He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

« BEHOLD AN ISRAELITE INDEED
IN WHOM THERE IS NO GUILE » (Jn 1.47)

On the eve of the creation of the state of Israel in 1947, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were « reputed to be Jewish in origin and in religion », seemed « to impose the idea that the land where they were buried is as Jewish, wrote the Abbé de Nantes, as the land where Abraham and Sarah were buried in the cave of Macpela, guaranteeing their descendants’ sacred right to possess the land of Canaan, the Promised Land (Gn 23 and 25) ¹. » But going beyond the political horizon of that time, our Father showed, above all, that the fragment of a copy of Saint Mark’s Gospel discovered in Cave 7 designated the Roman Church as the true heiress of Israel.

Now, an attentive study of the content of these manuscripts leads us to conclude, just as the best specialists have done, that the most religious Jews were ready to recognise and follow the Messiah announced by the prophets when John the Baptist appeared, the last and the greatest of them, in AD 28.

THE ESSENIANS

The existence of the Essenians is made known to us by Flavius Josephus, Philo of Alexandria and Pliny the Elder. In the light of the Qumrân manuscripts, we now know their doctrine in depth. They seem to stem from a Jewish “counter-reformation” movement born in the beginning of the second century BC, as a reaction out of fidelity to the traditional religion by the more religious Jews against the Seleucid sovereign Antiochus Epiphanes, who instituted an autolatrous “cult of man” at Jerusalem, in place of the cult to Yahweh, and uttered words of pride and blasphemy against God, as mentioned in the book of Daniel (Dn 7.20-25).

The archaeological site at Qumrân, in the vicinity of the caves where the Scrolls had lain dormant for two thousand years, has yielded Seleucid and Tyrian coins that allow one to date the beginning of its inhabitation from 110 BC. The fact that coins of Herod the Great are scarce proves that the site was abandoned during the reign of this prince. Archaeology has revealed that they took up residence in an “Essenian quarter” established in Jerusalem, to the south of where we now see the Abbey of the Dormition,. The Essenians brotherhood prepared the Lord’s coming during the century that preceded His birth, first in Qumrân, then in Jerusalem.

However, at Qumrân, coins become abundant again with the reign of Archelaus, the son of Herod the Great, who succeeded his father in Judea, and whom Saint Joseph distrusted when he came back from Egypt (Mt 2.22). , Archaeology attests to a second phase in the inhabitation of the site after Christ’s birth, which came to an end during the summer of the year AD 68, when Vespasian destroyed the fortifications of Jericho and garrisoned his troops at Qumrân to control the Judean desert.

So, this second period is contemporaneous with the thirty years of Jesus’ hidden life in Nazareth, with the mission of John the Baptist, His Precursor, with Our Lord’s public life, with His Passion and Resurrection, and with the Church’s birth and the Apostles’ preaching causing her expansion in the East and the West. From then on, « the mysterious figure of the Baptist is seen against a precise backdrop instead of arising from a world unknown to us ² », wrote Father Daniélou. Not only the figure of the Baptist, but also that of Jesus, whose Precursor he was and who was entrusted with pointing Him out: « He is the Chosen One of God. » (Jn 1.34) Not only Jesus’ figure, but that of Peter, on whom Jesus founded His Church, and of Paul who spread it to the ends of the earth.

I. JOHN THE BAPTIST, THE PRECURSOR

When one opens the Gospel, everything begins during autumn of AD 28 with the baptism administered by John, son of Zechariah, at « Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan » (Jn 1.28), on the river’s east bank, just before it flows into the Dead Sea, a few kilometres to the north of Qumrân, which is situated on the western bank.

This region is called the “desert of Judea” by Saint Matthew, but Saint Luke uses a different formula: « The word of God came to John in the desert » (Lk 3.2), as if “the desert” does not designate any type of desert region but a determined place. This is as we say today “the desert of the Carthusian monastery” to designate the precise place where Saint Hugh led Saint Bruno. Now, “the desert” is precisely the expression used by the hermits of Qumrân to designate the region where they had gone into exile, under the guidance of the “Master of Justice,” their founder.

During the last days of Herod the Great, when Saint John the Baptist and Jesus were born, the « desert » was Jerusalem where the « children of light » were encamped, with a view to the great war that was to oppose them to the « sons of darkness » at the end of time. Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, who was a priest, officiated in the Temple rebuilt by Herod, the friend of the Essenians . The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus’ description of Herod’s Temple is indeed identical to the detailed instructions contained in The Scroll of the Temple, found in Cave 11 (11 QT).

This is not surprising, since this document refers to a temporary Temple, in the expectation of the one that God himself would construct at the end of time (11 QT 29, 9-10). Moreover, Herod called in the Essenians to work on this construction site and settled them in Jerusalem in a kind of entrenched camp, the “Essenian quarter.” This quarter occupied the entire south-west portion of present-day Mount Zion, and Herod made an opening in the old city wall to construct the Gate of the Essenians.

