Sabians

Sabians or Sabis are a religious group mentioned briefly in the Quran in verses 2:26, 5:69, & 22:17 and in the Bahai writings. Until recently little has been known of them and as a result much speculation has been excercised around them. Most commonly they will be explained away as Mandaeans. This is because under islam Sabians are a protected religious group along with Christians & Jews. Thus various religious groups with a connection to Baptism (like the Mandaeans) have sought to have the label applied to themselves in the hopes of avoiding persecution. Marc Edmund Jones founder of The Sabian Assembly described them more or less accurately as "a Mohamedan group". Harranians or harranites have also been called Sabeans but vast differences in Hurrian & Sabian religions has resulted in the distinction between these two very similar names. Long ago however, there may have been some connection between the two groups since Sabians are said to have had a base in Edessa. Neither of these are to be confused with Sabaeans -a completely unrelated group. It has been theorized that the Mandaean religion originated with Sabeans who were influenced by early Sabian missionaries but preferring their own priesthood.

During the Crusades, The Knights Templars (1118 CE - 1311 CE) who came into contact with them, took home stories about a baptising priesthood descended from John the baptist who claimed to know the true history of Jesus Christ. This knightly order was forced into confessions by its enimies especially Philp the Fair of France of worshiping a deamon called Bahomet. The Order was later ex-communicated by the Roman Church (1308 CE -1311 CE). The "illicit" pratice in question was in fact the attainment of a state known as bahomet amongst Sabiyah where one is advocated by 'the rememberance' of christ -Ahomet.

The original Quran-Bahai Sabians or Sabiyah as they call themselves are a messianic priesthood much like orthodox muslims in appearance but more like orthodox Jews in practice. They believe in various scriptures from the Tanakh as well as early christian writings and most interestingly believe in the revealed nature of the Quran though they interpret it through their own tradition which considers The Prophet, through whom the Quran was revealed, to be of the Sabiyah priesthood. The exact nature of this connection is not revealed outside of the religion.

Their organization is in a body of priesthood called Olneby consisting of married & single Patriarrchs, Brethren & Sisters and novices (called Sons & Daughters) in each of the same categories.

Single missionaries & deacons (House Brethren).
Apprentice & trainee single missionaries & deacons (The Brethren's Sons).
Deaconesses & female missionaries (House Sisters).
Male children without vocations of the married deaconesses (The Sister's Sons).
Married deacons (House Sons).
Married Patriarchs i.e. men who have established a House.
Any other females of The House without vocations (House womenfolk).
Refugees who seek sanctuary as servants of The House (Malikat Ayman).

Besides being called the House's Sisters, all married women are also referred to as The Wives of Olneby, while all single sisters can also be called Daughters of Olneby.

Olneby is organized in a network of small administrative centers called Bethin (Houses) and all these people together in their Houses make up Olneby -the clans of The House People. The Houses themselves are often referred to as "The Wives of Representation". Up until the 12th Century there were literal "Houses" with communes of ascetic families maintaining them as places of refuge for people of any creed. They are open to believers between certain times for meals, but Olneby asks visitors to remain, and ask for things from, behind a roodscreen. However imperialists have desecrated & torn down many of these "Presbertaries" over the years. Some of these sanctuaries were even turned from places of refuge into places of intolerance towards all but those who supported the political religion which had seized the site. Such actions are preached of by Olneby as terrible crimes whether they are covered-up or not, but of course guilt does not infect the Houses in as much as their people. As a tradgic result of this persecution, one would be hard put to locate such a site which has remained the property of The Nunciary for more than a few hundred years.

Due to excessive persecution details of how, when & where "Wives of Representation" have been established are not known.

The House People consider themselves & the refugees in their charge to be those who will recieve all Israel's blessings, which they consider to be spiritual not material in nature.

They measure 12 stellar houses of the year which are considered important categorizations at a child's birth. In addition to this, all firstborn children are also automatically enjoined with a position of more responsiblity than other children of Olbeth (The House) as the operational masters-of-ceremonies under a vow of poverty.

Service in Olneby is restricted to 40 years, and under certain circumstances some may leave the congregation of priests before that time. Anyone who is excommunicated from the congregation of priests may be "reborn" through a ceremony of "Mekbah" involving submersion, likewise anyone wishing to be a member & not just a servant of The House People must also go through Mekbah and then, if male, be circumcised on the 8th day.

Women dress very modestly usually wearing a veil when not amongst other House People. Men usually keep the top of their heads close-cropped and covered with a scull cap with longer hair at the sides. Also close-cropped moustaches but longer beards are common. It is often very difficult to distinguish them from muslims or orthodox Jews.

In the story of Jeses, it is Marym who is regarded as the one who recieved a revelation but as a woman was not considered, at the time, qualified to preach a message publically. Inspired by her Johia her young relative was encouraged to become a strict practitioner of Moses in order to find the rule (Mlek) of God's Word which Marym believed she had seen. Rejuvinating a priesthood dedicated to God, over the years Johian grew up to be a living encyclopaedia of God's Word. The deeper he went the more he realised that most of the religious community was misguided and failed to see & more importantly failed to help the illiterate ones see the living intelligence which lay behind it all. Meanwhile Marym sacrificed much of herself in order to bring up a child who would exemplify the way of a believer who held Johian in high regard. That child grew up to be Johian's exempliary follower Jeses. Johian did indeed find what Marym claimed to have had a vision of and saw the law without that spirit as a worthless & empty shell. While a man with that spirit (though he be a gentile) emmited augmentation of the law simply by living. It was in Marym's own child that Johian saw the best example of that spirit since Jeses was the man he identified as doing this. The spirit of sonship incarnate.

The theology of the Sabi religion involves an infinitely far yet infinitely close Spirit called Kannah or Loh. Aweful & amazing, mechanical & detached IT is the name carried by all divine messengers. This "name" may be claimed by none more completely than Abba -the voice which teaches us about his awesome name. Abba is The Heavenly Order in any pantheon of deities. Abba is Memra (Logos), basheer and the one possessed by Abba is a mobasher. Gabriel being nothing more than realization, Michael (The Spirit of God's Likeness) is considered the philosophy sent out to Marym, found behind the Law by Johia, made incarnate of Marym and confirmed by Johian in Jeses and resurrected in rememberance of him as Ahomet (Sonship of Abba) by the Sabis ever since. This philosophy is considered the ultimate measure for all social organization and the only solution to all mankind's problems that can dictate christocracy. Indeed it is considered that there is no hope of a future for mankind unless they adopt this doctrine as their "prime directive".

Despite the priesthood's strict ascetic culture they do not enjoin any of it upon their congregations of followers. Considering their position to be one of responsibility in preaching Messiah for non-priests, they believe their existence must be a beacon of shining righteousness for all peoples drawing them towards the beauty of Messiah. Thus "beacon" is one of the meanings of Sabi. Their message is not their penitant ascetic culture but only awareness of the immanence of sainthood being when Ahomet comes into the hearts. With this spirit, people become "bahomet" people capable of engineering society to operate under the rule of the humanitist philosphy, that through their cooperation Messiah can dictate christocracy.

Religious practices of the Sabis include

A month of fasting,
Weekly community action meetings including ceremonies for followers,
Annual feasts,
Regular prayer (usually three-times a day)
Material sharing