Apollinus was the contemporary of Jesus but more famous at the time. Like many Hellenistic charismatic men, he was called the ‘son of god’ ir ‘son of Zeus’. By the third century AD his followers thought of him as the pagan Christ, but far holier; the Stock Hierocles, one of the fiercest persecutors of the Christians, argued that Apollonius was a much greater miracle worker. In the fourth century pagans and Christians were still arguing among themselves as to whether Christ or Apollonius was the holider man. The debate continued into the eighteenth entury, though a sceptical Edward Gibbon was ‘at a loss to discover whether he [Apollonius] was a sage, an imposter, or a fanatic.’ Apollonius’ hagiographic biographer, the third century Sophist Philostratu, records the love he inspired for his universal goodness, his exorcisms and his miracles. After his physical disappearance from the world in AD 100 – Philostratus is hesitant to say that he actually died – Apollonius appeared to be doubting disciple. May bve Apollonius did not have the right message. . . .
. . . . By the age of eighteen he had become an ardent follower of the teachings and rigorous disciples of Pythagoras, the sixth-century BC Greek philosopher, mathematician, and mystic. Apollonius abstained from women and wine and wore nothing made from the skin of animals. Dressed in white linen, his hair and beard uncut, he wandered barefoot through cities and villages of the Roman Empire preaching his message of the supreme god, the immortality of soul, and reincarnation – a somewhat similar message to that of the mystery cults and Pauline Christianity, except that Apollonius was far more interested in theneed to purify the many coults of the empire.
. . . . By the time Apollonius the pagan Christ was making his journey to India, Buddhism had already arrived in the eastern parts of the Parthian Empire. Buddhism would prove immensely popular and would spread from India throughout the East. It also found its Constantine, the great Indian Emperor Ashoka, yet he never managed to establish Buddhism permanently in India. Buddhism became the only one of the world's religions to wither in its birthplace. ~ Page 186 / 187 /189
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Dinesh said:
. . . . By the age of eighteen he had become an ardent follower of the teachings and rigorous disciples of Pythagoras, the sixth-century BC Greek philosopher, mathematician, and mystic. Apollonius abstained from women and wine and wore nothing made from the skin of animals. Dressed in white linen, his hair and beard uncut, he wandered barefoot through cities and villages of the Roman Empire preaching his message of the supreme god, the immortality of soul, and reincarnation – a somewhat similar message to that of the mystery cults and Pauline Christianity, except that Apollonius was far more interested in theneed to purify the many coults of the empire.
. . . . By the time Apollonius the pagan Christ was making his journey to India, Buddhism had already arrived in the eastern parts of the Parthian Empire. Buddhism would prove immensely popular and would spread from India throughout the East. It also found its Constantine, the great Indian Emperor Ashoka, yet he never managed to establish Buddhism permanently in India. Buddhism became the only one of the world's religions to wither in its birthplace. ~ Page 186 / 187 /189
Dinesh said: