INSULA AVALONIA,"

or Isle of the Apple Trees.AVAL, in Welsh [Celtic],means apple. Just how thisarea came to be known bythe name "GLASTON-BURY" remains in doubt.One suggestion is that theorigin of Glastonbury is in"Glaestingaburgh," the hill

fort of the Flaestings, a familywho settled in the area. Another,and more accepted theory is thatthe CELTIC word for green is"Glas" and hill is "ton." GLAS-TON is therefore "the greenhill," so named after the tor, ormount that dominates the land-scape." (The Traditions of Glas-tonbury, p.13).

When the Saxons arrivedin the 6th century A.D., theybuilt a town about a half milefrom the tor and obtained a char-ter, adding "borough" or "bury"to the original name -- thus"Glaston-bury."

Tradition and written tes-timony assert that Jesus did in-deed reside on the Island ofAvalon, and there created abuilding to live in which waslater called a "church." A wealthof ancient writers, both

The Bible indicates that Jesus wasan educated man and a superb publicspeaker. It is evident that He did not re-ceive such an education at any collegein Galilee or Judea.

ecclesiastical and secular, affirmthis. For more than a thousandyears it was commonly spokenof as "the church [home, house]built NOT BY HUMAN ART."Augustine, the Catholic monkwho was sent to evangelize Brit-ain by Pope Gregory I, was quitefamiliar with the facts and theexistence of this structure. In aletter to Pope Gregory (Epistolaead Gregorium Papam)Augustine writes with obviousdelight and at great length aboutthe "church":

In the Western con-fines of Britain there is a cer-tain ROYAL ISLAND oflarge extent, surrounded bywater, abounding in all thebeauties of nature and neces-saries of life. In it the firstNeophytes of Catholic Law,GOD BEFOREHAND AC-QUAINTED THEM, found achurch constructed by no hu-man art, BUT DIVINELYCONSTRUCTED, OR BYTHE HANDS OF CHRISTHIMSELF, for the salvationof His people. The Almightyhas made it manifest by manymiracles and mysterious visi-tations that He continues towatch over it as sacred toHimself, and to Mary, the Mother ofGod.

Augustine's statement inhis letter is verified by the Saxonhistorian, William of Malmes-bury, who wrote in the twelfthcentury. His last work, De Antiq-uitate Glastoniae, mentions thelittle wattle house. Other works,such as De origine EcclesiaeBritannicae by Elvan of Avalon(a British scholar educated in theSchool of Joseph of Arimathea atAvalon -- circa 180 A.D.); Relat.Hist. de rebus Anglicis Act, by

Pitsaeus; De Sancto Joseph atAramathia, by Capgrave; TheMagna Tabula of Glastonbury,at Haworth Castle; John ofGlastonbury, by Hearne; Bede'sEcclesiastical History; the Brit-ish historian Gildas and Geoffreyof Monmouth also make mentionof the wattle "church" built byChrist.

William of Malmesburyalso recites the well-known story

of St. David who went to Glas-tonbury in 540 A.D. In 546 A.D.David enclosed the original wat-tle structure in LEAD in order topreserve it, and erected a pillaron the site with a brass tabletbearing record to the fact.

With the passage of timethe little wattle house became anobject of deep veneration by all,and many swore oaths by the old"church" very much like peopletoday swear an oath on the Bible.William of Malmesbury wrote:

The church of which we arespeaking (Glastonbury) from its antiq-uity called by the Angles, by way ofdistinction, "EALDE CHICHE," that isthe "OLD CHURCH" of wattle work atfirst, SAVOURED SOMEWHAT OFHEAVENLY SANCTITY EVENFROM ITS VERY FOUNDATION,and exhaled it over the whole country,claiming SUPERIOR REVERENCE,though the structure was mean....Menof that province had no oath more fre-quent, or more sacred than to swear bythe Old Church, fearing the swiftestvengeance on their perjury in this re-spect. In the meantime it is clear that

the depository of so manysaints may be deservedlycalled an HEAVENLYSANCTUARY UPONEARTH...who there moreespecially chose to awaitthe day of resurrection un-der the protection of theMother of God. -- Acts ofthe Kings of the English,bk. I, ch.2.

For centuries be-fore the island ofAVALON was re-named GLASTON-BURY by the invadingSaxons, two nameswere frequently foundin the writings of theold scribes -- clearly re-

ferring to something of great im-portance. Usually no explanationis given, indicating that the peo-ple of the day were quite familiarwith the names. "To the Priest-hood and historians of those en-thralling years, the TWONAMES employed designatingthe particular place were 'SE-CRETUM DOMINI' and 'DO-MUS DEI.' The first title means'THE SECRET OF OUR LORD'and the second, 'THE HOUSEOR HOME OF GOD.' The ex-planation given is that the LIT-TLE WATTLE TEMPLE WAS

Wattle and Daub Hut

THE HOUSE, OR HOME OFGOD, BECAUSE THEREIN HEDWELT, and the Secret of theLord was the Dowry and dedica-tion of the same to His mother"(The Drama of the Lost Disci-ples, p.144).

This is not myth, legendor unsupported tradition. The ti-tle is officially recorded in theancient names found in the fa-mous DOMESDAY BOOK -- adocument that embodies the re-sults of a statistical surveyof England carried out byorder of William I, King ofEngland. The survey,made in 1086, was an at-tempt to register the landedwealth of the country in asystematic fashion, in or-der to determine the reve-nues due to the king. The termDOMESDAY is a corruption ofDOOMSDAY (the day of the fi-nal judgment), and the work wasso named because its judgmentsregarding levies and assessmentswere final and irrevocable. Theentry says: "The DOMUS DEI,in the great monastery of Glas-tonbury, called The Secret ofOur Lord. This GlastonburyChurch possesses in its own villeXII hides of land which havenever paid tax."

The Education of Christ!

Finally, there is evidencethat Jesus attended school inBritain! During the first centuryA.D. Britain was knownthroughout the Roman world forthe excellence of its educationalsystem. Gildas states, in the Cot-tonian Manuscript, that the Brit-ish universities of Jesus' time

were the largest in the world --both in size and in attendance --with a listing of sixty large uni-versities and an average atten-dance of over sixty thousandstudents! The wealthy and the ar-istocracy of the Greek and Ro-man worlds sent their children toBritain to study law, science andreligion.

The wise men of India, intheir ancient books known as theRig-Vedas, make mention that

Britain was a great center of re-ligious learning. The great li-brary at the abbey inGlastonbury housed the largestknown collection of books out-side the library of Alexandria inEgypt! The fact is, ancient Brit-ain had then acquired great stat-ure in the world, with institutionsof learning and attendance rival-ing those of advanced nationstoday!

Ivor C. Fletcher ex-pounds on this:

Britain, during the first cen-tury A.D., would have been an idealplace to study and develop skills invarious aspects of the buildingindustry.

Eumenius states that Britisharchitects were in great demand on theContinent during his day. Several writ-ers mention the skills of British crafts-men, especially in the metal workingindustries.

The enameling process was in-vented in Britain. A superb example of

the local "La Tene" art is the famousGlastonbury bowl which was producedabout the time of Christ. There is littledoubt that Jesus could have developedmany skills from British craftsmen. --The Incredible History of God's TrueChurch, pp. 56-57.

The Bible indicates thatJesus was a public speaker parexcellence. He had a tremendousimpact on the crowds that gath-ered around Him, "and they werestruck with awe at his mode ofinstruction." (Mark 1:22). Not

only was He a goodspeaker -- He was also anEDUCATED speaker! TheNew Testament recordsthat the people of Hishome town of Nazarethwere astonished at Hispreaching: "So all borewitness to Him, and mar-

veled at the gracious wordswhich proceeded out of Hismouth" (Luke 4:22).

Remarks Ivor C.Fletcher:

It is very clear that not all ofHis formal education and public speak-ing training had been received at Naz-areth. If His training had been merelythe product of a local school or collegethen the people would not have been soastonished.

It is unlikely that higher edu-cation of that calibre was even avail-able in a provincial town such asNazareth. Nathanael implied this in hisremark: "Can any good thing proceedfrom Nazareth?" (John 1:46).

Jerusalem was the academicheadquarters of the nation, yet Jesushad not trained among the professionalpublic speakers here either. Mark re-lates that: "HE TAUGHT THEM, aspossessing authority, and not as thescribes" (Mark 1:22).

The Jews were deeply puzzledby this very fact. They asked the

According to this, after Saul's perse-cution Joseph and his companionswere thrust into A BOAT WITHOUTOARS OR SAILS by the Jews, whowere glad to be finally rid of them.

question: "How knoweth this man let-ters, having never learned?" (John7:15).

The Weymouth translationrenders this: "How does this man knowanything of books," they said, "al-though he has NEVER BEEN at any ofthe schools?" -- Ibid., p.57.

The Bible indicates thatJesus was an educated man and asuperb public speaker. It is evi-dent that He did not receive suchan education at any college inGalilee or Judea. However, Hemost certainly could have re-ceived such an education in Brit-ain! If Jesus had visited Britain,and was educated there AC-CORDING TO THE TRADI-TIONS, He would have foundsome sixty colleges or universi-ties to choose from. Ivor C.Fletcher comments on theQUALITY of the British educa-tional system:

The educational standardswere such that students came not onlyfrom the British nobility but also fromseveral FOREIGN NATIONS. It is saidthat even PONTIUS PILATE, as ayoung man, studied in Britain.

