In Nomini Patris

When I was young and extremely curious, I used to read any book that was coming to my hand.  I remember that once in a very small old and rundown bookstore close to the university, where I often used to go to hang around, I found a small, old and tiny book on a very dusty shelf. The book was a religious book and happened to be a very interesting book for me at that age. Strangely, it was about the eighteen unknown years of Jesus’ life and therefore, an important “testament gap”.

Regrettably after many years, not only do I not remember the exact title of the book but I also don’t even remember the name of its author…

I remember that in the book, he was writing about Jesus traveling around the world in search of truth and probably himself. He traveled to the great Persian empire and its different old philosophical and theological schools, to India for the same reason to spend sometimes with Indian Brahmas, and finally up to Tibet, meeting and studying also with Himalayan monks, and naturally combining all these different theological and divine ideas and knowledge, before coming back to Galilee and Judea, and starting his own ministry.

Later on, I tried to see and find out who possibly was the real author of that book, but I have never been successful. However, I found out many other things about Jesus, Mohammed, Ali, Moses and others as everyday men in other books. I surprisingly found even about Jesus’ trip to Britain, or his travel to Japan, and finally to the territory of the Native Americans, according to Mormonism. This book recounted about his slim figure, tall stature, the semi dark skin tone, and also a bit about his face and his curved nose, the color of his dark brown eyes and the date color of his hair.

…out of curiosity, I purposely read a lot by many authors who had written about Jesus and his life. But they presented only their own religious opinions about him.

Later on, I read works by other writers and scholars’ views and beliefs and especially those of many theologians such as, “Joseph of Arimathea” on the Arthurian cycle, “Indian Brahmas and Hinduism”, as well as writings by Tibetan monks and their philosophy, thoughts and influences on Jesus’ life.  In his books, “Bible dans l’Inde, and Vie de Iezeus Christna” (The Bible in India, and the Life of Jezeus Christna), Louis Jacolliot believed, and put forward the various arguments regarding Jesus’ life, although he himself never claimed that Jesus traveled to India.

Then, in 1887 a Russian war correspondent, Nicolas Notovitch claimed that while at the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh, he had learned of the document “Life of Saint Issa, Best of the Sons of Men”. Issa is the Arabic name of Jesus in Islam. Notovitch’s story, with a translated text of the “Life of Saint Issa,” was published in French in 1894 as “La vie inconnue Jesus Christ“, (partly known as the Life of Jesus Christ). [5] In 1908 Levi H. Dowling published the “Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ” which he claimed was channeled to him from the Akashi Records as the true story of the life of Jesus, including the lost eighteen years about which the New Testament is silent. The narrative follows the young Jesus across ancient Persia, India, Tibet, Assyria, Greece and also the great Egypt. Dowling’s work was later used by Holger Kersten who combined it with elements derived from other sources such as the “Ahmadiyya Beliefs”.  In reality, the argument is never ending.So, with all due respect and reverence, I drew him as you see using my own artistic view and fantasy. (More description is available).