Where Did Jesus Go For 18 Years?

The 18 Missing Years

Did you know that the Bible only has information on Jesus’ life during the first 18 years of his life?This isn’t a joke at all!This is a true story!From the age of twelve (when we last see him disputing with the Rabbis in the temple in Jerusalem, as explained in the second chapter of Luke) to the age of thirty (when he is baptized by John the Baptist and begins his ministry), there is literally no mention of where Jesus was or what he was doing!Despite this, the 18 years that have been lost are some of the most formative years of anyone’s life!To be precise, because Christ died at the age of 33, these 18 years constitute not only more than half of his whole life, but also, and perhaps most significantly, nearly the entirety of his adult existence!

Where was he throughout these 18 years of critical importance?
What exactly was he doing?
What was it that he was learning?
Who was he taking lessons from?
How did he manage to learn so much, so rapidly, and with such mastery?
I’m curious when he first came to the insight that ″I and the Father are One″?

How and when did he learn to perform such a mind-boggling array of miraculous feats?Believe it or not, it turns out that Jesus was on an incredible journey of spiritual self-discovery, self-enlightenment, self-mastery, and self-realization during these 18 years that were lost to history.He traveled across India, the Himalayas, Persia, and other nations during this time period.During these voyages, he had the opportunity to study with some of the world’s finest spiritual masters, healers, yogis, gurus, sages, saints, and instructors of their time.After learning their deepest teachings, Jesus would: internalize, understand, and master these teachings in a far deeper, insightful, and thorough way than his ″teachers″ did through personal practice, self-discipline, meditation, intuition, and direct experience; and then he would turn around and teach them!That was followed by him doing the same thing with other famous spiritual instructors, yogi’s and gurus — all of them were in awe of his brilliance!

The explanation for how Jesus achieved such a high degree of skill, as well as his ability to perform so many various kinds of miracles, has now been revealed.

Where Can We Learn More About Jesus’

Travels to India and the East?

The Aquarian Gospel

The most authoritative source on this subject is a book by the title of ″The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ.″ I strongly suggest it to everyone who is a follower of Jesus or is interested in his life.It is available for free online reading at the following link: ″The Aquarian Gospel.″ ″The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ″ is briefly summarized here.The little-known book entitled ″The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ,″ authored by a guy named Levi, is an authentic description of Jesus’ life and teachings, and it is available online for free.So, who was Levi, and where did this book originate from in the first place?A protestant clergyman who lived in the United States during the 1800s, Levi longed for 40 years to be shown the ″missing 18 years″ of Jesus’ life and was eventually granted his wish.Most Christians are unaware of this, but the New Testament has no information on where Jesus was or what he was doing from the time he was 12 years old until the beginning of his ministry at the age of thirty years.

When it comes to these missing years, the only indirect reference is found in the second chapter of Luke, where it describes how a 12-year-old Jesus is at the Temple in Jerusalem debating with the rabbis and then it adds, ″And Jesus grew in knowledge and height, and in favor with God and with mankind.″ (See Luke 2:52.) That’s all there is to it!
Immediately following, Jesus is depicted as a fully grown man who is being baptized in the Jordan River.
There is virtually nothing else in the Bible that explains where Jesus was during these pivotal, formative, 18-year-long periods of time.
Levi, on the other hand, had an incredible spiritual experience after praying for almost 40 years.
The Goddess of Wisdom supported him in momentarily leaving his physical form behind on the planet and transported him to the higher realms, where she revealed him the pertinent elements of Jesus’ life that had been recorded in the Akashic Records – the ″Book of GOD’s Remembrance″ – throughout his lifetime.
In this extraordinary book, we learn that Jesus moved to India when he was 12 years old, where he spent the next 16 years or more learning with various sages and yogis from India, China, and Tibet, among other places.

It is also taught by the spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba that Jesus spent this same length of time not only in India, but also in the Chinese and Tibetan Himalaya Mountain Ranges.

Nicolas Notovitch’s Book:

″The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ″

Another source that supports the scenario presented in ″The Aquarian Gospel″ is the book The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, written by Russian adventurer Nicolas Notovitch.The year was 1887, and Nicolas was touring the Himalayas when he shattered his leg and was transported to the Buddhist Hemis Monastery in Leh in the Ladakh region to recover.As part of his visit to India, the lama showed him old papers proving that Jesus, who was referred to in the Bible as ″St.Issa″ (″Isa″ is Aramaic for ″Jesus″), had studied in India prior to beginning his ministry.Notovitch’s book on Jesus’ travel to India is available for free online reading at the following link: It Was Not Known What Jesus Christ Had Done – (The Original Text of Nicolas Notovitch’s 1887 Discovery, as written by Nicolas Notovitch)

Swami Abhedananda’s Trek to the

Hemis Monastery in Kasmir

Later, Swami Abhedananda, a direct student of Ramakrishna Paramahansa and a close friend of Swami Vivekananda, confirmed the veracity of Notovich’s description of the events.Swami Abhedananda was motivated to disprove Notovich’s claims after learning about them from his teacher, Dr.Notovich.As a result, he traveled by foot from Bengal to Kashmir in the Himalayas, where he visited the same Buddhist Hemis Monastery where Notovich had been shown the manuscripts chronicling Jesus’ time in India between the ages of 12 and 29 years old.Upon further investigation, he discovered that Notovich had been completely correct, and the Lama then showed him the identical writings and described Notovich’s visit to the monastery.As a result, Swami Abhedananda’s authored a book in which he confirmed Notovich’s account of Jesus’ journeys to India and other places.

The book is titled ″Swami Abhedananda’s Journey into Kashmir and Tibet,″ and it is published by the ‘Ramakrishna Vedanta Math’ in Kolkata, India, which is dedicated to the teachings of Swami Abhedananda.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Bill Gaum has copyright protection for the year 2014.
All Intellectual Property Rights Are Reserved.

What was God Jesus doing between the ages of 9 and 33?

What was Goddoing between the ages of nine and thirty-three years?

Bible Answer:

The life of Jesus Christ is eerily similar to many of our own. There are official documents of our births, as well as many photographs of us taken around the time of our births, but the number of photographs of us decreases as we get older.