After Herod’s death, in the first year of our era, as we established in connection with the date of Christ’s birth (Herodian Chronology, CCR n^o 326, January 2000), they went back to Qumrân. It was at that time that John, the little son of the priest Zechariah and Elisabeth, was welcomed, during the period of the second colonisation of the banks of the Dead Sea, « in the desert » that Saint Luke talks about, « until the day he appeared openly to Israel » (Lk 1.80).

For we know through Flavius Josephus that the Essenians, having no children of their own, would « adopt children at a tender age so that their minds could easily be penetrated by their teachings. (Jewish War, II, 120).

John lived on locusts and wild honey (Mk 1.6); the Document of Damascus, of which parts of at least ten copies were found at Qumrân, specifies that locusts must either be roasted or boiled alive. John abstained from wine and all fermented drink; Essenians drank only sweet wine. John appears to be an ascetic, unlike Christ, as Jesus himself was to remark (Lk 7.33-34), but just like the “monks” of Qumrân, John was not married; celibacy was a characteristic of the Essenians. Etc.

Points of similarity are numerous, including the neighbourly relations with one of Herod the Great’s sons, Herod Antipas, to whom Pilate would send Jesus during the Passion (Lk 23.7-12). This prince had a palace in Jericho and a fortress at Macheronte, just opposite Qumrân, on the far shore of the Dead Sea. Saint Mark mentions that Herod « was in awe of John, knowing him to be a good and upright man. When he heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him » (Mk 6.20). He, therefore, reluctantly sacrificed him to Herodias’ condemnation (Mt 14.3-12).

On the other hand, Saint John the Baptist saved all his harshness for Pharisees and Sadducees: « Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming retribution? » he hurled at those who came to be baptised (Mt 3.7). This extremely violent expression is borrowed from the scroll of Hymns discovered in Cave 1, which stigmatises the « creatures of the serpent ».

Whereas John the Baptist said to all souls of good will, including publicans and sinners: « A voice cries: “Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh. » (Is 40.3). This oracle from Isaiah is used by the Precursor to define his own mission (Jn 1.23; cf. Mt 3.3; Mk 1.3; Lk 3.4). Now, the Rule of the Community twice alludes to this same oracle to justify the fleeing into the desert by those who seceded from the Jerusalem priesthood. It is not a coincidence. It signifies that for John as for the “monks” of Qumrân, the End is near and that the time of salvation is already dawning.

JOHN’S BAPTISM

John the Baptist’s mission was to prepare hearts for God’s visit, by preaching them a conversion (Mt 3.8), whose sign was a baptism of repentance in the living water of the River Jordan. Derived from the total immersion baptisms practised at Qumran, John’s baptism was a preparation for a definitive baptism in the Holy Spirit, that would be administered by the One the strap of whose sandals John said that he was not fit to undo, and who would come after him.

Now, this effusion of the Holy Spirit was anticipated at Qumrân, in precisely the same spirit, as an inner renewal: « Then God will purge for Himself the heart of man », we read in the Rule of the Community, « by suppressing every spirit of perversity in his carnal members and purifying him through the Spirit of holiness ».

According to John the Baptist, as well as to the scribes of Qumrân, it was urgent to convert, for judgement was imminent, a judgement that would separate the wheat from the chaff doomed to the « fire that will never go out » (Mt 3.12). The image of the winnower separating the chaff from the good grain on the threshing floor, figuring the judgement of “the Strong Man” to come, can be read in a text of Cave 4, and that of the « axe being laid to the root of the trees » (Mt 3.10), in the Apocrypha of Genesis found in Cave 1.

What the Rule of the Community requires of its members is a « true conversion » exactly what John calls the « fruit of repentance » (Mt 3.8).

When the Jews of Jerusalem sent people to ask John: « Are you the Messiah? », he replied in the negative (Jn 1.21). This is another resemblance with the “Master of Justice” who never presented himself as the Messiah.

However, unlike the baptism of Qumrân, John’s is never repeated and, for that reason, assumes the aspect of an initiation. It introduces those who profess an active expectation of the Messiah into the community of the « brothers » who would be ready to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of the Pentecost, in order to build His Church with « living stones ».

Does not a fragment found in Cave 4 announce « a sanctuary made out of men (miqdash’adam) », created by the hand of God, already anticipated in the eschatological community of Qumrân? This is the reason why Saint John the Baptist said that « from these stones (‘abânîm) » God could raise « sons (bânîm) for Abraham » (Mt 3.9).

