Subject: APOLLONIUS 4 THE REAL CHRIST

Apollonius the Nazarene
Part 4:
Events in the life of Apollonius of Tyana
Birth and Youth of Apollonius
as recorded in "The Life of Apollonius of Tyana" by his biographer, Philo=
stratus

By: Dr. R. W. Bernard, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.

=A0

When the three magi of Chaldea were approaching Bethlehem, according to l=
egend on the night when the famous star was supposed to have appeared on =
the eastern horizon, a child was born in the little town of Tyana, in Cap=
padocia, who was destined to alter the course of human history for two th=
ousand years -- even though, as the Delphic Oracle predicted, after his p=
assing, his name was calumniated, and a fictitious substitute put in his =
place. =


The country people said that he was the son of Zeus; others called him a =
son of Apollo; while still others considered him as an incarnation of Pro=
teus, the God of Wisdom, who, prior to his birth, appeared to his mother =
and told her that she would bear a child who would be an incarnation of h=
imself. =


Apollonius was born in the year 4 B.C., the acknowledged year of the birt=
h of Christ. His birth, like his conception, was miraculous. Just before =
his nativity, his mother was walking in a meadow, where she lay down on t=
he grass and went to sleep. Some wild swans, at the end of a long flight =
approached her and by their cries and the beating of their wings, awakene=
d her so suddenly that her child was born before its time. The swans, app=
arently, had foreseen and marked by their presence the fact that on that =
day was to be born a being whose soul would be as white as their own plum=
age and who, like them, would be a glorious wanderer. =


Apollonius was born with three gifts, the gift of intelligence, the gift =
of beauty and the gift of wealth. His father was one of the richest men o=
f the province, so that his childhood was spent in luxury. The renown of =
his intelligence and beauty grew so great that the phrase, "Whither goest=
 thou? To see the stripling?" became proverbial in Cappadocia. =


When he was fourteen years of age, his father sent him to Tarsus to compl=
ete his education, which was previously conducted at home by private tuto=
rs. Tarsus was a town of pleasure as well as study and life there was sof=
t and luxurious for a rich young man. On the banks of the Cydnus, along a=
venues bordered by orange trees, students of philosophy gathered to discu=
ss the theories of Pythagoras and Plato with young women in colored tunic=
s slashed to the hip, wearing Egyptian high triangular combs in their hai=
r. The climate was hot, morals free and love easy, but the youthful Apoll=
onius was not carried away, manifesting at this young age the same inviol=
ate chastity which he continued to preserve throughout his long life of o=
ver a century, in spite of the fact that he was one of the handsomest men=
 of his age. =


As early as his fourteenth year, Apollonius recognized the existence of t=
wo divergent paths, one leading to a life of pleasure and love, and the o=
ther to philosophy and wisdom; and he chose the latter.* =


(*Shirley says that Apollonius "chose the path of sanctity at a time of l=
ife when others chose the primrose path of dalliance...The world holds no=
 record of a long life lived more nobly, of a more undaunted courage in c=
onfronting the tyrant, of a more unflinching tenacity of purpose, of a mo=
re single-minded devotion to a high ideal." While himself living an ascet=
ic life, ApoIIonius sought to make Venus the goddess of pure love, free f=
rom carnal lust, rather than to destroy her statue altogether, as the lat=
er Christians did.) =


He then decided to lead the Pythagorean life. When his teacher of Pythago=
rean philosophy, Euxenes, asked him how he would begin his new mode of li=
fe, he replied, "As doctors purge their patients." "Hence," says Mead, in=
 his biography, "he refused to touch anything that had animal life in it,=
 on the ground that it densified the mind and rendered it impure. He cons=
idered that the only pure form of food was what the earth produced -- fru=
its and vegetables.* He also abstained from wine, for though it was made =
from fruit, it rendered turbid the ether in the soul, and destroyed the c=
omposure of the mind." =


