History of the Yoga of Jesus

Church of the East welcomes you to the Yoga of Jesus

Brief History

Church of the East is the result of the missionary activities of the Apostle Thomas in Persia and India during the middle of the first century CE. 

By the 6th century it is said the Church of the East numbered almost 80 million people spread throughout Syria, Arabia, Persia, Armenia, India, the East India Islands and China. 

By the 7th century Islamic persecutions started taking its toll on the Eastern Christians. Whilst millions were martyred others were subjected to the status of secondary citizenship and humiliation which caused many from the East to flee to the West and the North. The number of Eastern Christians declined rapidly. Over the centuries many millions eventually gave in to the incessant tortures and social pressure and converted to Islam. 

During the past 1 200 years the Church broke up into numerous little groups, each attempting to survive on its own since communication across the various borders was impossible for Christians under oppression. Some of the groups eventually changed their statements of faith to find a sympathetic ear with the Western Christians in an attempt to solicit their protection. These groups were later incorporated into either the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Anglican strains of Western Christianity and some survive in this state of affairs even to this day. The name of the Church of the East was variously used by different groups who broke with the original spontaneous movement - names such as Syrian Orthodox Church of the East, Assyrian Church of the East, Orthodox Church of the East and other, still survive. 

By the 18th century the Western world 'discovered' the remnants of Eastern Christians in India and Kashmir and set out to convert them to another set of beliefs. These beliefs were formulated at western councils during the first seven centuries. The Roman Catholic and Anglican 'missions' to the Eastern Christians destroyed and edited thousands of holy Scripture which had been the inheritance of the East since St. Thomas. Again the Church of the East was cut down when the Western 'missionaries' incorporated the small groups into their fold - changing their inherited eastern Christianity to the so-called 'orthodoxy' of the Roman Empire's councils. 

Currently small numbers of faithful still survive in mountain ashrams of Kurdistan, Kashmir, Jammu, Ladakh and Baghdad. 

The current revival of Church of the East in the West is a very recent miracle. Recent translations of most of the Church's written works now makes it possible to minister to the English speaking world while the Internet is about the only means whereby this new ministry can be attained.

During 1996, Rev. Teacher +Yusa (iii), the senior minister in charge of the Church received permission to ordain an English speaking priest in South Africa to the office of Episcopal Deputy in charge of the outreach to the West. Under the guidance of Mar +Yajn and other clergy the South African aspect of the Church slowly started picking up. Plans are underway to start a distance education college, ashrama, various welfare projects, printing units and other services to minister to the English speaking world. This page was produced by a devotee from the very new St. Siphor Ashram in Johannesburg where the first Internet outreach was based.

Church of the East is guardian to original unadulterated Holy Scriptures, Holy Liturgies and Holy Traditions received from our Lord Yesu the Saviour through the agency of St. Thomas and the Mothers and Fathers of the earliest church. 

The Eastern Bible

The entire Eastern Bible is devoted to the Yoga of Yesu. One Scripture which has particular emphasis on the variations and subtleties of Yoga, of that lifestyle being yoked to Christ, is the Baghavad Gita.

Church of the East's version of the beloved Gita is as old as the church herself.  The Baghavad Gita, for western tongued people comes across as a spiritual novel; and as the story unfolds of Christ volunteering to be the master devotee's charioteer in his spiritual war, we see the Truth unfold one after the other.  For the Sanskrit enabled devotee the yoga of the Bhagavad Gita is clearly poetic prose, captivating and almost every name, every description loaded with deeper mystical meaning.  

The Eastern Bible, Church of the East's Holy Scripture, helps devotees see the deeper mystical meanings in the text by providing hundreds of footnotes to guide the mystic devotee to deeper levels of understanding the Yoga of Jesus in the melodies of the Gita.

True Spirituality is True Freedom

Freedom from conditioned thinking is what Jesus came to teach humanity but the West suppressed the message, turning it on its head to become a political control device. 

Freedom is the essence of the divine message--Truth that allows Church of the East members to experience the intended ecstasy and happiness of Being. 

Church of the East forwards the Yoga of Jesus since 45AD. The Yoga of Jesus is the lifestyle and mysticism of Jesus' message to the East. 

The Yoga of Jesus is growing. Since 1996 Church of the East consciousness exploded in Western communities through its healing presence in South Africa, USA, Canada and lately in Western Europe. 

This Internet site is Church of the East's international meeting place. You may join in Yoga of Jesus chat rooms, download mpeg and library files and do short courses in spirituality and healing-or simply indulge in interactive areas where wholesome lifestyle, vegetarian recipes, sensuality, meditation, parenting and Being is discussed.

Church of the East members have access to hundreds of helpful pages.

To Yoga of Jesus Home Page

(c) Copyright 2000 Church of the East