A very high standard in ora-tory or public speaking was often at-tained by first century Britons. Tacitusrecords on a word by word basis thespeeches of several high ranking Brit-ons of his day.

Such speeches were often col-ourful, stirring and inspiring, muchlike, in some ways, the speeches ofJesus.

A few hundred years beforethe time of Christ, the Greek writerSTRABO described an EDUCATEDBRITON of his day, Abaris, as fol-lows: "He was easy in his address;agreeable in his conversation; active inhis dispatch and secret in his manage-ment of great affairs; diligent in thequest of wisdom; fond of friendship;trusting very little to fortune; yet hav-ing the entire confidence of others, andtrusted with everything for his

prudence. HE SPOKE GREEK WITHA FLUENCY THAT YOU WOULDHAVE THOUGHT THAT HE HADBEEN BROUGHT UP IN THELYCEUM."

It may be mere coincidencebut Jesus had far more of the QUALI-TIES AND TALENTS OF AN EDU-CATED BRITON than He ever did ofan educated Jew of the same period. --Ibid., p.58.

It is NOT mere coinci-dence -- Eastern and Westerntraditions claim Jesus completedHis education in Britain!

William Blake, Britishpoet born in London in 1757,was familiar with the stories as-sociated with Glastonbury andthe presence of Christ in the Brit-ish Isles. In his beautiful poementitled Jerusalem, Blake penshis thoughts in a tender and lov-ing way:

And did those feet in ancienttimeWalk upon England's mount-ains green?And was the Holy Lamb ofGodOn England's pleasant pas-tures seen?And did the CountenanceDivineShine forth upon our cloudedhills?And was Jerusalem buildedhereAmong those dark Satanicmills?

Bring me my bow ofburning gold!Bring me my arrows ofdesire!Bring me my spear! Oclouds unfold!Bring me my chariot of

Jesus was charged by theJewish authorities with themost heinous of crimes --that of BLASPHEMY (seeMatt. 26:65). This meant thatChrist was looked upon bythe Sanhedrin as "accursedof God"; and Joseph, be-cause of his long associationwith Him and the "heresy"He promoted, was lookedupon in a similar vein.

fire!I will not cease from mentalfightNor shall my sword sleep inmy hand,Till we have built JerusalemIn England's green and pleas-ant land.

The Death of Christ and the Saulian Persecution

When Joseph of Arimat-hea went to Pilate to claim thebody of Christ, he reallysealed his fate as far as theSanhedrin was concerned. Itwas bad enough when Jo-seph defended Christ beforethe hastily assembled groupof Jewish leaders; now hewas rubbing salt into an al-ready festering wound! Je-sus was charged by theJewish authorities with the mostheinous of crimes -- that ofBLASPHEMY (see Matt.26:65). This meant that Christwas looked upon by the Sanhed-rin as "accursed of God"; and Jo-seph, because of his longassociation with Him and the"heresy" He promoted, waslooked upon in a similar vein.

Joseph's audience withPilate to retrieve Christ's bodywas, in the eyes of the Sanhed-rin, a slap in the face and per-ceived as a defilement of Jewishlaw. Because Christ was consid-ered "accursed of God," even theinstrument of death and the verysoil it stood in was defiled. Theapostle Paul said that the TREE(the stauros) Christ died on wasreckoned "a shame" (Hebrew12:2) and he called the cross-piece (Latin -- patibulum) "the

reproach" -- see Hebrews 13:13.In other words, all the instru-ments of death were "accursed"because they came into contactwith the "accursed one" --Christ! How this was dealt withby the Jewish authorities is ex-plained by Ernest L. Martin:

The essential teaching on howto CLEANSE the land of such "ac-cursedness" is found in Deuteronomy21:22,23, and in the previous verse 21it says this purging was to be done byBURNING (Hebrew: bahgar). In the

Old Testament example of such purg-ing, it was thought necessary to BURNTHE POSSESSIONS of such an "ac-cursed one" because the abominablesin of the person was even TRANS-FERRED TO THE THINGS OWNEDBY THE SINNER (since he hadtouched them and this reckoned evenhis possessions "accursed". This wasthe case with the things belonging toACHAN who sinned so grievously inthe time of Joshua (Josh. 7:15, 24-26).What happened was that Achan him-self was killed (with his children andanimals) and all his "accursed" thingswere burnt up together with him. Thispractice of utter destruction was con-sidered the only way to purify the landof Israel from such defilements....

To keep the land from beingpolluted, Christ HAD TO BE DE-STROYED before sundown and the"accursed" stauros had to be burnt upso that no person could ever touch itagain....

What the Jewish authoritieswanted to do was to take the dead bodyof Christ AND the "accursed" (shame-ful) tree and BURN THEM UP TO-GETHER just as the Israelites did withAchan in the Old Testament. -- Secrets

of Golgotha. ASK Publications, Al-hambra, CA 1988. Pp. 180-181.

This is WHY Joseph ofArimathea sought an urgentaudience with Pilate -- he had toclaim Christ's body before theJewish authorities could burn itto ashes. In doing so, however,he fueled the anger and hatred ofthe religious authorities.

Following the retrievaland the resurrection of Christ,

the anger of the rulingpriesthood of the Sanhed-rin exploded to the sur-face. In secret conclavethey plotted and planned acampaign of unremittingpersecution against thenewly formed Church ofGod. Maliciously, they de-termined to exterminate or

imprison all those who followed"The Way" -- and Joseph was atthe top of the list! Soon a greatpersecution swept through theland.

Saul (who was later tobecome Paul) raged through Je-rusalem and the surroundingcoun- tryside, aiding the venge-ful Sanhedrin in their pogromagainst the followers of Christ.He struck quickly and viciously.Members of the Church of God-- whether they were Greek, Ro-man or Jew -- were openly (or insecret) struck down like vermin.No mercy was shown. The re-cords of the time indicate that theprisons of Judea were filled tocapacity with the unfortunatevictims of the persecution.

The first notable victimSaul seized upon was Stephen.

Joseph of Arimathea was nostranger to the city of Marseilles. Asthe chief port in the continent ofEurope for the export of tin and lead,the ships of Joseph were probably acommon sight in the harbor.

Along with Peter, John and oth-ers, Stephen had defied theSaduccees by vigorously preach-ing the Kingdom of Godthroughout the city of Jerusalem.Thousands were converted daily,a fact which further infuriatedthe corrupt Sadducean priest-hood. Fate soon caught up withStephen; and he was stoned todeath by the minions of the San-hedrin as Paul looked on.

GeorgeJowett writes that"so fierce wasSaul's vindictivepurge that hewrought havocwithin the Churchat Jerusalem. Theboundaries of Ju-dea could notconfine him. Ille-gally, he tres-passed far withinRoman territorywhere hehounded thedevotees withoutcensure or inter-ference from theRoman admini-stration. No doubtthe Romans feltSaul was doingthem a service, and a good job inridding them of what they con-sidered an undesirable religiouspestilence." (The Drama of theLost Disciples, p.30).

Throughout this terribletime Joseph of Arimathea re-mained the fearless, stalwart pro-tector of the disciples of Christ --and especially the women. Onevery possible occasion heplaced himself between them

and their vengeful enemies -- us-ing his power and influence toavert danger to his brethren.Saul's fury knew no bounds. Tryas they may, Joseph's position asa Roman official prevented Sauland his partners in crime fromharming his person, or thosewhom he personally defended.

Nevertheless, it soon be-came a losing battle. WithinFOUR YEARS after the death of

Christ (34 A.D.) many of theChristians were scattered out ofJerusalem and Judea. There canbe little doubt that the ships ofJoseph's vast mercantile enter-prises carried the numerous refu-gees to safety in other lands.This fearless and indomitableman of God spared neither helpnor wealth in aiding all the peo-ple he could.

The Boat Without Oars!

The time came when theSanhedrin finally caught up withJoseph and his faithful compan-ions. Frederic Mistral, theFrench Provencal poet who livedin the nineteenth century(1830-1914), relates what hap-pened in his work called Mireio-- published in 1859.

According to this, afterSaul's persecu-tion Joseph andhis companionswere thrust intoA BOAT WITH-OUT OARS ORSAILS by theJews, who wereglad to be finallyrid of them. Thisoccurred, accord-ing to Mistral, onthe coast of Pal-estine -- some-where near toMt. Carmel.Thrust into theboat with Josephwere Lazarus,Trophimus,Maximin, Cleon,Eutropius, Si-donius (Restitu-

tus, "the man born blind"),Martial and Saturninus. Includedin the boat were also Mary, wifeof Cleopas; Salome; Mary Mag-dalene; Martha and the maid ofthe two latter, Marcella.

The poem relates that asthe boat was drifting out to seaSarah, the handmaid of Salomeand Mary Cleopas, cast herselfinto the sea to join her mistress,and by the help of Salome was

Cathedral of Marseilles -- Near "Ephesium"

brought into the boat. After beat-ing about the Mediterranean forsome time, the boat drifted toTHE COAST OF PROVENCEIN GAUL (FRANCE) and, fol-lowing the RIVER RHONE, AR-RIVED AT ARLES, which waseventually converted to Christi-anity by the preaching ofTrophimus.