After having refused to believe in him, the « brothers of Jesus » came over to Christ after Pentecost, in successive influxes, until they disappeared entirely. They were absorbed into the Christian community, while the Pharisees, their enemies of old, rose from Jerusalem’s ashes after the Jewish War, to found at Yabné an antichrist rabbinical tradition. They instituted the tevilah, ³ the “baptism of proselytes,” in order to copy that of the Christians.

While underlining to what extent, by this shared expectation, « the similarity between the Baptist’s milieu and Qumrân’s is astonishing », Father Daniélou hastens to show the specificity of John the Baptist’s vocation:

« Must it be said that John is only a great Essenian prophet? It is possible that he was an Essenian. It is more probable that he was only within the Essenian sphere of influence. What is sure is that he had a personal vocation. “The word of God came to him in the desert” (Lk 3.2). He therefore had his own message, and, what is more, “John’s disciples” appear on several occasions as a group completely distinct from the Essenians (Jn 3.25). »

So, what is his « specific message »? It is not only « to announce the imminence of God’s visit, the coming of the Messiah and the effusion of the Spirit, as the Essenians were already doing at Qumrân. It is to testify that the “visit” has arrived, that the Messiah is present, that the Spirit is poured out. It is his designating Jesus as realisation of the expected event.⁴ » It is with this intention that John the Baptist left Qumrân one day and began to perform with authority not far from there, in the living waters of the Jordan, a unique baptism, as a precursorory sign of the baptism that the Messiah would soon administer. The unique, incomparable role of John the Baptist, at the junction of the Old and the New Testament, at the heart of salvation history, was proclaimed by Jesus himself:

« In truth I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. » (Mt 11.11)

THE RETURN TO THE DESERT

Photo of the Qumrân site, from the west, the chalk cliff in the foreground constitutes the eastern edge of the desert of Judea and overlooks the Dead Sea, in the background. Before fleeing in AD 68 from the approach of Vespasian's armies, the « brothers » of the community – this is how among themselves they referred to one other – hid their manuscripts in the natural caves of the cliff face, about two kilometres from the shore. They buried them as well in holes dug with their own hands in the side of the marly terrace cut by erosion, on which the “monastery” ruins stand, visible on the left. In all, there were eleven hiding places where lay a fabulous treasure; vestiges of a “library” of nearly eight hundred works, whose deciphering has now been completed. It remains for someone to collect the fruit before it is once again buried by those who « have their ears dulled, have shut their eyes tight to avoid using their eyes to see, their ears to hear, their heart to understand, so that they change their ways. » (Ac 28.27; cf.  Rm 11.7-11) The map represents the current political divisions of the region between the Mediterranean to the west, Mesopotamia to the east, Anatolia to the north and the Arabian peninsula to the south.

II. THE CHOSEN ONE OF GOD

When Jesus appears, he begins by submitting to John’s Baptism: « John tried to dissuade him: “It is I who need baptism from you, and yet you come to me!” But Jesus replied: “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that uprightness demands.” Then John gave in to him. » (Mt 3.14-15)

The scene takes place at « Bethany beyond the Jordan » (Jn 1.28) a few kilometres from Qumrân, a site that Jordanian archaeologists have since 1995 uncovered near the source of the Wadi Kharrar, under the initiative and the leadership of Father Michele Piccirillo, a Franciscan archaeologist ⁵.

In this place, which preserves the memory of the passage of the Hebrews into the Promised Land as well as the prophet Elijah’s ascent to heaven, the excavation has uncovered, the foundations of a monastery, the laura at Sapsaphas, along with its mosaics and the water cisterns constructed on its perimeter, as at Qumrân, except that they are not Essenian baths of purification, but the baptisteries of the early Christians!

There, Jesus descended into the water, but then, the roles were reversed. It is He who sanctified the water, that it may become the source of justice for sinners. And John the Baptist saw the Spirit come down on Jesus: « I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptise with water had said to me: “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is to baptise with the Holy Spirit I have seen and I testify that he is the Chosen One of God”. » (Jn 1.33-34)

« Then Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. » (Mt 4.1). Must we yet again simply identify the « desert », without further indication, with « the Essenians’ settlement »? Father Daniélou did not hesitate to reply in the affirmative: « In addition, the traditional place of the temptation [the “Mount of the Forty Days,” thus known because Jesus spent forty days there] is on the cliff, where the manuscripts were found, a little to the north of Qumrân. It is not just the theme of temptation that brings to mind the monks of Qumrân: for them, man is divided between the devils’ influence and that of the angels. It is the essence of their doctrine; now, it is said that Christ was tempted by the devil and then the angels served him.⁶ »

We are even more “tempted” to agree that Father Daniélou is right, since he refers to the Gospel according to Saint Mark: « And he remained there for forty days, and was put to the test by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels looked after him. » (Mk 1.13) Now, the Gospel according to Saint Mark was read at Qumrân, as is shown by 7Q5, a remnant of a copy of this Gospel discovered in Cave 7.

FROM THE MIDDLE TESTAMENT TO THE TESTIMONY OF THE PRECURSOR
Opposite: Aerial view of Qumrân, taken from the south, situated on the marly terrace. In the foreground is the wadi that flows towards the Dead Sea; at the foot of the steep cliffs of a first promontory that is riddled with caves where the manuscripts had lain. Cave 4 is the furthest off. On the terrace of a second promontory, Khirbet Qumrân, are the ruins of the “monastery,” the substitute for the Jerusalem Temple, a veritable “camp of saints” who remained faithful to the tradition of the Fathers.
Interior of Cave 4, which provided the most abundant collection of manuscripts: close to 1,500 fragments mixed with a thick layer of debris. The lateral opening was made to allow ventilation and the removal of rubble.   The Ain Kharrar Spring, close to which was located the town of Bethany, « on the far side of the Jordan », where John the Baptist began to preach and to baptise (Jn 1.28). This is where Jesus came to be baptised in the waters of the Jordan

JESUS AND HIS “BROTHERS”

But let us turn to the question that has caused much ink to be spilled. For Epiphany, La Croix devoted a double page to « the sensational news regarding the discovery of an ossuary, which bears this perfectly legible inscription, which has made a world tour: Jacob (the Hebrew name for James) son of Yosef (Joseph), brother of Yeschua (Jesus).

It is obvious: “James’ ossuary”, presently on exposition at the Toronto museum, “proves” that James and Jesus were both sons of Joseph and Mary, The author of the article agrees: « Just like other archaeological evidence, whether established or not, above all this sensational news happens to confirm that Jesus became man”.

Born like us from a man and a woman.

A conversation with a “Jesuit exegete” is all that is needed to disorient the good and trusting reader:

«  Will not this discovery, if it proves to be exact (sic!), jeopardise some well-established principles of the faith? we asked him.

–  People who really put everything on the same level may be troubled, or may even deny this type of discovery. If this ossuary is indeed that of James, this can disturb, not the essence of the faith, but at most a certain notion of the virginity of Mary. »

He means, in plain language that the virginity of Mary is not physical but spiritual.

He is not even honest, because he fails to specify that this ossuary was discovered in the private collection of an Israeli. As if credible conclusions could be drawn from such an “excavation site” For it is almost as “sensational” as the medieval dating of the Holy Shroud of Turin. The fraud is really too conspicuous. But this Jesuit is an exegete and not an archaeologist. Therefore, as an exegete, we will ask him but one question:

If James, the brother of Jesus, is truly born of Joseph, how is it that he is never mentioned in the Gospel accounts of Christ’s childhood regarding the life of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph? And how is it that « the brothers of Jesus » appear only at the beginning of the Saviour’s public life, as a group distinct from that of his disciples?” ⁷

According to the Gospels (Mt 13.55 and parallels) Jesus, in fact, has four « brothers »: James (or Jacob), Joseph (or Joset), Simon and Jude (or Judah). James, « brother of Jesus » or « brother of the Lord » is mentioned as well in the Acts of the Apostles and by Saint Paul as head of the Church of Jerusalem. It is he who was put to death by the Jews in 62 AD.

The debate focuses on the meaning of the word « brother ». The Protestants interpret it in the strict sense as blood brothers. By dint of attending ecumenical seminars, Catholics no longer know whether the Blessed Virgin is physically a virgin. Father Refoulé, a Dominican, even wrote a book to deny this. It is not the least of the blasphemies made against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Qumrân entirely renews the question. Until the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church replied to Protestants that brother meant cousin. From a purely exegetical point of view, that was not absolutely satisfying. But faith in the perpetual Virginity of Mary, before, during and after the birth of Jesus, faith in Mary ever Virgin, remained “non-negotiable.” Even a thousand difficulties do not create a single doubt regarding this truth, which has never required a dogmatic definition in order to impose itself, so much is it an integral part of faith in the Incarnation of the Word, outside of which there is no salvation for the world.

Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the key of the enigma is much simpler and should exempt « researchers » from discovering the explanation from among the knick-knacks of an Israeli!

For, the Essenians formed a community whose members were called « brothers », according to the terminology current in Israel (Ex 2.11; 4.18; Dt 1.16, 28 and passim), but in a stricter sense, « brothers » were those who had entered into the alliance of the faithful priests, « the Sons of Zadok » and « the men of their alliance », bound by some sort of reciprocal engagement to observe the Law in common: « They will reprimand one another in truth and in humility and in affectionate charity towards each one prescribes the Rule of the community. Let no one speak to his brother with anger or grumbling. » (5.25)

Now, Jesus does not say anything else: « You have heard how it was said to our ancestors: “You shall not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you, anyone who is angry with a brother will answer for it before the court; anyone who calls a brother: “Fool” will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and anyone who calls him “Traitor” will answer for it in hell fire. (Mt 5.21-22)

In the scroll of the Hymns, the Master of Justice compares himself to a father: « You have placed me as a father for the sons of grace. » Elsewhere, it is God himself who is called « a father for the sons of truth », that is the members of the Community. Jesus does not speak differently: « Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother. » (Mk 3.35). It is clear!