Jesus’ Birth

The same may be said about Jesus.In the Bible, we learn that Jesus’ father was Joseph and his mother was Mary.This information comes from the gospels of Matthew and Luke (Matt.1:18-25).His mother was a virgin, which made his birth all the more rare.″Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit,″ an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ″Do not be frightened to take Mary as your wife, because that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.″ As a result, she will get pregnant and give birth to a son, whom you will name Jesus, because it is He who will redeem His people from their sins.″ (NASB) Matthew 1:18-21 We are told that on the day of His birth, angels proclaimed His birth to a group of shepherds, and that approximately two years later, certain magi from the east came to honor Him by bestowing presents on Him.

There is much to be learned from the Christmas Story – Biblical Accounts.

Circumcision and Dedication

Because He was a Jew, He was circumcised according to the Law of Moses when he was about eight days old (Luke 2:21), when he was about eight days old.After a few months, His parents traveled to Jerusalem to have Jesus consecrated at the Temple there (Luke 2:22-35).″For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared in the midst of all peoples; A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, AND THE GLORY OF THY PEOPLE ISRAEL,″ remarked a righteous man called Simeon as he held the newborn Jesus in his arms.Luke 2:30-32 (New American Standard Bible) In addition, a prophetess named Anna expressed gratitude to God for Him (Luke 2:36-38).Jesus was a great child as a baby!And the Child continued to grow and mature, becoming stronger and wiser as time went on, and the blessings of God were upon Him.

Luke 2:40 (New American Standard Bible)

Dedication-to-Twelve Years

The next time we see Jesus Christ is when He is twelve years old, which is when He is born.Every year for the Passover, Jesus’ parents would take him to Jerusalem with them.This was more than simply a vacation for me.It was similar to a festival.This year, however, was unusual because Jesus remained in the temple after the Passover had ended, asking questions of and listening to the instructors who were present.Every year during the Passover holiday, his parents used to go to Jerusalem to be with him.

And when He reached the age of twelve, they traveled up to the Feast in accordance with tradition…
Then, after three days, they discovered Him at the temple, sitting among the professors, both listening to them and asking them questions about their teachings.
And everyone who heard Him was taken aback by His ability to comprehend and respond.
Luke 2:41-42, 46-47 (New American Standard Bible) Jesus was an out-of-the-ordinary youngster.
And Jesus continued to grow in wisdom and height, as well as in favor with both God and humanity.
Luke 2:52 (New American Standard Bible) We know that Jesus had a number of brothers and sisters, according to tradition.

Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, and the son of Joses and Simon?″Do His sisters not happen to be here with us?″ They were offended by Him, as a result.Mark 6:3 (New American Standard Bible) Whether His sisters and brothers disliked, mocked, or adored Him is unknown to us at this time.

Twelve-to-Thirty Three Years

We don’t know anything about Jesus’ adolescence or twenties, either.Because He worked as a carpenter, we think that he did not have a formal education (Mark 6:3).When Jesus was around thirty years old, He began preaching in the local community.This was the minimum age at which a man might become a Jewish priest in the Jewish faith.And during the time of His public ministry, Jesus was around thirty years old..(NASB) Luke 3:23 (NIV) Because He cared about us, Jesus preached, taught, healed, and performed miracles for us.

He was concerned about the physical well-being of others.
That, however, was not the reason He came to this planet.
He came to die for us in order that we can be forgiven of our sins.

Conclusion:

As a result, the Bible does not provide us with much information about Jesus’ early life, because the most essential truth about Jesus is that He was sent to die.In order for you and I to be forgiven of our sins, he died on the cross.He died on the cross for all of us.The sins of everyone who believes that Jesus is God and asks Him to forgive him or her will be removed from their record.What was Jesus up to between the ages of nine and thirty-three?He was preparing to teach us the truth and then die in our place for our sins.

As a result of their faith in Jesus, millions upon millions of men and women have come to know him.
They have discovered that their lives have been altered and that their misdeeds have been forgiven.
They are on their way to paradise.
Are you ready?
For further information, please see the page Searching for God.

Jesus’ Lost Years May Finally Have Been Found

Long before tech support was outsourced to India, Christianity’s founder may have visited the country for the first time.
As Easter approaches, readers of the Huffington Post should be aware of the growing body of evidence that Jesus spent part of his life in India – which parts, for how long, and whether or not this occurred are all hotly debated by many scholars and religious leaders.
However, after four years of work on the film Jesus in India (Sundance Channel / US – Showtime / Australia), which took me to three continents and to experts from all major religions, my position is that, while a final verdict on Jesus in India as a concept, theory, and new direction in religious thought has not yet been reached, where there is smoke, there is often fire – and I’ve been wading through the smoke for years now.

Alternatively, as the New York Times put it about my film, I’ve been ″sifting through tales, myths, and historical data in an attempt to uncover the riddles of Jesus of Nazareth’s life from the ages of 12 to 30,″ as well as his probable trips in India, according to the newspaper.Each and every person has the right to skepticism, but if you refuse to embrace the task of taking this into consideration, you will be denying yourself of the opportunity to learn about an outstanding riddle.That this remarkable puzzle, which involves eighteen lost years or ″Hidden Years″ in the life of Jesus, may very well turn out to be the key to unlocking numerous mysteries about Christianity – much like the long-ignored but somehow obvious clue in a mystery that remains unsolved – is an open question for the time being.Alternatively, it is possible that irrefutable dating of documents, DNA testing, and other scientific tests and instruments may finally demonstrate that it is a dead end.

We will all be better for the truly incredible journey to inquire and discover what can be surmised about Jesus’ Lost Years by taking the questions right to an ancient Hindu temple in Puri, India, where some believe Jesus spent several years (the ″some″ include the current spiritual leader of the Hindu religion, the Shankaracharya), and a Buddhist monastery high in the Himalayas in Ladakh, India, where an ancient scroll has long been kept.
You weren’t aware that Jesus was absent, were you?
The New Testament has a Black Hole that spans Jesus’ life from the ages of 12 to 30.

In the realm of film, this type of omission is referred to as a ″jump cut.″ When it comes to Fundamentalism, it is referred to as a portion of Jesus’ life that God does not believe you should be aware of, else God would have made certain that it was included in the Bible.When Jesus is 12 years old, he is at the Temple in Jerusalem, according to one page of the Gospel of Luke, and then.Nothing.