Mistral drew his materialfrom the Provencal traditions asthey live today in the scatteredhomesteads of the Camar-gue, and in the minds andhearts of all the people inthe adjacent countryside.

Further informationcan be found in the Ecclesi-astical Annals of the six-teenth century Vaticanlibrarian, CARDINALCAESAR BARONIUS(1538-1609 A.D.). Baronius, anhistorian of great integrity whowas known for his uncompro-mising treatment of the truth,discovered a document of greatantiquity in the Vatican archives.To his fascination, the manu-script revealed that in THEYEAR 35 A.D. Joseph of Ari-mathea and a group of compan-ions that included Lazarus, MaryMagdalene, Martha and a num-ber of others, WERE CASTADRIFT IN A BOAT from thecoast of Palestine by PERSE-CUTING JEWS.

"In that year the partymentioned was exposed to thesea in A VESSEL WITHOUTSAILS OR OARS. The vesseldrifted finally TO MAR-SEILLES and they were saved.From Marseilles JOSEPH AND

HIS COMPANY PASSEDINTO BRITAIN and afterpreaching the Gospel there,died." (Ecclesiastical Annals,under section A.D. 35).

On commenting aboutthis information from CardinalBaronius, Ivor C. Fletcher notes:

No trace of Joseph in Palestineis found after about A.D. 35, no recordof any martyrdom and no reference tohis movements outside of the areas ofBritain and France. The information

given by Baronius relating to the en-forced voyage to Marseilles of Josephand his companions seems THE MOSTLIKELY AND LOGICAL ACCOUNTOF HIS MOVEMENTS. -- The In-credible History of God's TrueChurch, p.73.

The Cardinal's Annalsquote the Acts of Magdalen,which we have already dis-cussed, for the record of the voy-age to Marseilles and thespreading of the gospel in thesouth part of Gaul.

In chapter 37 of the Acts,after listing the names of Jo-seph's companions in the OAR-LESS BOAT, Rabanus Maurusgoes on to describe their danger-ous voyage: "Leaving the shoresof Asia and favoured by an eastwind, they went round about,down the Tyrrhenian Sea, be-tween Europe and Africa,

leaving the city of Rome and allthe land of Italy to the right.Then happily turning theircourse to the right, they camenear to the city of Marseilles, inthe Viennoise province of theGauls, where the RIVERRHONE is received by the sea.There, having called upon God,the great King of all the world,they parted; each company goingto the province where the HolySpirit had directed them, pres-ently preaching everywhere, 'the

Lord working with them,and confirming the wordwith signs following.'"

Gladys Taylor, inher book Our NeglectedHeritage, takes note of thesame incident:

Caesar Baronius, thechurch historian who was also

appointed librarian of the Vatican in1596, wrote in his magnum opus, An-nales Ecclesiastici, of the finding in theVatican Library of a most ancientmanuscript in which was described thevoyage of a company of our Lord'sfriends, travelling in an OLD BOATwhich had been abandoned by its mas-ter and was WITHOUT OARS ORSAILS, who LANDED AT MAR-SEILLES, whence they spread out overSOUTHERN FRANCE where manychurches record them as their founders.Among this company is JOSEPH OFARIMATHEA, who is not mentionedas founder of any of these churches, afact which suggests that he may havejourneyed on and could not have spentmuch time in southern France. Ba-ronius dates the arrival of this boat toA.D. 35. -- Covenant Books, London.1969. P.15.

Further confirmation ofthe voyage of Joseph and hiscompanions can be found in theOtia Imperialia, a book writtenby Gervais de Tilbury who was

To the middle district -- or PRO-VINCIA GALLICA -- which was al-most as Roman as Rome was, cameanother companion of Joseph in theboat -- TROPHIMUS. Trophimus set-tled in the city of ARLES, which wasformerly called Arelate.

Marshall of the Kingdom of Ar-les (in France) in the year 1212.Dedicating the book to Otho IV,Tilbury writes about the oldchurch of Les Saintes Maries inthe Camargue:

There, on the seacoast, onesees the first of Continental churcheswhich was founded in honour of themost blessed mother of our Lord, andconsecrated by many of the seventy-two disciples WHO WERE DRIVENFROM JUDEA AND EXPOSED TOTHE SEA IN AN OARLESS BOAT:Maximin of Aix, Lazarus of Marseilles,the brother of Martha and Mary, Eu-trope of Orange, George of Velay, Sat-urninus of Toulouse, Martial ofLimoges, in the presence of Martha,Mary Magdalene and many others.

"The tradition of Josephof Arimathea and his compan-ions in the oarless boat was ac-cepted by the whole LATINCHURCH for over a thousandyears. For proof of this we haveonly to turn to the BREVIARY(book of prayers, hymns, psalmsand readings used by RomanCatholic priests) at ST. MAR-THA'S DAY, JULY 29th. Therewe find a LECTION FOR THESECOND NOCTURNE(NIGHT) which tells how Mary,Martha and Lazarus, with theirservant Marcella, and Maximin,one of the seventy-two disciples,WERE SEIZED BY THE JEWS,PLACED IN A BOAT WITH-OUT SAILS OR OARS, ANDCARRIED SAFELY TO THEPORT OF MARSEILLES.Moved by this remarkable fact,the people of the neighbouringlands were speedily converted toChristianity; Lazarus becamebishop of Marseilles, Maximinusof Aix... and...Martha ...died onthe fourth day before the

Kalends of August, and was bur-ied with great honour at Taras-con." (Monuments Inedits, ByFaillon. Vol. ii, p.114).

There are many othersources, including Greek andRoman authorities that tell thestory of Joseph and the oarlessboat. Even the Jewish Encyclo-pedia, under the title "Arles,"mentions that the first Jews inArles arrived by boat withoutcaptain, sails or oars.

Another source adds that"without sails and oars, theydrifted with the wind and thecurrents arriving unharmed atCYRENE, in northern Africa.After obtaining sails and oars,the little party of refugees fol-lowed the trade route of thePhoenician merchant ships as farwest as Marseilles, France."(The Traditions of Glastonbury,p.37).

The South of France

Joseph of Arimathea wasno stranger to the city of Mar-seilles. As the chief port in thecontinent of Europe for the ex-port of tin and lead, the ships ofJoseph were probably a commonsight in the harbor. It has beensaid that Joseph's name was aswell known in the area as thenames of Carnegie, Schwab andBethlehem Steel are to us today.It can therefore be assumed thatJoseph had many influentialfriends at Marseilles who wouldgladly welcome him amongstthem.

Marseilles, situated insouthern France on the

There is, however, evi-dence that Marseilles wassettled by the Phoenicians ata much earlier date; and thename of the city is takenfrom the Phoenician wordfor "settlement."

Mediterranean coast, is the capi-tal of the department (province)of Bouches-du-Rhone. Sittingslightly east of the mouth of theRhone, the city was originallycalled MASSALIA and wasfounded circa 600 B.C. by mari-ners from Phocaea in Asia Mi-nor. There is, however, evidencethat Marseilles was settled by thePhoenicians at a much earlierdate; and the name of the city istaken from the Phoenician wordfor "settlement." J. W. Taylor re-cords that "the great port ofMassilia, the modern Mar-seilles, by means of whichmost of the intercourse be-tween Provence and the restof the civilized world wascarried on, was quite an oldcity in the early days ofChristianity. Founded bythe Greeks some six centu-ries before the birth of our Lord,it had steadily increased in sizeand in importance as the com-merce of the world had widened.Pytheas sailed from Marseilleswhen he made his first voyage toBritish waters in 350 B.C., andconsequently at this early date,Marseilles must have been amaritime centre of veryconsiderable importance" (TheComing of the Saints, p.111).

A fascinating account ofboth Marseilles and the sur-rounding countryside is found inthe works of STRABO -- Greekgeographer and historian of thetime of Christ (63? B.C. - 24?A.D.). Strabo's account, there-fore, shows the city that Josephdid business in, and later arrivedat in the "oarless" boat. Strabowrites:

Marseilles, founded by thePhocaeans, is built in a stony region.Its harbour lies beneath a rock which isshaped like a theatre, and looks towardthe south. It is well surrounded withwalls, as well as the whole city, whichis of considerable size. Within the cita-del are placed the "Ephesium" and thetemple of the Delphian Apollo. The"Ephesium" is the temple consecratedto Diana of Ephesus. All the coloniessent out from Marseilles hold this god-dess in peculiar reverence, preservingboth the shape of her image and alsoevery rite observed in the metropolis.

The Massilians live under awell-regulated aristocracy. They have a

council, composed of six hundred per-sons, called Timuchi, who enjoy thisdignity of life. Fifteen of these presideover the council and have the manage-ment of current affairs; these fifteen arein their turn presided over by three oftheir number, in whom rests the princi-pal authority; and these again by one.

No one can become aTimuchus who has not children, andwho has not been a citizen for threegenerations. The country abounds inolives and vines, but on account of itsruggedness the wheat is poor; conse-quently the people trust more to re-sources of the sea than of the land, andavail themselves fully of their excellentposition for commerce.

