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