Let us recapitulate: in the Baptist’s entourage, Jesus recruits his first disciples. Among them, Saint John seems particularly familiar with the notions of Qumrân that can be found throughout his Gospel and his Epistles: the dualism of light and darkness struggling against each other, the fight against the « prince of this world », the designation of the Paraclete as « the Spirit of Truth », the expression: « do the truth » have parallels in the writings of Qumrân. One could be tempted, wrote Father Daniélou, to think that John the Evangelist was an Essenian. This is especially so, since « the Essenians are never mentioned in the Gospel, and the reason could well be that, for Christ, they correspond to the “poor of Israel”, to the “true Israelites” whom Jesus loved and favoured.

For it is under this denomination that Jesus recruits Nathanael, who was led to Jesus by Philip and who was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter: « Behold  an Israelite in whom there is no guile » (Jn 1.47) So, the first five disciples whom Jesus received from His Precursor from the first days, gave him their faith based on the testimony of John, but they were undoubtedly prepared by the « brothers » of Qumrân.

THE PASCH OF THE ESSENIENS

The contacts that Jesus had with the community of the « brothers » of Qumrân are attested to by the fact, well established by Annie Jaubert, that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper on a Tuesday evening, the Paschal day of the Essenians.⁸ This is yet again the key to one of the most difficult enigmas of New Testament exegesis.

The Synoptic Gospels present the Last Supper as a Paschal meal. They place it on the eve of the Pasch. But according to Saint John, Jesus was crucified before Passover. We thus can make the deduction that Jesus instituted the Eucharist in the evening two days before, during a meal, which can no longer be the Passover meal, which contradicts the Synoptic Gospels. Nevertheless, it must be observed that Saint John does not mention the institution of the Eucharist.

The solution is that there existed two ordo’s for the celebration of the Pasch. Annie Jaubert has shown that the people of Qumrân used a priestly calendar of 364 days, composed of four quarters of 91 days, each formed of thirteen weeks. Based on this “traditionalist” calendar, since the year has fifty-two weeks, the feasts inevitably fall on the same day of the month and of the week.

Now, in this calendar, the Pasch always fell on a Wednesday. As the feast opened the evening before, Christ therefore celebrated the Last Supper on Tuesday evening, the eve of the Pasch in the Essenian calendar. And He was crucified on the eve of Pasch of the “new ordo”, the official Passover, which fell on a Saturday in that particular year.

This is crystal clear!

The finding of the Qumrân calendar is a wonderful discovery. It entirely renews our knowledge of Our Lord’s Passion, It was difficult to understand how all the events, the multiple appearances before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, then back before Pilate could fit into the single night from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday! But everything becomes clear if the events take place over a two-day period from Holy Wednesday to Maundy Thursday.

THE “YEAST OF HEROD”

Jesus’ circle of relations, friends and disciples presents many affinities with these Essenians, whose members did not all live in cloistered “camps”. According to Philo of Alexandria, there would have been Essenians all over Palestine, and Flavius Josephus speaks of a second order of married Essenians.

What caps the proof is John’s disillusioned observation, according to which « Even his brothers did not believe in him. » (Jn 7.5). It is within this same circle of anawîm, « the poor of Israel », « His brothers », « true Israelites » (Jn 1.47), in which He had grown up and where He had recruited many of His friends and disciples, that Jesus was also exposed to « contradiction », as Simeon had foretold to the Blessed Virgin, His Mother (Lk 2.34-35).

After the miracle of Cana, Jesus goes down to Capharnaum, « with his mother and his brothers and his disciples » (Jn 2.12). Speaking of His disciples, John writes that they « believed » in Jesus, after the manifestation of His « glory » at Cana of Galilee where He wrought the first of his « signs » by changing water into wine. And « his brothers »? On this occasion, they do not yet appear to be hostile. But it would seem that they scarcely noticed the passing miracle of water changed into wine obtained through Mary’s intercession.

Subsequently, they will display a tenacious opposition as revealed at Capharnaum when they intervene to carry Our Lord off by force from His circle of disciples.