There is nothing for 18 years until Jesus appears at the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist, after which there is nothing.
One opponent accuses me of Biblical revisionism since I have looked into the discrepancy.
But I’m not going to revise.

What can you do to revise something that isn’t there?Currently, I’m looking at whether historical documents and long-standing traditions of various types can assist in rectifying the oversight.During the benediction of President Barack Obama’s inauguration, Reverend Rick Warren alluded to Jesus by the name Issa at one point in the service.(If you don’t believe me, look it up and see for yourself.) Have you ever heard Jesus referred to as Saint Issa?Even Buddhist monks in the Himalayas are supposed to be hiding a very ancient text titled ″The Life of Saint Issa, the Best of the Sons of Men″ in one of their monasteries, which is said to be hidden in a monastery high in the Himalayas.Despite widespread belief in the existence of that manuscript, which fills in the missing years of Christ’s life and describes his travels as a young man in India – and even has Jesus exhorting the Hindus to stop worshiping idols and abandon the caste system – the story of its existence has been thoroughly debunked in much of the Christian world for nearly a century.

It’s long past time for the debunking to come to an end.Taking the trail of individuals who have seen and translated the text numerous times, we have built a very strong case that the manuscript exists, and that it fits in perfectly with a lengthy list of other types of evidence that places Jesus in India during that period of his life.If this is accurate, it appears that Jesus’ voyage to the East was neatly left out of the New Testament.

You don’t believe that Jesus could have traveled to India during his early years as a teenager?Surely, he’d have been married off at the age of thirteen, when all Jewish boys are considered to have reached adulthood, if he’d stayed in Judea.The silk route from China to India and beyond had been extensively traversed.There were caravans of merchants passing by.Isn’t it true that the presence of three Wise Men (the Magi) from the East at the time of Jesus’ birth implies that an Orient-pulling force was involved in Jesus’ life from the beginning, as the Indian guru Paramahansa Yogananda claimed?

Then why wouldn’t the Lord pay another visit to you?Particularly noteworthy is the fact that India is home to some of the world’s oldest temples, which belong to some of the world’s oldest religions.And why did Jesus send Saint Thomas to India to preach the Gospel there after the crucifixion, if he had no prior knowledge of the country’s significance at the time of his death?Doubting Thomas spent twenty years preaching in India before passing away there.

It’s a reality that has a lot of backing.Take a look at Jesus in India and you’ll begin to understand what may have happened during those years of Jesus’ life that have been excluded (either intentionally or accidentally?) from the tale you’ve been taught over and over since infancy.The documentary Jesus in India is described as ″fascinating and profound, a very spiritual trip″ by noted critic Pete Hammond, while the website of Paramahansa Yogananda hails the video as ″groundbreaking.″ However, reviewer Jeff Wilser predicted that it ″would cause Bill O’Reilly of FOX news to choke on his eggnog″ before the holiday season.And Nancy Dewolf Smith writes in the Wall Street Journal that the film is a ″cavalcade of crackpots″ and ″pseudo-history,″ completely ignoring the fact that the film features luminaries such as the Dalai Lama, Princeton Professor Elaine Pagels, two Georgetown University professors, an apostolic nuncio of Pope John Paul II, and, of course, the historic interview with the ″Pope″ of Hinduism (the Shankaracharya), As a Vatican representative, the late Apostolic Nuncio Corrado Balducci is quoted in my film as denying such a claim.If it turns out to be a ″Cavalcade of Crackpots,″ it will fit in well with my previous films, which typically seem to be about ″crackpots,″ who are amazing thinkers, artists, geniuses, and noble individuals who have lived throughout history and who were all regarded misfits in their own time.

Vaslav Nijinsky (She Dances Alone), Vincent van Gogh (Starry Night), Timothy Leary (Timothy Leary’s Dead), the shaman known as Rahelio of Sedona, Arizona who was recently featured in a Sunset magazine feature (The Artist & The Shaman), and the recently-deceased Forrest J.
Ackerman, who was one of the ″deluded″ souls who believed that mankind would reach the moon in his lifetime way back in (The Sci-Fi Boys).
It was decades before Major Jesse Marcel, who investigated the 1947 UFO event that came to be known as the Roswell Incident, became a laughingstock.

He was the main character in my film Roswell, which starred Martin Sheen, Kyle MacLachlan, and Dwight Yoakam and was produced for Showtime and nominated to win a Golden Globe Award as Best Motion Picture for Television.Jesse Marcel’s charge was that he claimed that the government is purposely withholding information concerning extraterrestrials and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).What are your thoughts on that particular one?That, however, is a topic for another blog post.

However, if you’re interested in learning more about the Jesus dispute in India, visit and you’ll discover what’s causing both misery and delight.You may come to see why writer Len Kasten said in the March / April 2009 edition of Atlantis Rising that ″this video, some believe, has the potential to transform Christian thought.″

The Scrolls – Jesus, the Missing 18 Years

Image courtesy of Robert Powell in Jesus of Nazareth.

THE SCROLLS The Missing Eighteen Years

Written by James W.
Mercer While investigating sinkholes in the Dead Sea, Dr.
Mark Malloy of the United States and Dr.

Gilda Baer of Israel unearth ancient copper scrolls, which they have named ″The Copper Scrolls of the Dead Sea.″ They are not allowed to speak about their discovery since they were forced to sign a confidentiality agreement.The scrolls, which were translated by an Israeli archaeological team led by Dr.Amos Meyer, were discovered to represent the earliest known form of the New Testament, according to the experts.The scrolls include information on the 18 years of Jesus’ life that have been left out of the Bible, information that has the potential to alter Christian beliefs.

The Israeli Minister of Tourism, concerned about the ramifications of the revelation of this material on the country’s two-billion-dollar Christian tourism business, seeks the assistance of a dishonest finance officer from a fundamentalist megachurch in the United States.
They collaborate to devise a strategy to ensure that the scrolls are never made public.
The proposal, which calls into question the validity of the scrolls, stipulates that they must be released only if they can be backed up by proof.

This requirement prompts Gilda, Mark, and Dr.Meyer to embark on a journey, which the church official feels will be a time-consuming wild goose chase due to the nature of the quest.Dr.