Strabo continues:

The people of Marseillespossess dry-docks and amouries. For-merly they had an abundance of ves-sels, arms and machines, both for thepurpose of navigation and for besieg-ing towns; by means of which they de-fended themselves against thebarbarians, and likewise obtained thealliance of the Romans, to whom they

rendered many important services, theRomans in their turn assisted in theiraggrandisement. Sextius, who defeatedthe Salyes, founded not far from Mar-seilles a city which was named afterhim and the hot water found there (Aq-uae Sextiae, now AIX). Here he estab-lished a Roman garrison and drovefrom the sea coast which leads fromMarseilles to Italy, the barbarianswhom the Massilians were not able toentirely keep back. The land which thebarbarians abandoned he presented tothe Massilians, and in their city are laidup heaps of booty taken in NAVALENGAGEMENTS against those whodisputed the sea unjustly. Formerly

they enjoyed singular good for-tune as well in other matters asalso in their amity with the Ro-mans, but since the war ofPompey against Caesar, inwhich they sided with the van-quished party, their prosperityhas in some measure decayed.Nevertheless some traces oftheir ancient industries maystill be seen among the inhabi-

tants, especially the making of enginesof war and SHIP-BUILDING. Nowthat the surrounding barbarians underthe dominion of the Romans are dailybecoming more civilized, and leave theoccupation of war for business oftowns and agriculture, there is nolonger the same attention paid to theseobjects by the people of Marseilles.The aspect of the city at the present dayis a proof of this. All who profess to bemen of taste turn to THE STUDY OFELOCUTION AND PHILOSOPHY.The city for some time back has be-come quite A SCHOOL FOR THEBARBARIANS, and has communi-cated to the Galatae such A TASTEFOR GREEK LITERATURE that theyeven draw contracts on the Greekmodel. Further, AT THE PRESENTDAY IT SO ENTICES THE NO-BLEST OF ROMANS THAT THOSEDESIROUS OF STUDYING RESORTTHITHER IN PREFERENCE TOATHENS. These, the Galatae observ-ing, and being at leisure on account ofpeace, READILY DEVOTE THEM-SELVES TO SIMILAR PURSUITS,and that not merely individuals but thepublic generally; PROFESSORS OF

Not long after Joseph arrived insouthern France, a British delegationarrived at Marseilles to greet him andextend an invitation for him to returnwith them to Britain. The delegationwas sent by King Arviragus --

THE ARTS AND SCIENCES, ANDLIKEWISE OF MEDICINE being em-ployed not only by private persons butby towns for common instruction.

We see here that Mar-seilles was not only a great ship-building and trading center, butalso a great center of learning,greater evidently than even thecity of Athens -- long known forits educational system! In fact,Marseilles was one of the FOURGREATEST CITIES OF CIVI-LIZATION during Roman times,competing with Ephesus, Athensand Rome as a center of com-merce and learning. "Speciallyconnected by race and religionwith the older civilization andlearning of the East, it yet stoodin the very van of Western pro-gress, and drank daily of thestrength and vitality of Romanspirit and power which ebbedand flowed as in a ceaselessstream through the very heart ofit" (The Coming of the Saints,p.114).

Great roads passedthrough Marseilles to the westand to the north -- the great west-ern road slicing through Nar-bonne into Spain, and the greatnorthern road leading throughArles, Vienne and Lyons to thenorth parts of Gaul and acrossthe sea to Britain. Both of theseroads were in constant use by ci-vilians and the Roman military.During the reigns of Claudiusand Nero, the Romans were en-gaged in a war with the British,and a continual stream of troopspassed along this road to andfrom Britain. Claudius himself,at the head of his troops, under-took a forced march from Rome

through Marseilles and along thegreat northern road to Britain.

Strabo also describes thecity of NARBONNE, anothercity important to the tin trade andsituated west of the River Rhone.Founded by the Romans in 118B.C. and their first colony be-yond the Alps, Narbonne was aleading port up until the 13thcentury when its harbor siltedup.

These descriptions by analmost contemporaneous authorgive us a graphic picture of thecivilization of Marseilles and theRhone valley during the time ofJoseph. This was no barbarouscountry -- some distant backwa-ter of the Empire! It was a richand prosperous region, full oflearning and education that ri-valed the great centers of the Ro-man Empire. This was the areathat received Joseph and hisrefugee companions as their boatput to shore after the tenuousvoyage from Palestine.

A great many local tradi-tions have been handed down inTHE MARSEILLES AREA re-garding the arrival and later ac-tivities of Joseph of Arimatheaand his little band of refugees.Ivor C. Fletcher notes that "it is aclear historical FACT thatSOUTHERN FRANCE was oneof the FIRST AREAS IN THEWEST to receive the gospelmessage."

One local tradition tellsof the boat without sails or oarsdrifting to the coast of Provenceand, after following the RIVERRHONE, arriving at the city of

A number of the RHONEVALLEY CHURCHES tracetheir origins back toLAZARUS and other of Jo-seph's companions in theboat....Tradition reveals thatLazarus inhabited the cata-combs under St. Victor...

ARLES. As we have alreadyseen in the Jewish Encyclope-dia, the first JEWISH SET-TLERS in the area are said tohave "come in a boat which hadbeen deserted by its captain."

In the Spanish town ofCIUDAD RODRIGO, we findanother version of the same leg-end. This simply states that MarySalome, Mary Cleopas, MaryMagdalene (the sister ofLazarus), Lazarus, Maximin,Chelidonius, Marcella andJOSEPH OF ARIMAT-HEA came toAQUITAINE GAUL andthere preached the gospelof the Kingdom of God,"as the histories of theGauls and the local tradi-tions plainly teach."

A number of the RHONEVALLEY CHURCHES tracetheir origins back to LAZARUSand other of Joseph's compan-ions in the boat. On the southside of the old harbor at Mar-seilles -- near the Fort St. Nico-las -- stands the CHURCH OFST. VICTOR, built in the 13thcentury and once attached to anabbey founded early in the 4thcentury. "With its lofty crenel-lated walls and square towersbuilt of large blocks of unce-mented stone, it resembles a for-tress" (Encyclopedia Britannica,1943 edition. P.965). TheChurch of St. Victor was con-structed above CRYPTS datingmainly from the 11th century.These crypts embody architec-ture of both the Carolingian pe-riod and THE EARLYCENTURIES OF THE CHRIS-TIAN ERA. Tradition reveals

that LAZARUS INHABITEDTHE CATACOMBS UNDERST. VICTOR, and many "mo-mentos" of his stay in Marseillescan still be seen.

Author J. W. Taylor vis-ited the Church of St. Victor inMarseilles, and relates what hesaw:

A door on the south side ofthe nave leads down to a subterraneanchurch, large and lofty, which datesfrom the fourth century. This was built

by the Cassianite monks, and from itsposition has been untouched and couldnot well be destroyed through all thecenturies since.

And all this vast fouth-centurychurch has been visibly built around ASTILL OLDER NATURAL CAVE ORGROTTO known as the ORIGINALFIRST-CENTURY CHURCH ORREFUGE OF ST. LAZARUS....

The great height of this under-ground abbey church, its darkness, itsstillness, the few scattered but perfectround pillars supporting the roof, andthe 'FIRST-CENTURY CHAPEL'which is enshrined by it, all combine toproduce a picture of early Christian lifeand architecture, striking andirresistible.

No explanation that I know ofhas been, OR CAN BE, offered otherthan that OFFERED BY TRADITION-- that here was the place whereLAZARUS OF BETHANY lived andpreached and ministered and died, andthat therefore within some two hundredor three hundred years afterwards thischurch was built in honour of HISMEMORY and to enshrine his bodywhich was then present here.

And all through the ages eversince this faith has been firmly held,

and lives as strong today as ever. If wecome back from the crypt or subterra-nean church into the (upper) church ofSt. Victor, at the west end of the nave,under the organ-loft, we find a life-sized STATUE OF ST.LAZARUS...and underneath the statuetwo pieces of stone REMOVEDFROM THE OLD SEPULCHRE ATBETHANY out of which our Saviourraised him. On the pediment of thestatue is this inscription:

'Divo Lazaroa Christo suscitato

qui Massiliensium primus Apostolus

hujus ecclesiae crytamministerio et passione

illustravit.

In memoriam missionisA.D. MDCCCXCVII grato animo parochus

fidelesqueS. Victoris dedicant.'

Faillon, in his MonumentsInedits (Paris, 1859 & 1865),summarizes Lazarus' journey toMarseilles and his preachingthere:

Tradition states that St.LAZARUS, after the ascension of Je-sus Christ, remained for a time in thecompany of the Apostles, with whomhe took charge of the Church whichwas at Jerusalem. After this he went tothe island of Cyprus in order to escapefrom the persecution which arose(about Stephen).

Having filled there for severalyears the office of a missionary priest,HE ENTERED INTO A SHIP, ANDTRAVERSED THE SEA, BY THEGRACE OF GOD ARRIVED ATMARSEILLES, the most celebratedtown of Provence. Here, exercising thefunctions of his priesthood, he servedGod, to whom he had entirely conse-crated his life, in righteousness andtrue holiness. He preached the word ofLife to those who had not yet receivedit, and gained many converts to JesusChrist. -- Vol. ii, p.114.

King Arviragus is recorded as havinggranted to Joseph and his followers,"twelve hides" of land, tax free, in"Yniswitrin," described as a marshy tract-- afterwards called the "Isle of Avalon."

The city of Marseillescontrolled irregular patches ofcoastline and towns all along theMediterranean coast. They wereunder the protection of Romeand generally lived in harmonywith the Roman government, buthad their own government andmanaged their own affairs asStrabo just described.

Above this area wasPROVINCIA or the NARBON-NAISE, which extended fromimmediately above Marseilles toas far as Vienne. This seems tohave been a Roman district, un-der direct control of the Romangovernment and especially colo-nized by Rome. In fact, it be-longed to Rome long before therest of Gaul was conquered, andwas known as PROVINCIAGALLICA all during this time ofconquest and for a long time af-terwards. The rest of the conti-nent above it was known asGAUL or GALLIA. Just over theborder in Gaul was LUG-DUNUM or LYONS -- the capi-tal of the Segusii who were atthis time also under Roman con-trol or supervision.

Probably here also ameasure of self-government wasallowed by the Romans. Wetherefore find, in the south ofFrance in the first and secondcenturies, THREE NOTABLEDISTRICTS AND GOVERN-MENTS: The Massilian inMARSEILLES, the Romans inPROVINCIA GALLICA, and inLugdunum or "LYONS of theGauls" a modified local govern-ment with Roman occupationand control.

To the middle district --or Provincia Gallica -- whichwas almost as Roman as Romewas, came another companion ofJoseph in the boat --TROPHIMUS.

Trophimus settled in thecity of ARLES, which was for-merly called ARELATE. Some54 miles northwest of Marseilles,Arles stands on the left bank ofthe Rhone where the river di-vides to form its delta. Arles wasan important city at the time ofJulius Caesar's invasion, andlater became the seat of the pre-fecture of the Gauls and one ofthe foremost cities in the westernempire. Today the city still con-tains some of the old Romanbuildings -- including an arenathat holds more than 25,000 peo-ple. "St. Trophimus is knownthere AS THE FIRST BISHOPOF THE CITY" (The Coming ofthe Saints, p.132).

Some stones, said to befrom the first-century meeting-place built by him, are stillstanding, and the later cathedral(originally dedicated to Stephen)was rededicated to the MEM-ORY OF TROPHIMUS whenhis body was removed here in1152. "The cathedral is stillcalled the cathedral of St. Tro-phime, and the TOMB OF ST.TROPHIMUS forms a font orbaptistry on the left side of thenave as you enter it" (Ibid.,p.132). His body was subse-quently moved to AUTUN.

Local traditions state thathe came from the East, was ofGreek nationality and the per-sonal friend of Paul and Peter.

Martial, accompanied byhis father and mother (Mar-cellus and Elizabeth), Zac-cheus (the publican of thegospels) and JOSEPH arerepresented as arriving at LI-MOGES in the first century.

One tradition claims that Paulvisited him on one of his mis-sionary journeys, and the house(or the site of the house) inwhich they met is known todayas "La maison des Saints." Ac-cording to George F. Jowett,"Trophimus was sent to Gaul byJoseph [of Arimathea]...He wasconsecrated the first bishop ofArles and there performed anoutstanding service...His Christi-anizing endeavours embraced alarge area which formed theDISTRICT OF NAR-BONNE. He became thefirst Metropolitan of theNarbonne, with Arles ashis Bishopric. For centu-ries it continued to be aprominent stronghold ofthe Christian faith inGaul" (The Drama of theLost Disciples, p.165).

MAXIMIN'SPRESENCE in the southof France is remembered by thelittle town named after him --ST. MAXIMIN. Thirty to fortymiles from Marseilles by train,the village sits in an extensive,cultivated plain full of vineyardsand olive gardens. The plain it-self is surrounded on almostevery side by distant high moun-tains or hill ranges. In the centerof this fruitful plain is what ap-pears to be one vast toweringstructure -- the big white churchof St. Maximin. From the dis-tance the adjoining town ishardly visible, and one seesnothing else but the church untilentering St Maximin itself, whenthe church disappears from view.

The village itself is aquiet, semi-Eastern-looking

town, with high white housesand a small central "Place" orplaza. The plaza contains a foun-tain and four sets of trees to forma promenade. On one side of theplaza a lane leads up to thechurch. Here, and in the sur-rounding countryside, the MEM-ORY OF MAXIMIN is thestrongest.

With regard to another ofJoseph's companions, SI-DONIUS or RESTITUTUS (the

man or boy born blind), we aretold in a PROVENCAL TRADI-TION that he accompanied theBethany family to Provence. Butof his life after arriving in south-ern France, we have two differ-ent traditions. One states that hewas the same as CHELIDONIUSand worked with Maximin, afterwhose death he took charge ofthe Church of God at AIX. Theother tradition identifies his his-tory with the little VILLAGE OFST. RESTITUT and the moreimportant old town of St. PaulTrois Chateaux (the old Romancolony of Augusta Tricastino-rum), of which church he is saidto have been the leader andfounder.

The Church of "St. Resti-tut" is said to have formerly

contained his relics. NotesAugustus J. C. Hare, "its westbay, which has the appearance ofa tower, is surmounted by a cu-pola and contains two storeys. Inits lower storey (is) the TOMBOF ST. RESTITUT" (South-Eastern France, London, 1890).

MARTIAL, accompaniedby his father and mother (Mar-cellus and Elizabeth), Zaccheus(the publican of the gospels) andJOSEPH are represented as ar-

riving at LIMOGES inthe first century. Martialremained at Limoges (theancient Lemovices andAugustoritum) and oldAquitaine legends, goingback at least as far as the10th century, say he wasthe FIRST missionaryapostle of Limoges(Fastes Episcop, vol.ii,p.104).

The other Christians whoaccompanied Joseph in the littleboat, also left their imprint in thetraditions of southern France.Rabanus states that EUTROPIUS"was the first Bishop ofAquitaine" and preached at OR-ANGE (Aurasicum) andSAINTES (Sanctonas), whereasSATURN- INUS preached atTOULOUSE (Tolosam) wherehe was killed by a mob whothrew him down from thecapitol.

On to Avalon!

While there are STRONGTRADITIONS surrounding thecompanions of Joseph in south-ern France, the traditions of Jo-seph himself having resided here

About this time, even the JEWS OFCORNWALL accepted the Truth of God!Records show that Kelvius, son of Solo-mon, DUKE OF CORNWALL, not onlyaccepted Christianity but became a min-ister; and a man by the name of Moses --said to be British, but presumably ofsome HEBREW relationship -- becamean APOSTLE TO THE "SARACENS"!

are nonexistent! As we haveseen, the legends of Provenceshow that Joseph came to Mar-seilles and the Rhone Valley asone member of the group that ar-rived in the disabled boat. How-ever, the evidence seems toindicate that he simply passedthrough this region to anotherdestination. We find faint tracesof him at LIMOGES (in com-pany with Martial) and at ROC-AMADOUR, the traditionaldwelling-place of Zaccheus, whois said to have journeyed WITHJOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA andMartial as far as this town, "andto have stayed here because ofits resemblance to his old homein Palestine" (The Coming of theSaints, p.203).

In summary we find:

1/. At Marseilles and Ste.Baume we find cave churches ordwelling-places of the earlyChristians, held as such sincetime immemorial and identifiedwith Lazarus and one of the Ma-ries. Joseph of Arimathea is saidto have come with them ANDPASSED ON (Local traditionand Life of Rabanus).

2/. At Limoges and Rocama-dour we find a similar cave-shelter and the traditional com-ing of Jewish missionaries in thefirst century, on of whom is Jo-seph of Arimathea. Zaccheus andMartial remain, while JOSEPHPASSES ON (Tradition).

3/. At Morlaix a disciple ofJoseph -- Drennalus -- is said tohave preached in 72 A. D.Again, at Fecamp (along thecoast from Morlaix) we find the

legend of the washing ashore ofthe trunk of a fig-tree belongingto Joseph of Arimathea. Thename (Ficus Campus) Fecamp isbelieved to have arisen from thislegend. (Tradition and North-Western France, by AugustusHare. George Allen, 1895).

4/. In Cornwall we find tra-ditions of Joseph arriving in aboat with a young Jesus. HEPASSES ON (tradition).

So WHERE did Josephgo -- WHERE did he finally stopand do the Work of God?

Researcher GeorgeJowett notes:

How many of the discipleswere with him [JOSEPH] during HISSHORT STAY IN GAUL it is difficultto say. It is amazing how nonchalantlythe records deal with this importantmatter. Various existing records agreein part with the Baronius record [An-nales Ecclesiastici, vol. I, p.327], nam-ing among the occupants of thecastaway boat Mary Magdalene, Mar-tha, the handmaiden Marcella, Lazaruswhom Jesus raised from the dead, andMaximin the man whose sight Jesus re-stored. Then non-committally the re-port read, 'AND OTHERS.' -- TheDrama of the Lost Disciples, p.63.

A number of records statethat PHILIP (one of the 12 disci-ples) was included in the phrase"and others." There is a wealthof uncontested testimony prov-ing that Philip went to Gaulwhere he received Joseph whenhe arrived at Marseilles, and AP-POINTED HIM APOSTLE TOBRITAIN! It is well known thata great number of converts hadleft Palestine during the Saulianpersecution -- very probably on

Legend relates that afterreaching the coast of Brit-tany, Joseph and his elevenfellow-travelers sailed fromMorlaix to FALMOUTH inEngland. From here theycontinued on to Cornwall.

ships belonging to Joseph. Philipwas one of them.