(*Concerning Apollonius as a vegetarian, Phillimore, in his "In Honor of =
Apollonius of Tyana," writes: "A man called Apollonius was born at Tyana =
at some date known, probably in the reign of Tiberius. The persecutions w=
hich made it dangerous for Seneca at Rome to continue his experiment in v=
egetarianism did not extend to Cilicia, and Apollonius addicted himself t=
o Neo-Pythagoreanism (vegetarianism.) From the ordinary humanistic traini=
ng of a sophist, he seems to have passed into the ascetic discipline of a=
 sect which, originally Oriental, and afterwards reaching its highest suc=
cess among the decadent colonial aristocracies of South Italy, was now ag=
ain coming into vogue as the Roman empire began to orientalize. Indian th=
eosophy, a natural science chiefly drawn from Stoic authorities, antiquar=
ian ritualism in certain Greek cults, a great copiousness of moral sentim=
ent, the asceticism which usually appear at the times when the white corp=
uscles predominate in the body politic of !
!
!
any civilization -- vegetarianism, teetotalism, etc., -- such appear to h=
ave been the main ingredients in Apollonius's religion.") =


Finding the morals of Tarsus distasteful, Apollonius resolved to take up =
quarters at Aegae, which possessed a temple of Aesculapius, the priests o=
f which were philosophers of the Pythagorean school. So famous were they =
for their power as healers that people came to their temple from all over=
 Greece, from Syria and even from Alexandria to consult them. The priests=
 of this healing temple of Aegae cured disease by vegetarian diet, hydrot=
herapy, fasting and magnetic healing ("laying on of hands," which art, Ap=
ollonius acquired from them). They were heirs of an ancient oral therapeu=
tic tradition which came from the Orphic mysteries, the secret of which w=
as jealously guarded by the disciple who received it. By these priests, A=
pollonius was initiated; and it was not long before he excelled his maste=
rs. =


Concerning Apollonius's life in the temple of Aegae, Stobart writes: "Mar=
velous cures are attributed to Apollonius, for like his great master, Pyt=
hagoras, he considered healing the most important of the divine arts; and=
, in addition, under his guidance, the temple became also a centre for ph=
ilosophy and for the science of religion. His aim was to purify the templ=
e worship and to reform the ancient Greek religion from within, by revisi=
ng, along Pythagorean lines, the understanding of the spiritual truths wh=
ich were at the base of the esoteric mysteries."* =


(*The school of Pythagoras formed at that time a secret order which had s=
everal stages of initiation, the members of which recognized each other b=
y certain signs and symbols, in order that the doctrine remain unintellig=
ible to the profane. Music, geometry and astronomy were studied, but not =
as they are now but rather as discipline to prepare the mind for the awak=
ening of super-sensory spiritual facilities of perception. The aim of the=
 Pythagorean teaching was physical, mental and spiritual regeneration, wh=
ich Pythagoras founded on a vegetarian diet and continence. The members o=
f the Pythagorean Order so carefully guarded their secret doctrines that =
the Pythagorean Timycha cut out her tongue rather than reveal to Dionysus=
 the Elder the reason for the prohibition of beans in the rules of the co=
mmunity.) =


Apollonius took up his residence in the temple of Aesculapius at Aegae in=
 the company of the priests, manifesting an amazing eagerness to acquire =
their secret knowledge, and had an astonishing gift for healing and clair=
voyance. And, following Pythagorean custom, he let his hair grow long, ab=
stained from the flesh of animals and from wine; walked barefooted or wit=
h bark sandals, and clad only in white linen garments, giving up all that=
 was made from leather, wool or any other animal material. =


At this time being then sixteen years of age, he resolved to forever abst=
ain from marriage and sexual relations, which resolution he kept unbroken=
 during his long lifetime of over a century, thus surpassing Pythagoras, =
Socrates, Buddha and Confucius, for while they married, Apollonius preser=
ved a degree of virginity known only to vestal virgins and Pythian priest=
esses. This immaculate chastity Apollonius attributed to his very careful=
 Pythagorean low-protein vegetarian diet and his avoidance of alcohol and=
 other excitants, according to the teaching of Pythagoras, who prohibited=
 even vegetable proteins such as beans, for this reason. =