Meyer, on the other hand, has some interesting leads that he wants to follow up on, which might transform the obstacle to the scrolls’ release into an opportunity.

Their journey begins in Iznik, Turkey, the location of the Council of Nicaea. Here in the summer of 325 CE, bishops began the process of determining the content of the Bible. Of significance was the Arian controversy caused by Arius, a priest who questioned the divinity of Jesus. Mark, Gilda and Dr. Meyer discover tiles in the very location where Arius defended himself, before being labeled a heretic. In the tiles is a message from Arius’ followers. Prior to completing their investigation, the tiles mysteriously disappear, but they learn that Jesus left his homeland and traveled east to Babylon, the location of Biblical stories like the tower of Babel. Forced to return to Jerusalem empty handed, but determined to follow Jesus’ trail, the trio plans to travel to Baghdad, only to be delayed by the impending invasion by U.S. and coalition forces into Iraq. While waiting for the assault to start, Gilda visits Mark’s home in the Florida panhandle; their relationship is no longer just professional. Shortly after the fall of Baghdad, the three scientists travel there thinking the war is over. They learn that the invading force is insufficient to maintain law and order. With the help of the U.S. Army, they continue their investigation at the Iraq National Museum where they discover another scroll describing the travels of a man named Issa. An explosion ends their translation, forcing them to leave. Upon their return the next day, April 12, 2003, they learn the Iraq National Museum has been looted, an event sending shockwaves around the world, and the scroll is missing.

Once again, they return to Jerusalem with no conclusive proof to support their claims.
Dr.
Meyer is aware with a book on Issa written by a Russian medical doctor who, in the late 1800s, discovered Tibetan scrolls in Northern India, which were later discovered at a monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, and was the last person to view them.

Piecing together the events of the last 2000 years, it appears that Jesus met Buddhist and Hindu monks traversing the Silk Road while in Babylon.He then followed them to Northern India, the origin of Buddhism, where he learned and taught before returning to Jerusalem.In their next stop, the magnificent city of Lhasa, where they find that the Tibetan scrolls were taken by invading Chinese forces in 1950, Dr.Meyer, Mark, and Gilda are reunited with their companions.

As a result of their conversation with a retired monk who had studied the scrolls before they were removed, they uncover fresh insights about Jesus, which causes Mark to begin to doubt the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Issa grew interested in Taoism after spending seven years in Northern India, and he traveled on the Silk Road to its eastern conclusion, when he visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an, according to the monk.
After making a hasty decision, the scientists decide to travel to Xi’an without informing anybody of their whereabouts.

When they visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, they meet another Buddhist monk and hear of an artifact that dates back to the period of Jesus’ journeys.They are forced to deal with an earthquake that ruins the pagoda and leaves Gilda in critical condition.Even if they are successful in removing the item from China, they are apprehensive of what they would encounter in Jerusalem.

This narrative is recounted from the perspective of Mark, an eccentric character who has a proclivity to insert geology into a variety of conversations.
Furthermore, he is interested in Biblical and theological history, particularly when these interests cross with geology, as he freely acknowledges.
It gives Mark special pleasure when the evidence demonstrates that Jesus was a stonemason, rather than a carpenter, as had been suggested by the incorrectly translated Greek.

To purchase this book from Amazon.com, please click here.

Excerpt from “The Scrolls”

The first chapter is titled If there is anything in me that can be classified as religious, it is an unbridled appreciation for the structure of the world as far as our science has been able to disclose it.
—Albert Einstein, in The Human Side of Science Israel’s Dead Sea Region in the spring of 2002.
Mark looked down at his wristwatch and smiled.

It was shortly after 1 p.m.at the time.They were running behind schedule.″Be careful!″ yelled Gilda as Mark sped around a hairpin curve on the dirt road she was on.

″What are those?″ he said, raising his eyes in wonder and slamming on the brakes at the same moment.
Several deer-like animals were standing in the center of the tiny road, something he had never seen before.
The wheels became stuck, causing the Range Rover to slow down and fishtail slightly, just missing many of the prey animals.

Gilda shook her head, grinned, and responded, ″They are ibexes, which are prevalent in this region,″ as she braced herself in response to the unexpected stop.″Those enormous, round horns are characteristic,″ she added, pointing.″Ibexes are closely related to the mountain goat found in North America.″ Her Israeli origins were revealed by her little accent, which Mark found charming, and her Israeli heritage.

″As you can see, these are enormous animals that would inflict significant damage if we were to collide with one,″ she said.
Mark tallied to a total of eight.
With caution, he made his way through the herd, shocked that the truck didn’t scare them away.

Once he had passed through the ibexes, he pressed the accelerator, causing gravel to fly everywhere.Even though Gilda was acting in anxiety, her answer was swift and playful: ″What’s the rush?,″ she said.″How did you learn to drive in the first place?″ Mark turned to face her once again.She was smiling, and he was taken aback by how much that impacted him.In a slightly embarrassed tone, he said, “Sorry.” As he continued, ″I learnt to drive on the Florida panhandle, but I did not learn to drive in a Range Rover.″ Gilda reacted with a ″Huh.″ Drivers of Range Rovers have described the experience as ″easy as pie.″ ″You mean ‘a slice of cake,’″ Mark said with a grin.″I don’t care,″ she responded sarcastically.

″It doesn’t make a difference whether it’s pie or cake.″Range Rovers are a pleasure to operate.″ A geologist from Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, Dr.Mark Malloy, was on sabbatical at the time of the accident, working with the Geological Survey of Israel (GSI) on a project involving the origin of sinkholes.

Because of their frequent occurrence in his native state, where they were known to swallow entire homes, he became interested in these often perilous depressions and began researching them.His research included looking at the effects of geological processes on early civilizations, which he did in his spare time.Various natural events, such as the production of springs or earthquakes, had a significant impact on ancient man’s actions, as well as his mythology and religion.Working in Israel was thrilling for Mark, and he hoped it might lead to publication opportunities.His institution was adamant about adhering to the dictum ″publish or perish″—perish like the dinosaurs, according to a colleague who had told him this once.

He had been working in Israel for many months and intended to stay until the middle of the summer, when his sabbatical would come to an end and he would return to Florida State University in time for the autumn term to complete his degree.Mark, like many others who had journeyed to this part of the world, had developed a strong interest in religious history, particularly Biblical history, and he had arrived in the region where much of that history had taken place.He could see rock formations in all directions, and he felt as if he was in his natural habitat.These formations were formed by geologic processes, which had a significant impact on biblical tales.

He was looking forward to delving more into the connections between Biblical stories and the geology that surrounded him.His sense of humour was good-natured, and it frequently took the form of taunting.Mark was regarded attractive by many of his female pupils despite the fact that he was thirty-four years old and still single.With a thick crop of brown hair that was sprinkled with streaks of gray, he stood about six feet tall and acquired a premature graying condition from his mother’s side of the family.The majority of people were drawn to him because of his dark, expressive brown eyes, in which the hues of his pupil and iris blended into a single color.

James W.
Mercer is the owner of the copyright for 2012.
For further extracts (as well as to place a purchase), please see:

PS1 Jesus in India?

Some authors are on the lookout for information concerning where Jesus was during the ″Hidden Years,″ which span the ages of 12 to 30.
Jesus in India – A Documentary on DVD Beginning with a former Fundamentalist from Texas who was expelled from his provincial church for asking too many questions, the story progresses to other characters.
″If God had intended you to know about it, it would have been in the Bible, so don’t worry about anything other than your own salvation,″ says the pastor.

But that isn’t good enough for Edward T.Martin, who embarks on a 4000-mile journey across India in search of information concerning where Jesus was during the ″Hidden Years,″ when he was 12 to 30 years old.The New Testament is quiet on those years, but there is an ancient belief in India that the youthful Jesus joined a caravan and traveled the Silk Road to the East, where he lived with both Hindus and Buddhists before returning to begin His mission in the Middle East.Can you tell me how much of this story is founded on facts, and why does the ″Pope″ of Hinduism suddenly assert that Jesus was present in India?

What is it about Professor Elaine Pagels of Princeton University, a world-renowned Biblical scholar, that makes her believe that we cannot rule out this possibility?
This film features a group of scholars and religious leaders who are joined by the Dalai Lama and an Apostolic Nuncio of Pope John Paul II.
You will hear from both sides, and you will be stunned and amazed by some of the explanations presented for the Bible’s silence on JESUS IN INDIA’s whereabouts and activities.

Jesus in India – A Documentary on DVD

PS2 The shocking truth about Jesus of Nazareth!

The terrible truth about Jesus of Nazareth is revealed in a long-lost lecture by Wallace D.
Wattles!
In the history of mankind, it is difficult to imagine a guy who was more understood by his contemporaries than Jesus of Nazareth.

Without a doubt, no individual in history has ever been more shamelessly distorted by successive generations, and particularly by those who claimed to be his friends and followers.″ The following is an excerpt from Wallace D.Wattles’ ″Jesus: The Man and His Work.″ A large audience gathered at the Auditorium in Cincinnati, Ohio, to hear Wallace D.Wattles talk on November 11, 1905.Wattles would go on to create some of the most powerful and life-changing books ever published, including his classic masterwork, ″The Science of Getting Rich.″ Within the confines of that brief but extremely compelling talk, Wallace D.

Wattles demolished orthodox errors, misunderstandings, and downright misrepresentations of the character and teachings of Jesus, and he shared his vision of the genuine Christ and His true call with the audience.
The presentation left such an effect on some of the audience members that they expressed an interest in having it published if Wallace D.
Wattles would furnish the text.

That is exactly what he did, and the text was printed privately.It had a very restricted circulation, as did many privately produced publications of this sort at the time, and like many of them at the time, its few copies vanished over time, never to be seen again…Until now, that is!

>> Download the e-book ″Jesus: The Man and His Work″ written by Wallace D.
Wattles.
(This page has been seen 1,290 times, with 1 visit today)

The lost years of Jesus: The mystery of Christ’s missing 18 years

Known as the ″Lost Years″ of Jesus Christ, the period between the ages of 12 and 30 between his birth and death is a scriptural riddle that has perplexed historians and Christians alike for many centuries.
It is unknown where Jesus may have been or traveled during that time period, creating a theological vacuum that has been filled with beliefs that are mostly inspired by religious belief, rumor, and mythology depending on the sources used to develop them.
In this essay, whether readers are believers or not, the author examines the diverse spectrum of stories that have emerged since the early 1900s.

Many attempts have been made to fill in the eighteen years that have elapsed since Jesus vanishes from the pages of the Bible.This has resulted in legends of his traveling to far-flung regions such as India to study with Eastern mystics, Persia, and even North America, as well as claims of him having visited Europe.Other myths, such as those centered on the notion that Jesus traveled to Britain and even made a stop in Cornwall, have spawned colorful narratives that are tied to King Arthur and the legend of the hunt for the Holy Grail, among other things.So, what proof do we have to back up the claim that Jesus traveled hundreds of kilometers from Judea to other countries on his mission?

The earliest sources include the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which are the earliest sources.
Jesus is thought to have been born at Bethlehem, but according to the Gospels, his family moved away shortly afterward and resided in the town of Nazareth, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of the Bible that Jesus would be known as a Nazarene.
It is possible that Jesus’ social standing was ‘blue collar’ since he and his carpenter father Joseph made their little living as artisans because Nazareth was a peaceful, agricultural and fishing hamlet where the people lived on a tight budget.

A popular narrative is that Jesus went three miles away to the bustling town of Sepphoris, which at the time was noted for its beautiful mosaic artwork made by the Romans, in the middle Galilee area of today’s Israel, in search of employment because he had little possibility of finding it.Given the abundance of options to construct houses and walls, this community may have served as the initial stepping stone on the path that would eventually lead to what is thought to be the beginning of Jesus’ search for spiritual enlightment.It is possible that Jesus spent the majority of these intervening years working as a carpenter in Galilee, as some Christian scholars think; nevertheless, there are few allusions to this in the Scriptures.

In response to the eighteen-year gap in the scriptures, various intriguing explanations have been proposed, but none has yet been proven by trustworthy evidence.
Jesus may have gone on an epic ‘walkabout’ from his home in Nazareth, according to one idea about his disappearance and his missing years.
If this incident had transpired, Jesus would have been no more than a 12-year-old child; thus, how emotionally prepared and aware would such a young person have to be in order to go on such a long and potentially perilous journey?