Finally, He will meet with the fatal opposition of the “Herodian-Essenians”, the traditional enemies of the Pharisees but become their friends in order to plot His death. In this, Jesus again followed the path opened by Saint John the Baptist, the friend of Herod and yet put to death on his orders.9

And « his brothers » imitated those of Joseph in the Old Testament, who plotted his death and were the cause of his glorification by which he saved all of them. But, after the Lord’s Ascension, they are still there gathered around the Apostles, « in the upper room where they were staying », quite distinct, but converted: « With one heart all these joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. » (Acts 1.14)

CHRISTIAN TREASURE IN CAVE 7 The Abbé de Nantes referred to the documents that are specific to the Essenian community – such as the Document of Damascus, the Rule of the Community, the Scroll of Hymns, above all, the commentaries of the Holy Scripture, such as the Commentary on Habakkuk, as well as the Scroll of the Temple – as the “Middle Testament.” They are a link between the Old Testament, all the books of which are represented at Qumrân – with the exception of the Book of Esther – sometimes by entire rolls, as is the case for the two scrolls of the Prophet Isaiah, and innumerable fragments of other books. But the rare pearl of this treasure that the Abbé de Nantes did not hesitate to qualify as a « royal gift of Jesus to his Church » (CCR no 241), is fragment no 5 (7Q5), discovered in Cave 7.  Although tiny, it definitely belonged to a complete scroll of the Gospel according to Saint Mark, copied around year 50. Thus, the “Middle Testament” is « like a passage between two buildings, or the pontoon bridge thrown by Darius the Mede over the Hellespont, soon to be dispersed by a storm », namely the Jewish War that closed with the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70, and put an end to the occupation of Qumrân.
Fragments of papyrus from Cave 7 dated by papyrologists as being from the first half of the first century according to the writing style. The identification of the first two fragments, in the top left corner, and from left to right, is established and accepted by everyone. The first one (7Q1) conserves some parts of Exodus 28.4-7 spread over eleven lines in two pieces: a fragment of nine lines and a fragment of two lines. The reconstruction of each of these elements supposes a column of fifteen lines, with a width of about five and a half centimetres. The number of letters per line (below), or “stichometry,” varies between sixteen and twenty-two letters. The second fragment (7Q2) is a trace of a passage of Jeremiah’s letter (Ba 6.43-44): twenty-two letters lacking distinctive characteristics.  And nevertheless, they only have to be superimposed over the passage of the Septuagint, well selected by Fathers Benoit and Boismard, for their identification to be certain without any possible dispute. Moreover, it has not met any opposition among scholars. Length of the lines: between twenty-one and twenty-three letters.  Below, the restoration of the passage of the Gospel according to Saint Mark (Mk 6.52-53) preserved in 7Q5, in five lines with the same stichometry as 7Q1 and 7Q2:		Large wide-mouthed earthenware amphora, from Cave 7.  On the shoulder, the name Rôma’, Rome, visible above to the right, painted in black. Probably from a potter's workshop unearthed in the ruins of Qumrân, these jars, of which a great many were found, were destined to conserve not only provisions, water, oil, grain, dried vegetables, but also to store parchment scrolls or papyrus manuscripts wrapped in linen cloth. Close-up of the word “Rome” written in Hebrew characters, signature of Essenians converted to Christianity and who had been entrusted by the « Roman » community of Jerusalem with hiding its manuscripts in Cave 7, at the beginning of the Jewish War.
[understood not] concerning [the loaves,] [for] their [heart was clos-] ed.       53 And having crossed, [they arrived at] Gennesareth [and] drew alongside.    54 [and they came out] The words visible on the papyrus are left outside the brackets.

III. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Jesus ascended to Heaven without leaving any other guideline for the administration of His Church save this: « All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. » (Mt 28.18-19) « Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. » (Mk 16.16) As the Abbé de Nantes explains in his catechetics on the sacraments: « For all time and unconditionally the command was given to join word and action together: sacrament and preaching. ¹⁰ »

Without hesitation or delay, Saint Peter obeyed right from the day of the Pentecost. First by preaching, recalling the events of Jesus’ Passion, the memory of which was in everyone’s minds, and proclaiming the faith to obtain the conversion of hearts: « “The Lord and Christ whom God has made is this Jesus whom you crucified.” Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles: “What are we to do, brothers?” Peter answered: “You must repent, and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. » (Ac 2.36-38)

THE SACRAMENTS

And to these “words” he added the “deed”: « They accepted what he said and were baptised. » (2.41)

The “deed” comes from John the Baptist, as Saint Peter recalled on the day of the election of Matthias when it was a question of finding someone who « has been with us the whole time that the Lord Jesus “went in and out” among us, beginning from the time when John was baptising » (Ac 1.22). It was a deed known to them all. This explains why the texts are silent over the way the Apostles and their first successors administered baptism.

Early Christian baptism succeeded the baptism of John, without hesitation or delay, continuing to administer this bath of water but now enhanced by a form of words. As practised at Qumrân, baptism had a purely natural and figurative significance, but, now that it is Christian, its significance is spiritual and supernatural: « I baptise you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. » What could be more clear? The body is washed, the total being is purified by the Spirit; it is reborn to a new life, justified, christianised and adopted as a child of God, brother of Christ and temple of the Holy Spirit. That is how it is ¹¹.

