I then had only the logical supposition that it was perhaps only because the room in which this sacred scene occurred, which was to have tremendous significance for the whole of my further life, was permeated through and through with the scent of a special incense brought from the monastery of “Old Athos” and very popular among followers of every shade of belief of the Christian religion. Whatever it may have been, this fact still now remains a bare fact. 122 BTG I

“On these survived totalities, by which, during recent times, they were in a strange manner inspired and from which with their bobtailed reason they borrowed ideas for the inventions of their still newer and newer religious teachings, there were based five relegions which still exist today, namely, those religions called: 1)The Buddhistic 2)The Hebrew 3)The Christian 4)The Mohammedan 5)The Lamaist. 3886 BTG XXXVIII

“They mixed in it a great deal from the teaching of Saint Moses which by that time had already been thoroughly distorted: and much later, namely, during the period which contemporary beings there called the ‘Middle Ages’, the so-called ‘elders of the church’ inserted into this Christian religion nearly the whole of that fantastic doctrine invented by those ‘learned’ beings in the city of Babylon, who belonged to the school of the dualists, about which I have already told you. 3906 BTG XXXVIII

“Now as regards the fourth great religion existing there now, which arose several centuries after the Christian religion, and was founded on the teaching of the full-of-hope Saint Mohammed, this religion at first spread there widely: and it might perhaps have become eventually a ‘hearth of hope and reconciliation’ for them all if these strange beings had not stirred this also into a hotchpotch. 3913 BTG XXXVIII

“The first half of the message, namely, that a University for Jewish youths was opening in the city of Jerusalem made it clear to me that this Christian religion also had already come to an end. 3933 BTG XXXVIII

“They produced these ‘wars’ or ‘crusades’ only in order that this city of Jerusalem — in which this Divine Teacher Jesus Christ had existed, suffered, and died — should become exclusively Christian; and during these Crusades of theirs nearly half the beings of male sex of that continent were completely destroyed. 3935 BTG XXXVIII

“And now in this same city of Jerusalem, they have opened their contemporary university for Jewish youths and almost certainly, too, with the common consent of all those same European Christian communities. 3936 BTG XXXVIII

“Although the present generation of ‘Jews’ are not direct enemies of Jesus Christ, yet they each also now have the conviction that this Jesus who appeared among their ancestors and came to be regarded as a Sacred Personality by all the followers of the Christian religion, was, quite simply, a fervent and sick ‘visionary’. 3938 BTG XXXVIII

“‘Although every man among us is permitted several wives and not simply one, as is the case here in Europe where the Christian religion which allows only one wife is predominant, yet the honesty and conscientiousness of our men towards their wives are beyond compare with the honesty and conscientiousness existing among men here towards their one wife and their family in general. 5982 BTG XLII

“‘Are there not? On the contrary; in that religion there were many more good customs than in any of the religions of today; in none of the ancient religious teachings were so many good regulations for ordinary everyday life laid down as in just that teaching on which this same Christian religion was founded. 6057 BTG XLII

“‘The only things new in these religious teachings, as I have said, are the small details, intentionally adapted by the great founders to the degree of mental perfection of the people of the given epoch. And so as the root of this same doctrine upon which the Christian religion is based there was placed almost the whole of the previously existing great teaching which is now called Judaism, whose followers once also numbered almost, as is said, half the “world”. 6062 BTG XLII

“‘The great founders of the Christian religion, having taken the Judaic doctrine as their basis, changed only its outer details according to the degree of mental development of the contemporaries of Jesus Christ, and in it they effectively provided for everything necessary for the welfare of people. 6063 BTG XLII

“‘At its origin there entered into this Christian religion, besides those specially established regulations for ordinary existence which met the needs of the contemporaries of Jesus Christ, also many excellent customs which were already in existence and had become well fixed in the life of the people who were followers of the Judaic religion. 6066 BTG XLII

“‘Even those good customs which now exist among you in the Mohammedan religion were transmitted to you from the Judaic religion. Take, for example, just that custom of “sooniat” or circumcision which you mentioned. This custom was at first contained in this Christian religion also, and in the beginning was obligatorily and strictly carried out by all its followers. Only subsequently did it very quickly and suddenly entirely disappear from the Christian religion. 6067 BTG XLII

“‘If you wish, my young friend, I will tell you in detail about the arising of this custom, and you will understand from it why a custom so good for the health and normal life of people was included in the Judaic religion, and since the Judaic doctrine was made the basis of the Christian religion, this custom also could not fail to be taken over and introduced into the process of the ordinary life of the followers of the Christian religion. 6068 BTG XLII