Most likely, while living at Sepphoris, the young Jesus received his first awareness of the world by both speaking the Aramaic language and learning to read, which is how he came to be known as ″the Christ.″ According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus walked into the synagogue and read from the scroll of the prophets, which is the only piece of recorded scripture that supports this theory so far.In his childhood, he would have witnessed firsthand the social and economic persecution of the Palestinian-Jewish peasants, of which he was a member, which he would have learned about from his parents.Such information may have served as an impetus for Jesus to seek answers in the outside world, and it may have had an impact on his choice to abandon his family, which would have been contentious at the time.Scholars have speculated that Jesus’ father Joseph passed away when he was approximately 12 years old, and that this tragic occurrence may have served as the impetus for him to embark on a personal quest to achieve spiritual enlightenment while still in his childhood.This ‘walkabout,’ which lasted nearly two decades, may have begun when he was 13 years old and continued until his death.During this vulnerable period, the purported ″lost years″ begin, and the numerous ideas about where Jesus spent his formative years as he matured into manhood are accessible to a wide range of interpretations.

Whatever obligations a young Jesus may have had to his mother and extended family in Nazareth, it must have been a contentious decision for him to abandon those closest to him at such an early age in order to embark on an epic and risky journey on foot.But some Christians feel that the years that have been lost are insignificant, and that any revelations regarding them are unlikely to make a significant impact to their understanding of the Christian faith.To put it another way, if anything was significant, it would have been included in the Bible.

According to some researchers, learning more about the whereabouts of Jesus and the experiences he had during those unrecorded years might aid in the understanding of many of the mysteries surrounding Christianity.For many years, there have been rumors that the Vatican is hiding certain fascinating realities regarding the life of Jesus, including his eighteen years in exile.Traditional beliefs might be radically altered as a result of this understanding.To this day, nothing has been disclosed concerning the existence of such records, as well as what Jesus was doing and where he was throughout the period between the ages of 13 and 30.Some academics think that Jesus spent these unrecorded years traveling about Britain with a man named ‘Joseph of Arimathea,’ while others claim he traveled to India and Persia during this time.

When a Russian traveller claimed to have uncovered authentic scriptures at a monastery in India in the late nineteenth century, it was widely believed that Jesus had been to India and taught there as well as elsewhere in the East.’Joseph of Arimathea’ is the character in this account who is believed to have accompanied Jesus on his journey to Britain.He is a tin merchant who some think to be his uncle, however other ‘canonical gospel’ sources characterize him primarily as a wealthy businessman and disciple of Jesus.By the 15th century, a significant amount of writing had been produced on this specific narrative, elevating it to the level of folklore, to the point that Glastonbury, Somerset, was hailed as the ″birthplace of British Christianity,″ according to legend.

The Holy Grail is said to have been housed in the first church built by Joseph in order to protect it.Another story said that Joseph of Arimathea had previously visited Glastonbury with Jesus as a child, which prompted artist and poet William Blake to pen a poem that formed the words to the English hymn Jerusalem, which is now known as the King James Version.Did those old feet tread along the green of England’s mountains in ancient times?And did anybody witness the Lamb of God/Living peacefully on England’s beautiful pastures?’ An urban legend circulating during the late 15th century said that Joseph of Arimathea had transported to Britain two silver flasks containing Christ’s blood, and that these relics were buried in his grave.This account may have added to the mystique surrounding the Holy Grail and its existence in England.

However, despite the fact that this narrative has grown into shadows of King Arthur and his famous knights on their journey to retrieve the sacred artifact, there has never been any record of a shrine being built to commemorate the grave’s specific location.
This topic is also mentioned in another variant, which claims that Joseph hid the Holy Grail beneath Glastonbury Tor, which is claimed to be the entrance to the underworld and where a natural spring known as the ‘Chalice Well’ first began to rise up.
People thought that anyone who drank from these waters would live forever in their youth.

The ‘Holy Thorn’ is mentioned in another narrative related with Joseph of Arimathea, which depicts him delivering it to the town of Somerset.A version of the narrative talks of Joseph placing his wooden staff in the ground, where the staff suddenly blossomed into the ‘Glastonbury Thorn,’ a variation of the Common Hawthorn that blooms twice a year, once in the spring and once around Christmas.One of the most intriguing stories relating to Joseph of Arimathea, and one that is considered to be a recent invention, is that, as a tin merchant by trade, he brought the young Jesus along with him on a trading voyage to south-west Britain and Cornwall, where tin was abundant, according to tradition.The tale is said to have started with the English novelist Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould, who included it in his book on Cornwall published in 1899.

Twenty-three years later, in 1922, the tradition of Jesus visiting Britain was included in a book written by the Reverend Lionel Smithett Lewis, vicar of St John’s church in Glastonbury, Somerset, who was also a member of the Church of England at the time.Lewis was particularly interested in legends concerning Joseph of Arimathea’s connection to the area, and it is possible that he used Baring Gould’s theories about Joseph and Jesus dealing for tin in Cornwall and re-located the narrative to Glastonbury in order to further his interest.After expanding the tale to almost two hundred pages by the time it reached its final form in 1955, the Apostolic Church of Britain claimed that Glastonbury was the burial site of the Virgin Mary.

It was published in 1894 that a controversial book titled ‘The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ’, authored by a Russian-born inhabitant of Paris named Nicolas Notovitch, was released.The text made the surprising assertion that Jesus had traveled to India during the years of his life that had been lost and had studied as a Buddhist monk.Notovitch wrote about his trip to India seven years earlier in the book, which was illustrated with images of the people and places he visited.Notovitch provided an account, explaining that he had broken his leg during the journey and had been forced to recuperate in a remote monastery at Hemis in the highlands of Ladakh, India, due to his injuries.

In the course of his recuperation, he was given an antique paper about which he had previously heard rumors.It was written in the Pali language (an Indo-Aryan language) and was published in two large volumes with cardboard covers and yellowed leaves due to the passage of time.’Issa’ is the Arabic name for Jesus in Islam, and the scriptures documented his travels and studies in India.

This guy could only have been the biblical Jesus, as Issa is the Arabic name for Jesus in Islam.Life of Saint Issa: The Finest of the Sons of Men was, in fact, the title of the text.According to the scripture, Jesus left Judea when he was 13 years old and embarked on an epic journey of self-discovery that included study of various religious traditions.