The Christian community had hardly been born of the wave of conversions brought about through Peter’s words, that it cast its institutions in the mould of those of the Essenians’.

Jesus had said, « on the night he was betrayed » (1 Co 11.23), after having instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist: « Do this in remembrance of Me. » (Lk 22.19) Without hesitation or delay, the Apostles obeyed, modelling themselves on the ceremonies practised daily at Qumrân where the priest opened the meal with a blessing of the first fruits of the bread and of the wine.

This explains why the Apostles showed no surprise at the institution of the Eucharist. And ever since, « the Action of Christ kept in His memory should have become the essential rite of the Christian Community since Pentecost, because in doing it He had intimated the order to His Apostles to reproduce it until He come again. It is “the Breaking of Bread” which, without any essential change, has never ceased to be celebrated throughout all the centuries and in every county where the Church has spread, down to our day. ¹²»

THE HIERARCHY

The community of Qumrân, was headed by a twelve-member council and three priests. Jesus chose twelve Apostles and, among them, there were three privileged ones: Peter, James and John. In the Rule of the Community it is said that the Twelve « are witnesses to the truth in view of the judgement. » Jesus said to his Apostles: « You yourselves will sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. (Mt 19.28).

The Rule goes on: « It is the tried wall, the precious cornerstone; its foundations will not tremble and will not be shaken. » (VIII, 4-8)

« You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the Gates of Hell will not prevail against her. » (Mt 16.18)

Thus, contrary to everything that was said at the Second Vatican Council and since, to discredit the hierarchy, as being a subsequent invention that Jesus would not have wanted, not only is it not subsequent, but it is prior! Jesus did not even have to invent it. Loisy claimed that Jesus could not have wanted to found a Church, since He believed the end times were imminent. It was only after Him, seeing that the “end” was not coming, that the Apostles supposedly had organised themselves in a lasting hierarchy, inspired from the Hellenistic world. But the people of Qumrân also believed the end times were imminent, and yet they were strongly hierarchical.

Therefore, the establishment of a hierarchy by Jesus appears to be deeply rooted in the very milieu in which He lived. And the model that has inspired the structure of the Church is not to be sought in the Hellenistic world, but in the Palestinian Jewish milieu... quite simply!

CONCLUSION
DIVINE ORTHRODOMY

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls providentially reopened for the conversion of the Jews a door cleverly closed for twenty centuries by the rabbis of Pharisee allegiance of Yabné,., After the destruction of the Temple, they created around AD 85-90 a liturgy for the Synagogue that imitated the Christian liturgy: these Pharisees were not concerned with remaining faithful to the Mosaic Alliance; their sole preoccupation was to supplant the new and eternal Alliance that had expanded rapidly starting from the year 30.

The conversion of the Jews, that we ask of God, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, will be for them, to experience their “Road of Damascus,” like Saint Paul! For in the obscure history of the origins of the Essenians, Damascus played an important role. At least ten copies of the “Document of Damascus” have been found in the caves of Qumrân. It is the manifesto of the Yahwist communion, faithful to the traditional religion, against the Pharisees and the corrupted priests of Jerusalem. We can read in the Document of Damascus that « those who came out of the country of Judea, and lived in the country of Damascus » belong to this communion.

Why did they « come out of the country of Judea »? Because of the apostasy that reigned in Jerusalem. Why did they go into exile in the « country of Damascus »? Because the prophet Amos had announced that God would chastise Israel and would deport its inhabitants « beyond Damascus », but that a small « remnant » would come back.

The Essenians appropriated this prophecy, in the second century BC, when the Yahwist religion was nearly annihilated by the apostasy of the Jews who “opened up to the Greek world” and abandoned the practice of the Law. And two hundred years later, they proved that they were indeed, as they had professed, the small remnant according to God’s Heart, by providing the first wave of conversions to Christianity. Whereas the Pharisees persisted in persecuting the Apostles, they provided this small « remnant » that converted.

Now, in the beginning, Saint Paul was not among them; since he was a Pharisee, he was hostile to the Essenians, and therefore relentless against the Christians. But then, on the road to Damascus he understood that it was they who were right!