“‘And this custom together with many other ancient Judaic customs also reached the followers of the Christian religion, who at first observed it very strictly in their everyday life; but very soon, both this custom itself and even the information about its adoption among them similarly quickly disappeared from among the followers of this then still new religion. 6098 BTG XLII

“‘Except for the custom of polygamy, there is nothing in the Mohammedan religion which was not also in the Judaic as well as in the Christian teachings. 6100 BTG XLII

“‘The custom of polygamy, established on the basis of the scientific deductions of the then famous Arabian learned being Nasoolan El Aool, was introduced into the everyday life of people in general after the period founding of the Christian religion. 6101 BTG XLII

“‘They did this because at that time there were clearly manifest both the decline of the Christian religion and the disappearance in ordinary people of the capacity for contemplation, that is, for the state in which alone the truths indicated in the detailedly genuine religious teachings can be understood. 6103 BTG XLII

“‘For example, as you yourself have justly observed, thanks to circumcision and ablution one rarely finds among the followers of this religion either onanism or certain venereal diseases, and thanks to polygamy we see among the followers of this. religion such a reciprocal so to say psycho-organic maintenance of the foundation of family life as is almost entirely absent among the followers of the Christian religion. 6106 BTG XLII

“‘Of the useful customs originally contained in the Christian religion and which were introduced by the creators of that religion into the life of its followers for preservation of health and for the maintenance of the foundations of morality necessary for a happy life, nothing now remains except the custom of periodic fasting, that is, of abstaining at certain times of the year from the consumption of certain edible products. 6107 BTG XLII

“‘The changes now taking place in the process of this Christian custom of fasting are very characteristic and provide an excellent example for understanding how in general all the “good Christian customs” have little by little undergone change, until they have finally entirely ceased to exist. 6109 BTG XLII

“‘These Russian Orthodox Christians took their religion entirely from those called the “Orthodox Greeks”, from whom, together with many other Christian customs, this same custom of “fasting” also passed to them. 6111 BTG XLII

“‘He was considered by those around him a very good Christian and the patriarchial father of a family; he was descended from what they call the “Old Believers”.’ 6120 BTG XLII

“‘And so this worthy genuine Orthodox Christian, addressing me as “old dear”, said: “‘”Never mind, old dear! We shall soon be having Lent and then we shall feast together on real Russian dishes. 6125 BTG XLII

“‘After this prayer, this worthy Orthodox Russian Christian drained a monster glass of genuine refined Russian vodka and stared fondly at a little statue of “Venus and Psyche” which stood nearby. 6144 BTG XLII

“‘And indeed, my friend, almost every Russian Orthodox Christian has a similar idea of fasting and a similar attitude towards it. 6145 BTG XLII

“‘I personally find only one thing incomprehensible — from where did these Russian “sorry Orthodox” get the idea that during the Christian fasts, especially during Lent, the flesh of fish may be eaten? 6148 BTG XLII

“‘The result of a fast permitting the consumption of the fiesh of fish not only gives no shock at all to the fasters, but is even directly contrary to what the Divine Jesus Christ himself intended and taught, and for which this custom was established by the great creators of this Christian religion. 6151 BTG XLII

“‘In confirmation of what I have just told you, you I might as well, my young friend, listen to what I once chanced to read about Christian fasting in an ancient Judaic-Essenian manuscript. 6152 BTG XLII

“‘The custom of fasting was instituted and introduced into the Christian religion by the great secret Kelnuanian Council. 6154 BTG XLII

“‘This secret Kelnuanian Council was convened by all the followers of the then still new teaching of Jesus Christ in the locality of Kelnuk, Iying on the shores of the Dead Sea. Hence it is known in the history of the Christian religion as the Kelnuanian Council. 6155 BTG XLII

“‘”Concerning the definite conclusion at which I have arrived I can now tell you only this, that it will never happen on the Earth that all people will profess one and the same religion. Hence, in addition to our Christian religion, other religions will always exist. And it is not possible to be certain that the followers of these other religions will also abstain from consuming meat. 6171 BTG XLII

“These sacrificial offerings were most frequent during the Mohammedan feasts called ‘Bairam’ and ‘Goorban’, and likewise during the Christian feasts existing there under the name of ‘Shrovetide’, ‘Saint George’s Day’, and so on. 6646 BTG XLIII