As noted by Notovitch, Jesus ″crossed Punjab and arrived in Puri Jagannath, where he studied the Vedas (Indian book of ancient literature) under the supervision of Brahmin priests.″ The Lord Jesus spent six years at Puri and Rajgir, both of which are located near Nalanda, the ancient Hindu center of study.
Then he traveled to the Himalayas, where he spent time in Tibetan monasteries studying Buddhism before returning to Judea, where he was 29 years old at the time of his return.
Notovitch’s book was a worldwide publishing sensation at the time, having been translated into several languages, including English, and having gone through eleven French editions in its first year of publication, among other things.
Notovitch’s book, published more than a century and a quarter ago, has mostly been forgotten, and the contents and claims it makes have been consigned to the realms of imagination by his contemporaries.
Some Notovitch followers, on the other hand, believe that records that substantiate the author’s assertions may be held in the Vatican’s archives.
Even at the time of Notovitch’s publications, a number of individuals were skeptical of his statements and thought them to be unbelievable.

During that time, German-born philologist Max Muller speculated that either the monks at the monastery were making fun of the Russian author, or that the author had made up the entire story for financial gain and faked the ancient manuscript.Notovitch’s allegations, according to one well-known Indologist, are ″a huge fat lie.″ When Muller inquired about Notovitch’s supposed recovery at a monastery, he received a response claiming that no westerners had visited the monastery in the previous fifteen years and that no old manuscripts similar to the one mentioned by the author had been discovered inside.Shortly after, J.Archibald Douglas, a professor of English and history at the Government College in Agra, India, paid a personal visit to Hemis monastery and spoke with the Head Lama, who confirmed that Notovitch had never visited the monastery before.As a result of Notovitch’s claims that Jesus had traveled to India, Muller and Douglas collaborated on a book, which was published under the title ‘Jesus did NOT live in India’, in which they asserted that Notovitch’s writings about Jesus’ ‘lost years’ were a complete fabrication.

Even after Notovitch claimed to have seen a document proving that Jesus had stayed at Hemis monastery and claimed to have taken a photograph of the mysterious manuscript itself, no physical evidence was found to support his claim, including no photograph of the mysterious manuscript itself.When explaining why none were chosen, Notovitch went to great lengths in the foreword to his book.I took many interesting images on my travels, but when I returned to India and examined the negatives, I was saddened to discover that they had been completely destroyed’, says the author.Further incriminating evidence against Notovitch was recently unearthed in a contemporaneous report preserved in the archives of the British Library, which was authored by Donald Mackenzie Wallace, a Russian-speaking British official who worked for the British government.

The Scottish civil servant and foreign reporter for The Times newspaper said that, after meeting Notovitch several times in July 1887, he claimed that the Russian traveller offered his services as a’spy’ for the British government in India on one of the occasions.Despite Notovitch’s offer, Wallace turned it down, calling him a ″unscrupulous adventurer.″ Despite these allegations, Notovitch remained firm in his book’s claims, promising to return to the monastery and bring back the original manuscript if the allegations were proven correct.Nothing further was heard from him on the subject, and the writer’s claims about Jesus visiting India were dismissed as nothing more than a myth with no basis in fact.If you want to look at the claims that Jesus left home as a teenager and began on an epic journey around the world on foot, one way to do so is to consider the travel necessities of the day and the realities of reaching a place across hostile terrain and at times unpassable pathways.It is stated in The New Testament that the Galilee and Judea were the primary locations for Jesus’ ministry, with activities also taking place in nearby areas such as Peres and Samaria.In Christian tradition, Jesus is said to have walked 3,125 miles throughout his career.

Taking into consideration that a committed individual on a mission might complete the 150–200 km journey from Judea to Galilee on foot in six days, it is likely that an experienced walker with knowledge of the terrain could cover far greater distances in a much less amount of time.The conservative estimate of the amount of kilometers Jesus may have walked throughout his lifetime is roughly 21,525 miles, which is nearly the equal of walking around the whole planet.The most common form of transportation was on foot, with an average daily mileage of roughly 20 miles, but oxen, donkeys, and camels were also used by locals.It is possible that during Jesus’ walkabout and journey to far-off places, such as the Himalayas, he was able to take advantage of such modes of transportation, with the addition of caravans to transport supplies.According to the usual walking habits and skills of the time, such a long and arduous journey, reportedly done by Jesus alone and over a period of many years, may be physically feasible.

But how believable could this expedition be for someone so young, no older than a kid, to embark on it without the assistance of an adult, medical expertise, or navigation skills gained through experience?At the time of Jesus’ teachings (AD 27-29), Judea was under Roman dominion and susceptible to oppression at the hands of its Roman rulers, who were granted the ability to punish with death.Even in Judea’s enclaves, where thievery and murder were not uncommon, it was a perilous period for everyone.Even though they were conquerors, the Romans were responsible for more travel facilitation than any previous empire, having built important roads and cleansed the seas of pirates.

People like Paul the Baptist were able to travel relatively peacefully because to the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) decreed by Emperor Augustus (27 BC-AD 14), which was declared in 27 BC.
A traveler could make his way from the Euphrates River’s beaches to the boundary between England and Scotland without having to pass any foreign borders, according to historian Lionel Casson.
Because of the emperor’s patrol squadrons, he was able to sail into any waterways without fear of being attacked by pirates.
Ship travel was the most efficient mode of long-distance transportation, but it was only available between April and October due to the dangers of the winter seas.

Paul himself is said to have sailed eastward from Greece to Israel and then westward by land from Israel to Greece during his missionary journeys.It is estimated that by AD 300, the Romans had constructed an 85,000-kilometer network of well-maintained highways throughout their empire, mostly for military objectives.In light of the fact that poor people primarily travelled on foot and wore heavy shoes or sandals while contending with changing seasons and natural phenomena like floods and snow, there was also danger from wild animals and ‘bandits’ as Paul himself stated in The New Testament of the Christian Bible 2 Cor 11:26, ‘I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, and in danger in the country.’ A determined adult could cover many thousands of miles by foot, donkey, horse or ship, regardless of the state of the roads, the terrain’s diversity, the dangers posed by wild animals and robbers, and the availability of inns and hotels at the time.