Indeed, the resurrected Christ revealed Himself to him, and he did not need anyone else to instruct him: « When God, who had set me apart from the time when I was in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I should preach him to the gentiles, I was in no hurry to confer with any human being, or to go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me. Instead, I went off to Arabia, and later I came back to Damascus. » (Ga 1.15-17)

But precisely in Damascus he was in contact with Christians who came from Essenianism. All sorts of expressions dear to Saint Paul are there to prove it beyond any doubt. In the account that he makes of his conversion to King Agrippa and his sister Bernice, Paul recalls words heard from Our Lord’s mouth:

« I send you to the Nations to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the domination of Satan to God, and receive through faith in me, forgiveness of their sins and a share in the inheritance of the saints. » (Ac 26.17-18)

« Equivalents of all these expressions can be found in the manuscripts of Qumrân, Daniélou observes, from “to open their eyes” to “the inheritance of the saints”. »

When the Apostle writes that « we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware » (2 Co 4.7), this image of the disciple’s fragility, even once converted, is borrowed from the Scroll of Hymns. Or again, when Paul writes: « God chose us to share in the inheritance of the saints », an expression used in the Rule of the Community can be recognised: « God gave them an inheritance in the portion of the saints. »

The theme of the struggle between light and darkness appears in Saint Paul, as in Saint John, in terms that cannot leave any doubt of their Qumrânite origin: « Let us throw off everything that belongs to the darkness and equip ourselves for the light. » (Rm 13.12)

« What can light and darkness have in common? How can Christ come to an agreement with Belial? » (2 Co 6.14) This name given to the Prince of darkness is only found here in the New Testament. But it is common at Qumrân.

Another expression, « angel of Satan » (2 Co 12.7), appears to be borrowed from the Document of Damascus (16, 5).

The notion of mystery, meaning a revelation of divine secrets, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, corresponds to a major theme of the Qumrân writings. Scholarly analogies established with the pagan “mysteries”, dear to most commentators, are therefore out of season...

And the very content of this “mystery” of Redemption according to Saint Paul is not without analogy to the one of which the “Master of Justice” had received knowledge, and for which he gave thanks in the Scroll of Hymns: « I thank you, my God, for having revealed to me your marvellous mysteries. » The doctrine of justification, for example, is well prepared in it: contrary to the Pharisees, who based themselves on the works of the Law, the Essenians had an intimate sense of sin, and of original sin, which they called « the stain of man »:

« Man lives in iniquity from his birth; justice does not belong to him », we read in the Scroll of Hymns. That is why they awaited a redeemer who would deliver them from sin.

The parallel between the doctrine of justification according to Saint Paul and the doctrine of justification taught in Qumrân, is not only manifest, but it enhances the novelty of Christianity: « Now it is obvious that nobody is reckoned as upright in God’s sight by the Law, since the upright will live through faith. » (Ga 3.11) Saint Paul relies on the same passage of the Book of Habakkuk (Ha 2.4), as the Commentary on Habakkuk, one of the first scrolls found in cave 1. The same verse is applied therein to « all those who practise the Law in the House of Judea, whom God will save from judgement because of their sufferings and their faith in the Master of Justice ».

« The similarity is quite striking, but the difference immediately stands out, explains Daniélou. For Saint Paul, faith in Christ that justifies through grace is opposed to the Law; at Qumrân, on the contrary, faith is bound to the Law; since it is faith in the Master of Justice that teaches how to fulfil the Law. « This almost appears to be a controversy of Saint Paul against Qumrânite thought. ¹³ » Evidently!

Thus, Judaism in its purest form finds a perfect fulfilment in the « mystery » preached by Saint Paul. Yet, only a small number agreed to convert. So, Saint Paul turned toward the pagans, with such a success that a massive entry of the Jews in the Church would not have allowed. That is why the Apostle saw in the hardening of their heart’s God’s providential will that was to be positive and temporary, paving the way for their conversion in the future: « Since their rejection meant the reconciliation of the world, do you know what their re-acceptance will mean? Nothing less than life from the dead! » (Rm 11.15)

brother Bruno of Jesus

(1) Georges de Nantes, The “7Q5”, Fragment of Saint Mark, Royal Gift of Jesus to His Church, CCR n^o 241, July-August 1991, p. 11.

(2) Jean Daniélou, Les manuscrits de la mer Morte et les origines du christianisme, éd. Orante, 1974, p. 13.

(3) Bruno Bonnet-Eymard, Salvation comes from the Jews, CCR n^o 315, January 1999, p. 16.

(4)  Op. cit., p. 21.

(5)  CRC no 327, February 2000, p. 8-9.

(6)  Op. cit., p. 22-23.

(7) Regarding this question, see our study published in CCR n^o 279, October 1995, p. 1-12.

(8) CCR n^o 261, October 1993, p. 15-16; CCR n^o 275, April 1995, p. 20-22.

(9) CCR n^o 279, October 1995, p.8; CCR n^o 316, February 1999, p. 8. 

(10) CCR n^o 93, December 1977, p. 4.

(11) CCR n^o 315, January 1999, p. 11 

(12) G. de Nantes, CCR no 96, March 1978, p. 5.

(13) Op. cit., p. 94.