Concerning the life of Apollonius at this age, W. B. Wallace writes: =


"Hence forth Apollonius adjured all the pleasures of sense. A vegetarian =
and a total abstainer in the modern meaning of the latter term, the devot=
ed monk of philosophy adopted and practiced more rigidly than any hermit =
of the Thebaid, the triple rule of poverty, chastity and obedience."* Thi=
s native of a warm and luxuriant clime, whose people were wholly given to=
 indolent gossip and sybaritic enjoyments of all kinds, was clad in a sim=
ple robe of white byssus, after the fashion of Empedocles, whom he so muc=
h resembled in many ways, slept upon the ground, went bare-footed like So=
crates, and -- hardest trial of all to a talkative Asiatic Greek -- obser=
ved the Pythagorean silence for five years." =


(*Concerning the young Apollonius's resolution to lead a Pythagorean life=
, his biographer, Philostratus, writes: "Naught would he wear that came f=
rom a dead beast, nor touch a morsel of a thing that once had life, nor o=
ffer it in sacrifice; nor for him to stain with blood the altars; but hon=
ey-cakes and incense, and the service of his song went upward from the ma=
n unto the Gods [higher-dimensional spiritual intelligences] for well he =
knew that they would take such gifts far rather than the oxen in their hu=
ndreds with the knife. For, he in sooth, held converse with the Gods and =
learned from them how they were pleased with men and how displeased, and =
thence as well he drew his nature-lore. As for the rest, he said, they gu=
essed at the divine, and held opinions on the Gods which proved each othe=
r false; but unto him Apollo's self did come, confessed without disguise,=
 and there did come as well, though unconfessed, Athena and the Muses, an=
d other Gods [spiritual rulers or Lords of!
!
!
 inner spiritual planes, viz. astral, mental, and causal planes] whose fo=
rms and names mankind did not yet know." =


"Thus passed the `lehr-jare' of Apollonius, and thus in the very heydey o=
f his youth was the flesh subdued to the spirit. It is certain that none =
but a lofty soul, favoured with a vision of the Supreme rarely vouchsafed=
 to man, could have voluntarily embraced a life of hardness such as this.=
 And yet the man never allowed asceticism to degenerate into misanthropy.=
 A perennial fount of joy seemed to bubble within his soul. He had a smil=
ing countenance and a sparkling eye; in mien and aspect he was striking, =
dignified, godlike; his nature was kindly and sympathetic; he liked the s=
ociety of his fellows and the encounter of mind and mind; he was a past m=
aster in the art of repartee and a cunning fabricator of `bon-mots', of w=
hich Philostratus has preserved several examples." =


At Aegae, Apollonius took up the study of Pythagorean philosophy, which w=
as the system that appealed to him most, under a teacher named Euxenes; w=
ho, however, proved disappointing, since he repeated parrot-like, the doc=
trines of Pythagoras without putting them into practice in his own life, =
for he was a materialist at heart. So Apollonius, in disillusionment, lef=
t him; however rewarding his teacher by buying for him a villa surrounded=
 by a garden outside Aegae, and giving him the money required for his ser=
vants, his suppers and his poor friends. =


Apollonius then imposed on himself a five years' silence, which was consi=
dered necessary in order to achieve final Pythagorean initiation. By that=
 time he had become famous, making many prophecies that came true; and wh=
ile he was in the midst of this period of silence, he quelled a rebellion=
 by his presence alone, without speaking a word. This tumult was caused b=
y a famine at Aspendus in Pamphylia, where the people were going to burn =
the prefect, though he had taken refuge by a statue of the Emperor. (And =
at that time, which was the reign of Tiberius, the Emperor's statues were=
 more terrible and more inviolable than those of the Olympian Zeus.) The =
prefect, on being questioned by signs, protested his innocence, and accus=
ed certain powerful citizens, who were refusing to sell corn and keeping =
it back to export at a profit. To them Apollonius addressed a note threat=
ening "explusion from Earth, who is the mother of all, for she is just, b=
ut whom they, being unjust, have made the !
!
!
mother of themselves alone." In fear of this threat they yielded and fill=
ed the market-place with corn. =


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