This is true despite the possibility of illness, injury, and other misfortunes along the way.Whether or not Jesus as a young man was able to travel to the locations claimed by some scholars and Christians remains a mystery that has sparked heated debate ever since Nicolas Notovitch’s controversial claims in his book ‘The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ’, which was published more than a century ago, sparked a worldwide debate.

Did Jesus spend his missing years studying Buddhism in India? Marcel Theroux visits Ladakh to find out

My voyage to Ladakh began on a lazy summer afternoon in the dusty stacks of the London Library, where I found myself surrounded by books. In the theology department, I came across a book from the nineteenth century with an intriguing title: The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ. I decided to read it and ended up buying it. This particular book was a weathered brown quarto, written in French by a man with a Russian surname, Nicolas Notovitch, and published in the early twentieth century. The story presented in Notovitch’s book was incredible. According to him, he had uncovered an old manuscript in the holy Pali language that disclosed previously unknown details of Jesus’ life, which he claimed to have discovered. Accord to this literature, which Notovitch had translated into French, Jesus had spent his ″missing years″ – the years between his infancy and the beginning of his ministry – studying Buddhism in India, according to the Gospel of Matthew. He had returned to the Middle East and the life that we are familiar with from the New Testament when he was around 30 years old. It is undeniably an incredible assertion. Even though I was startled to discover how little I knew about this book or its enigmatic author, Notovitch himself proved to be a fascinating character to learn more about. Apparently, according to his Wikipedia entry, he was the son of a Russian nobility. (I am positive that this is inaccurate, and the page has subsequently been changed.) Upon publication in 1894, Notovitch’s book about Jesus momentarily became a best-seller in Europe before being challenged by orthodox theologians, which resulted in Notovitch’s eventual disappearance from public awareness. He’d spent a jail sentence in Siberia in 1901 for writings he’d written critical of the Russian government, which was the last thing I learned about him before he died. There were certain works, however, such Holger Kersten’s rather bizarre Jesus Lived in India, that showed there could have been substance to his account after all. Notovitch said that he was shown the mystery document while recuperating from a broken leg at a monastery named Hemis in the area of Ladakh, according to Notovitch. Despite the fact that this region has strong religious and cultural ties to Tibet, it is actually a part of India. The high altitude and steep mountain routes that characterize Ladakh have kept it isolated since the beginning of the twentieth century. It was out of reach for the majority of people — a faraway country that few people had ever imagined visiting. To our benefit or disbenefit, the internet and the rise of plane travel have provided us all with seven-league shoes. I was able to plan a direct flight from Delhi to Leh, as well as a hotel in the town center, using the internet. The Hemis monastery, where Notovitch was recuperating from a broken leg, is perched on a steep slope in a crevice in the Zanskar range of the Himalayas, overlooking a spectacular valley. After a two-hour journey from New Delhi to Leh, I arrived in the early hours of a January morning. During Notovitch’s time, the long horse-drawn trek into the Himalayas would provide tourists with ample opportunity to become acclimated to the thin air. Nowadays, the precipitous descent from practically sea level is a source of distress. My hotel featured an oxygen tank in the foyer for guests who were having difficulty dealing with the altitude. As I walked away from the airport carousel with my luggage, I got the distinct impression that I had aged 20 years in the course of the journey. I’d been reading a guide to Ladakh written by the academic Janet Rizvi in preparation for the trip. In her book, she included a brief overview of each monastery in the surrounding region. Notovitch was not even mentioned in her chapters on Hemis, despite the fact that she was the author of the book. I wrote to Dr Rizvi to inquire about him and she responded positively. She answered briefly, stating that she was aware of the story of Notovitch and his lost gospel, but that she thought it was implausible and had never bothered to look into it further. There had been little snowfall when I arrived despite the fact that it was winter. There was a dusty khaki hue to the terrain, with a dusting of white on the higher elevations. The sky was a sapphire blue since there were no clouds in it. I’d prepared as if I’d be traveling to Siberia in the winter, but the weather was so pleasant that I didn’t need my thick gear. The peaks of the Zanskar range loomed over the valley’s brown walls, creating a dramatic backdrop. It was the off-season, and my driver, Geltsen, appeared delighted to have found a foreign visitor. After passing through communities of Tibetan exiles who had escaped Chinese domination of their country, we continued our journey down the Indus River. It was a thin ribbon of blue in the bottom of a valley filled with willow, poplar, and apricot trees, and we traveled through the Indus Valley. As Hemis is nestled among the mountains, the snow had managed to cling to the ground and close the road completely. As we drove up to the monastery, Geltsen and I had to dig the car’s tyres out of the mud on more than one occasion. Because of the altitude, I was gasping and suffering from a splitting headache. The view, though, was wide and majestic, with jagged snowy peaks around a broad river valley, and I had a peculiar sensation of thrill as well. Despite the fact that the outside of Hemis monastery is austere and blocky, reminiscent of a 1960s housing building, its interior courtyards are made of brightly painted wood, which satisfied my need for exoticism. Even in the twenty-first century, I felt like I was a long way away from home. Nawang Otsab, the deputy lama, was a large, burly guy in his 40s who wore an orange knitted beanie cap and a gleaming windcheater to keep the chill off. He escorted us into an upper room with a low-roofed ceiling and a wood-burning fire for warmth. As we sat cross-legged around a modest table, eating dried apricots and cashew nuts, Geltsen served as my translator for the evening. A Russian visitor had visited the monastery and claimed to have discovered a text concerning Jesus studying in India, which I described to the monks as the reason for my visit. Did he have any information about it? Nawang Otsab nodded, acknowledging that he was familiar with the story. In his mind – and in the minds of others in Ladakh who were aware of the allegations – the tale was that Jesus had studied in the Hemis monastery. Notovitch’s gospel, on the other hand, does not tell that narrative. Is this desolate part of India the best spot on the planet to gaze at the night sky?
This guide will provide you with all you need to know about visiting the Himalayas

The probability that such a text existed in the monastery library was something I wanted to know, so I inquired.
Nawang Otsab shook his shoulders and stated he had no idea.
It appeared to be the most improbable of all possible answers.

I thought he was being too honest when he said the book did not exist, but he was also too conscious of the significance of the narrative to the monastery’s fortunes