Not long after Joseph'sarrival in southern France, aBritish delegation arrived atMarseilles to greet him and ex-tend an invitation for him to re-turn with them to Britain. Thedelegation was sent by KINGARVIRAGUS and, throughthem, he offered Joseph lands, asafe haven and protection againstRoman persecution. "Arviraguswas prince of the nobleSILURES OF BRITAIN,in the Dukedom of Corn-wall. He was the son ofKing Cunobelinus, THECYMBELINE OFSHAKESPEARE FAME,and cousin to the re-nowned British warrior-patriot,CARADOC, whom the Romansnamed CARACTACUS. To-gether they represented theROYAL SILURIAN DY-NASTY, the most powerful war-rior kingdom in Britain, FROMWHOM THE TUDOR KINGSAND QUEENS OF ENGLANDHAD THEIR DESCENT" (TheDrama of the Lost Disciples,p.68).

Joseph gladly acceptedthe British invitation and madeready to embark for Britain witha specially chosen group of com-panions. Philip, it is reported,consecrated Joseph in the year36, and from then on Joseph ofArimathea became known as"THE APOSTLE TOBRITAIN."

Without a doubt Josephwas attracted to the Sacred Isleof AVALON for reasons other

than the opportunity to preachthe gospel to the people of Brit-ain. Evidently ARVIRAGUSAND JOSEPH WERE WELLKNOWN TO EACH OTHERprior to the delegation's invita-tion, and this is quite believablewhen we realize Joseph morethan likely acquired manyfriends in the south of Britainduring the years he looked afterhis mining interests in Corn- walland Somerset.

After leaving their friendsbehind in the Rhone Valley, Jo-seph and his new group of com-panions -- twelve in all -- headedalong the great northern road tothe north coast of France. Wecan retrace their journey step bystep. From the city of Marseillesup the Rhone River as far as Ar-les or farther; then a journey ofthirty days across Gaul, throughthe country of the Lemovices tothe seacoast of Brittany; thestopover at Limoges; the arrivalin Brittany at either Vannes orMorlaix and, finally, four days'sailing across the English Chan-nel to Cornwall. Legend relatesthat after reaching the coast ofBrittany, Joseph and his elevenfellow-travelers sailed fromMorlaix to FALMOUTH in Eng-land. From here they continuedon to Cornwall.

If we turn to the poemMort d'Arthur, we find

mentioned that Joseph, his sonJosephes and the rest of thegroup arrived at a place called"SARRAS." In book xiii, cap.10the narrative goes on to say thatthe "SARACENS" (of Sarras)under King Tolleme la Feinteswere fighting against the Britonsunder King Evelake. EvidentlyKing Evelake was a local leaderbelonging to one of the prov-inces of Britain, and the Saracen(Tolleme) "which was...a richking and a mighty [one]," is re-

lated as marching to meethim, and the encounterseems to have taken placeon the British side of theChannel. "Moreover --and this is of further in-terest -- King Tolleme the'Saracen' is said to have

been the 'cousin of King Eve-lake, so that although they wereat war with each other and ap-parently of different nationality,ties of marriage had taken placebetween the 'Saracens' and theancestors of King Evelake" (TheComing of the Saints,pp.149-150).

Are not these "SARA-CENS" under the leadership ofthe wealthy King Tolleme noneother than the JEWISH TINWORKERS of Cornwall? Wehave already seen that the Jewsof Cornwall "appear to havecalled themselves or were calledby the Britons of Cornwall'SARACENS.'"

The narrative in the poemgoes on to say that the "Sara-cens" turned a deaf ear to themessage of Joseph and his com-panions, however King Evelakeand the Britons were kindly

Therefore, as a thorough search ofthe ancient records shows, it was JO-SEPH OF ARIMATHEA -- not Jere-miah -- who planted the Davidic line ofPharez in the British Isles!

disposed towards him and weremore or less won over by theteaching of Joseph and his son.Isn't that interesting?

From Cornwall two tradi-tional routes are found in the leg-ends of Glastonbury tracingJoseph and his group to their fi-nal destination. One tradition hasthe little group traveling OVER-LAND from Cornwall to Avalonwhile, according to theother legend, "the refugeessailed around the southerntip of England, passingwhat is today known as'Land's End.' Then follow-ing the west coast, theysailed northward to theSevern Sea. From therethey entered the estuariesof the rivers Parrot andBrue. Following the RiverBrue eastward, they ar-rived at a little cluster ofislands about twelve milesinland from the coast, JO-SEPH'S DESTINATIONWAS THE ISLE OF AVALON,suitable as a quiet retreat...[and]a place they knew had alreadybeen hallowed by the presenceof their Master [Christ]" (TheTraditions of Glastonbury,pp.38-39).

The Royal Welcome

When Joseph and hiscompanions arrived at Avalon,they were met by King Guideriusand his brother ARVIRAGUS --who was a king of the royalSilures of Britain. As we haveseen, Joseph and Arviragus wereold friends and, as a result of thisfriendship, the king gave Joseph

and his companions TWELVEHIDES OF LAND -- a hide foreach disciple. Since each hiderepresented 160 acres, the sumtotal of the grant was 1,920acres. It is an interesting fact thatin the last century, when theUnited States of America wasexpanding westward, grants of land were given to settlers -- 160acres per person or family!

E. Raymond Capt writesabout this grant of land to therefugees from the East:

King Arviragus is recorded ashaving granted to Joseph and his fol-lowers, "twelve hides" of land, tax free,in "Yniswitrin," described as a marshytract -- afterwards called the "Isle ofAvalon." Confirmation of this RoyalCharter is found in the officialDOMESDAY BOOK of Britain (A.D.1086) which states: "The Domus Dei,in the great monastery of Glastonbury,called the Secret of the Lord. ThisGlastonbury Church possesses, in itsown villa XII hides of land which havenever paid tax." (Domesday Survey fo-lio p.249b.) This notable act of theKing gave the recipients many British

concessions, including the right of citi-zenship with its privileges of freedomto pass unmolested from one district toanother in time of war. [This "right"proved invaluable in the later preach-ing of the gospel to the British.] Thegrant was given to them as "Judeanrefugees." (Quidam advanae -- 'certainstrangers' -- old Latin. In Later Latin,"Culdich" or Anglicised, "Culdees.") --The Traditions of Glastonbury, p.41.

At first, according to Wil-liam of Malmsebury,Arviragus and his subjectswere not receptive to theGospel message preachedby Joseph and hiscompanions:

In the year of ourLord, 63 [actually, it was ear-lier], twelve holy missionaries,with Joseph of Arimathea (whohad buried the Lord) at theirhead, came over to Britain,preaching the Incarnation of Je-sus Christ. THE KING OFTHE COUNTRY AND HISSUBJECTS REFUSED TOBECOME PROSELYTES TOTHEIR TEACHING, but inconsideration that they had

come a long journey, and being some-what pleased with their soberness oflife and unexceptional behaviour, theking, at their petition, gave them fortheir habitation a certain island border-ing on this region, covered with treesand bramble bushes and surrounded bymarshes, called Ynis-wytrin. -- Written1126 A.D. from "the writings of theancients" which he found at Glaston-bury Abbey.

Afterwards, however,Arviragus must have becomeconverted because Hardynge'sChronicle (a fifteenth-centurywriting based upon much earlierworks) gives the following pas-sage about Joseph andArviragus:

Joseph's Sarcophagus at Glastonbury

Joseph converted this KingArviragusBy his prechying to know yelaws divineAnd baptisted him as writehath NenniusThe chronicler in Britain ton-que full fyneAnd to Christian laws madehim inclyne.

With the gift of thetwelve hides of land came thePROTECTION Arviragus of-fered against intrusion bythe legions of Rome. Dur-ing the middle of the first-century A.D. the country-side on both sides of theSevern was held by theBritish in comparative se-curity, being OUTSIDE the mainlines of Roman conquest.

It is a remarkable factthat despite the bitter determina-tion of the Roman Empire to per-secute, uproot and destroyeverything that was Christian inBritain -- despite the pillagingand burning of monasteries,churches and libraries by Ro-man, Saxon, Dane and Norman-- not once was the sanctity ofAvalon defiled. These are thelands which Roman writers re-ferred to as "territory inaccessi-ble to the Roman where Christ istaught."

Behind the wall of pro-tection formed by Arviragus andhis Silurian warriors Joseph, andthe disciples of Christ who fre-quently visited the area, weresafe from harm, and free topreach and teach the Kingdom ofGod to the local inhabitants.

After they received titleto the land, the little band builthomes for themselves out of wat-tle and daub -- following thepractice of the Celts who inhab-ited the area. The abbey records,quoted by William Malmsebury,show that Joseph and his com-panions also built a meeting-place: "These holy men built achapel of the form that had beenshown them. The walls were ofosiers wattled together." Fromresearch undertaken by the late

F. Bligh Bond, F.R.I.B.A. (mem-ber of the Somerset Archaeologi-cal Society and formerly directorof excavations at GlastonburyAbbey) this meeting-place con-structed by Joseph and his menwas circular, having a diameterof 25 feet, with the twelve hutsof Joseph and his companionsforming a circle around it. Allthe buildings were evidently en-closed in a circular stockade tokeep out wild animals. The cen-ter building, or the meeting-place, may have incorporated orcovered the earlier structure builtby Christ when He was atGlastonbury.

Although Malmseburydescribes the wattle meeting-place as "rude and misshapen,"its wall was without a doubt builtin the custom of the day -- tim-bered pillars and framework,doubly wattled inside and out.The roof was thatched withreeds. as author Capt notes,

"often painted or washed withlime, these wattle buildings with-stood the most severe weather."Even castles of the day werebuilt of the same material. Gi-raldus Cambrensis, speaking ofPembroke Castle wrote: "Arnul-phus de Montgomery, in thedays of Henry I (A.D.1068-1135) built a small castleof twigs and slight turf." Accord-ing to Ovid in Faesti ad FestRoma, the primitive Capital ofRome was of similar

construction.

Spreading the Gospel

This little settle-ment on the Isle ofAvalon soon became the

center of a missionary effort thatspread throughout the land andacross the English Channel intoEurope. Joseph wasted no timein proclaiming the good news ofthe Kingdom of God to all whowould listen.

In examining the early re-cords there does not appear tohave been any national or gen-eral acceptance of God's Truth inBritain for over a hundred yearsafter Joseph arrived -- althoughthe gospel was preached in for-eign countries by MANSUE-TUS, BEATUS andMARCELLUS during the inter-vening century. Mansuetus (alsoknown as St. Mansuy), an Irishor Caledonian Briton, becamefounder of a Church of God atToul in Lorraine, and his death isplaced at 89 A.D. This is con-firmed by a second-centuryChristian sarcophagus discov-ered at Malaincourt in Lorraine,which bears an inscription

No apostle, not even Paul, led a lifemore filled with high purpose, enterpriseand achievement than did Joseph the un-cle of Christ!

indicating that it was the tomb ofone of Mansuetus' friends whoaccompanied him from Britain(Acta Sanctorum, Supplement,vol. i, pp.313, 343, 349).

Suetonius Beatus is saidby the old records to have beenconverted in Britain, baptized byBarnabas, a companion of Aris-tobulus, and to have afterwardsbecome the Apostle of the Hel-vetians (Swiss). He died at Un-der Seven in Helvetia, 110 A.D.This is validated by local tradi-tions and the cave of Beatus onthe borders of Lake Thun. Bea-tus is remembered in the area asa British missionary, and the siteof his first meeting-place is stillshown. The district around Inter-laken, "Unterseen" and Beaten-berg is full of old traditions re-garding him.

Marcellus, the first Brit-ish martyr, founded churches atTongres and Triers, and is said tohave been martyred in 166 A.D.

These three men are re-membered as BRITISH MIS-SIONARIES, and it is difficult tobelieve that they would havewandered about on the other sideof the Channel preaching thegospel if their own country hadmeanwhile remained ignorant ofthe Truth. There is little doubtthat the British historian Gildaswas right in picturing the Britonsas very slow in receiving theTruth -- even though it wasbrought to them in the very earli-est years. And those in whom thegospel message took root in thearea of Glastonbury, naturallyturned to those who were readyto receive their message, even at

the cost of long journeys to dis-tant cities and to far countries.

The Vetusta Ecclesia ofGlastonbury remained as a wit-ness for the Truth of God; but itwas not until the year of thegreat persecution at Lyons andVienne in Gaul (177 A.D.) thatwe find any indication of a wide-spread Christianity in Britain.

It appears that it was to-ward the end of the second cen-tury that God's Truth received itsmain impetus, and that up to thattime its progress had been slow."From the writings that havecome down to us it may reasona-bly be gathered that FEW CON-VERTS were made by theoriginal missionaries, but thattheir holy lives (and possibly de-scendants) had kept the memoryof their religion green and fra-grant, and that the Church ofGlastonbury still remained amonument of their devotion"(The Coming of the Saints, p.160).

From this time forwardthe Church of God in Britainmust have grown rapidly, for atthe end of the third century andthe beginning of the next(300-305), when the great DIO-CLETION PERSECUTION hadbegun, a GREAT NUMBER ofBritish Christians (according toGildas) suffered for the Truth --among them Alban, Anphibalus,Julius, Aaron, Stephanus andSocrates.

About this time, even theJEWS OF CORNWALL ac-cepted the Truth of God! Re-cords show that Kelvius, son of

Fifty-two years after Jo-seph had tenderly placed thebody of his nephew Jesus intohis own personal tomb, thisintrepid man of God passedinto history on July 27, 82A.D.

Solomon, DUKE OF CORN-WALL, not only accepted Chris-tianity but became a minister;and a man by the name of Moses-- said to be British, but pre-sumably of some HEBREW rela-tionship -- became an APOSTLETO THE "SARACENS"!

Entering His Rest

No apostle, not evenPaul, led a life more filled withhigh purpose, enterprise andachievement than did Jo-seph the uncle of Christ!In spite of the many sor-rows that had darkened hislife, Joseph's personal tri-umphs in spreading theteachings of Christ, fromAvalon to the far reachesof the British Isles andacross the Channel into Europe,far outweighed the tragedies hehad shared and witnessed. Hesaw his British friends meet andshatter the legions of Rome --pushing back all that Romecould muster. During these yearsin which the soil of Britain be-came saturated with the blood offriend and foe alike, not once didthe foot of a Roman soldierpenetrate the protective line ofBritish warriors that guarded thesecrets of Avalon. This incredi-ble defense was carried out un-der the dual leadership of thePendragon Caradoc (Caractacus)and King Arviragus.

Joseph witnessed theBritish defeat at Brandon and thetreacherous betrayal of Carac-tacus into captivity with all hisroyal family, followed by theRoman pardon of the Britishking. He saw the slaughter of the

defenseless and the atrociousmassacre at Menai -- which ledto the revolt of the British QueenBoadicea and the torching of Ro-man London, Colchester and St.Albans with over 80,000 Romandeaths. "Through it all there wasa continuous flow of convertsaflame with the fire of the Gos-pel, spreading from Avalon intothe land and camp of the enemy,valorously defiant. The martyr-dom of Aristobulus and SimonZelotes in Britain must have

wrung his heart, but the...missionof St. Paul in Wales with theroyal British must have soaredhis stalwart heart" (The Dramaof the Lost Disciples, pp.228-229).

Joseph lived to see all butone of the original apostles ofChrist go to their rest. James, thebrother of John, had been put tothe sword by Herod in 64 A.D.And James, the brother of Jesus,was hurled down from a pinnacleof the Temple to his death in 62A.D. Only John outlived Joseph.Evidently, he was one of thevery few apostles and disciplesof Christ to die a natural death atthe advanced old age of 101.

Fifty-two years after Jo-seph had tenderly placed thebody of his nephew Jesus intohis own personal tomb, this in-trepid man of God passed into

history on JULY 27, 82 A.D.Loving hands and heavy heartslaid Joseph to rest among theChristian company that had pre-ceded him -- near to the littlewattle meeting-place which heand his companions had builtover forty years before whenthey arrived on British soil.

Cressy, in his ChurchHistory of Brittany, wrote: "Jo-seph was buried near the littlewattle church he built." Melchin,

who wrote circa 560A.D., recorded: "Thedisciples...died in succes-sion and were buried inthe cemetery [on the Isleof Avalon]. Amongthem, Joseph of Mar-more, named of Arimat-hea, receives perpetual

sleep, and he lies in linea bifur-cata near the south corner of theoratorio, which is built of hurdles[wattles]" (Quoted by John ofGlastonbury).

According to George F.Jowett, on the stone lid of thesarcophagus in which his boneswere later buried, under the ini-tials of Joseph of Arimathea, areinscribed these immortal words:"Ad Brittanos veni post ChristumSepelivi. Docui. Quievi." (To theBritons I came after I buried theChrist. I taught, I have enteredmy rest.) "In these few simplewords are contained more trag-edy, romance, and drama than inany other inscription ever writ-ten; words so characteristic of allthe faithful Apostles of Christ,seeking no self-justification,merely a simple record of a dutyperformed" (Ibid., p. 229).

The remains of Joseph of Arimathealay undisturbed until 1345 A.D. Duringthis year one John Bloom of London wasgiven permission by King Edward III todig for the body of Joseph....[he] locatedand recovered the remains of Joseph.

Maelgwyn of Avalon --writing about 450 A.D. -- de-scribes the place of burial inthese words:

Joseph of Arimathea, the NO-BLE DECURION, received his ever-lasting rest with his eleven associatesin the Isle of Avalon. He lies in thesouthern angle of the bifurcated line ofthe Oratorium of the Adorable Virgin.

Long before the era ofMaelgwyn, a magnificent abbeyhad been constructed over theoriginal site -- enclosing the wat-tle house of Christ in lead for itspreservation, along with relics ofChristians past. All the early andlater authorities, such as John ofTeignmouth, Leland, Hearne andMorgan, refer to the SAMERESTING PLACE of Joseph ascited by Maelgwyn; and seldomdo they fail to quote the inscrip-tion as it appeared on Joseph'stomb.

The erudite ArchbishopUssher refers to William ofMalmesbury as "our chief histo-rian." Leland and others callWilliam "an elegant, learned,and faithful historian." Williamlived in the famous GlastonburyAbbey on two different occa-sions in order to complete hisoutstanding manuscript. At thattime, before the great fire of1184, all the ancient records andmanuscripts were in existenceand at his disposal. He alsoCONFIRMS the time and placeof Joseph's death and burial.

Archbishop Ussher, him-self a historian of great repute,writes in his carefully detailedwork of "St. Joseph's burial inthe bifurcated line next to the

corner of St. Mary's Chapel andof the silver and white cruetscontaining the sweat and bloodof Christ buried with him."

The remains of Joseph ofArimathea lay undisturbed until1345 A.D. During this year oneJOHN BLOOM of London wasgiven permission by King Ed-ward III to dig for the body ofJoseph -- provided he first re-ceive the consent of the Abbotand the monks of Glastonbury.When this was duly granted,John Bloom located and RE-COVERED THE REMAINS ofJoseph. R. de Boston, a monk inthe Lincolnshire Monastery, sim-ply recorded: "The bodies of Jo-seph of Arimathea and hiscompanions were found inGlastonbury."

Archbishop Ussher, in hisbook, provides a copy of the li-cense, copied from the royal ar-chives in the Tower of London,given by Edward III in 1345, toJohn Bloom of London, with theright to excavate the body of Jo-seph underneath the enclosure ofthe monastery. Ussher also re-cords that the body of Josephwas found exactly where all hadstated it rested. The license wassigned by King Edward on June8, 1345. Ussher also quotes fromthe "Record of the burial of St.Joseph and his companions,"from The Great Register of theMonks of Glaston.

Another reference to thetomb of Joseph of Arimathea atGlastonbury is presented by Li-onel Smithett Lewis, who spentmost of his 86 years searchingthe archives for information

The line of PHAREZ, towhich Joseph belonged asuncle of Christ, was TRANS-FERRED TO BRITAIN (inhis own person) -- which wasalready long the home of theline of ZARAH! At a laterdate, the TWO LINESMERGED, thus healing thebreach.

about Joseph at Avalon. Hewrites:

The body of St. Joseph, whoseburial at the wattle church of St. Marywas recorded by Maelgwyn of Avalon,writing about A.D. 450, lay undis-turbed till the year 1345, when EdwardIII gave his licence to John Bloom ofLondon to dig for the body if the Ab-bot and monks permitted, and just asthe discovery of the bones of King Ar-thur at Glastonbury in 1190 were re-corded in far-away Essex by the monkRalph de Coggeshall, so in a far-awaymonastery in 1367 we find a monk re-cording that "the bodies of Joseph ofArimathea and his companions werefound at Glastonbury."

The remains of St. Josephwere put in a silver casket which couldbe raised at will from a stone sarcopha-gus, the base of a shrine to which thefrequent pilgrimage was made. Thisstone altar tomb, the base of the shrine,like the Holy Thorn, survived theReformation.

Lewis continues:

Holinshed, in his "Chronicle,"A.D. 1577, speaks of St. Joseph's sep-ulchre as being still at Glastonbury,and the learned John Ray in his "Itiner-ary" records that on June 2, 1662, "Wesaw Joseph of Arimathea's tomb andchapel at the end of the church." As wehave seen, the Holy Thorn was cutdown in the Great Rebellion. The after-math of the same period saw the altartomb of St. Joseph leave its shrine.During the Commonwealth a Noncon-formist divine was put in as incumbentof the Parish Church. In 1662 this in-terloper was turned out and a Church-man instituted. It was that very sameyear, in which by God's ProvidenceJohn Ray came to Glastonbury and sawthe tomb in the ruined chapel. Later inthe year, tradition says, from fear ofPuritanical fanaticism like that whichdestroyed the Holy Thorn, silently,hastily at night, the altar tomb was re-moved from the ruined shrine in St.Mary's Chapel at the Abbey, andplaced in the churchyard of the ParishChurch for protection outside of the

East end of St. Mary's Chapel in thatChurch. There it remained till theAUTUMN OF 1928, when lovinghands brought it reverently into theChurch, and placed it in the ancient St.Katherine's Chapel, the North Transept.

Moreover, there is a plinth in-side to receive the silver ark with theSaint's remains. A glass top was put onthe tomb that all generations might seewhat was found. -- Glastonbury, theMother of Saints.

It was Lewis himself whodiscovered Joseph's Altar Tombthat had been buried in thechurchyard for some 266 years.One autumn day (in 1928), whilewalking by the ancient cemetery,Mr. Lewis stubbed his toe on astone object protruding from theground -- evidently lifted out ofthe ground by frost. Upon exca-vation, the stone object turnedout to be Joseph's long lost tomb.

Today the stone sar-cophagus shows evidence ofhaving been wrenched from itsoriginal resting place -- the workevidently being done by somestrong metal lever or bar. Ac-cording to E. Raymond Capt,"the silver casket (containing thebones of St. Joseph) allegedly re-posing in the tomb are missing.However, the sarcophagus con-tains a "plinth" or base, whichwould have held such a casket"(Traditions of Glastonbury,p.94).

The Line of Pharez in Britain

Although Joseph and hiscompanions did not see anygreat number of people con-verted to the Truth of God dur-ing their years in Britain, God'sMAIN PURPOSE for leading Jo-seph to the Isle of Avalon was

accomplished! THE LINE OFPHAREZ, to which Joseph be-longed as uncle of Christ, wasTRANSFERRED TO BRITAIN(in his own person) -- which wasalready long the home of the lineof Zarah! At a later date, theTWO LINES MERGED, thushealing the breach.

Brutus, descended fromthe Trojans of Troy -- who inturn were descended from Zarah-- arrived in Britain in approxi-mately 1100 B.C. His line,strengthened over the centuriesby the invading Saxons and Nor-mans, and eventually mergingwith the Milesian branch of theline of Zarah in Ireland, hasruled the British Isles ever sincewithout any major interruption.

During the time of KingZedekiah of Judah, it is claimedthat Jeremiah the Prophetbrought a daughter of Zedekiahto Ireland -- where she suppos-edly married into the line ofZarah. However, there is NORECORD whatsoever in the an-cient annals of Ireland, Scotland,Wales or England that makesmention of this ever occurring!

Various groups, includ-ing the British-Israelites and anumber of the Churches of God,still cling to this erroneous tradi-tion, completely OVERLOOK-ING the role Joseph ofArimathea played when he ar-rived in Britain during the firstcentury of our era. That Josephwas met by a reigning king ofthe Zarah line when he steppedashore in Britain should tell ussomething right there! God wasdirecting the affairs of His

people Israel in the islands of thesea, to bring about the healing ofthe breach and the fulfillment ofGenesis 49:10, which says: "Thescepter shall not depart from Ju-dah, nor a lawgiver from be-tween his feet, until Shilohcomes..."

Centuries earlier, KingDavid of Israel visited Irelandand established his throne thereunder the Irish name of OllamhFodhla. However his line, after137 years, apparently came to anabrupt close when a rival royalhouse of the line of Zarah tookthe throne by force. As far as

history and tradition is con-cerned, the line of Pharez in Ire-land disappeared with Oilioll --the last king of David's line(934-918 B.C.).

Therefore, as a thoroughsearch of the ancient recordsshows, it was JOSEPH -- notJeremiah -- who planted theDavidic line of Pharez in theBritish Isles! Centuries later, inthe time of the famous King Ar-thur of the Round Table, THETWO LINES MERGED ANDTHE BREACH WAS HEALED!!

The story of Joseph ofArimathea, filled with adventure,drama, tragedy and immensecourage, has long been over-looked by the Churches of God.This fearless man of God right-fully belongs at the leading edgeof the missionary effort to spreadthe Word of God to all nations.He stands shoulder-to-shoulderwith Paul, Peter and the otherswho left their indelible footprintsin the far reaches of the RomanEmpire and beyond.

For your articles, or a subscription to Prophecy Flash magazine, write to:Triumph Prophetic Ministries (Church of God)

Box 292Altadena, California 91003, U.S.A.

WHO WILL BE THE "BRAND" PLUCKED FROM THE FIRE?

In the book of Zechariah we read about Joshua the high priest ex-changing his filthy garments for "rich robes" and a "clean turban."What significance does this action have? The same man is referred toas a "brand plucked from the fire" -- what does this mean? The keys tothe answers are found in the last book of the Bible -- the book ofRevelation!

JACOB AND THE PILLAR-CRYPTS OF CRETE!

The religious customs of Minoan Crete have long posed questions inthe minds of archaeologists and historians. What purpose did the myste-rious standing pillars, found in underground crypts, serve? WHY werethe ancient Minoans so preoccupied by the BULL and the symbolismassociated with it? Were the religious practices of Crete influenced bythose of Egypt and, if so, HOW did this come about? A study of historyand the ancient genealogical records reveal a close link between Egyptand Crete -- a link that served as a stepping-stone to the civilizations ofAtlantis and Mycenaean Greece!

JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA - Hope of Israel Ministries · exciting than that of the drama of Joseph of...

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Transcript of JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA - Hope of Israel Ministries · exciting than that of the drama of Joseph of...