Sabbatai Zevi and Dönmeh
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:48 pm
I would like to start a topic about Sabbatai Zevi. Because I am originally from Turkey and he was born during Ottoman Empire in Izmir - in the lands of nowadays Turkey, I got some kind of interest to him and started to make some research over him. I had a very little knowledge about Sabbatians in Turkey while I was still living there and there are still Sabbatians living there.
For those who are not familiar with the person in subject can get the information from following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatai_Zevi
I am currently reading two books which are telling about him: Sabbatai Zevi - Testimonies to a Fallen Messiah by David J. Halperin and Sabbatai Sevi - The Mystical Messiah by Gershom Scholem. I am enjoying the Scholem's book more - to be honest. However, at the beginning of the Halperin's book, I found an interesting part which I would like to share with you:
"For all his piety and asceticism, there was something demonic about the young Sabbatai. People in Izmir remembered, after he had become notorious, how in his early twenties he used to quote with reference to himself biblical verse Isaiah 14: 14, "I will ascend ipon the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." Once, indeed, Sabbatai spoke these words ´with so special an emphasis that he imagined, was indeed convinced, that he was lifted into the air. He therefore dared onceto ask his comrades whether they had not seen him being lifted up from the earth, and when they answered truthfully that they had not, he answered them: 2Your are not worthy of so glorious a sight, for you are not purified as I am"
The comic absurdity of this anecdote, transmitted by the contemporary Dutch Minister Thomas Coenen, must not be allowed to obscure its sinister subtext. In their context in Isaiah, Sabbatai's words are spoken by the 'Morning Star', Lucifer. This archetypal rebel against God proposes to climb to heave, to 'set my throne above the stars of God' to make himself God's equal. So, it would seem Sabbatai intended, at least unconsciously. He thereby forgot . as Coenen gleefully reminds us-what, according to Isaiah, was the shining rebel's ultimate end. "Thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the uttermost parts of the pit." "
So, from this part what I understand is , Sabbatai Zevi, somehow had Luciferian and also antinomian side. If I am mistaken and if you have more information about him, please correct me.
For those who are not familiar with the person in subject can get the information from following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatai_Zevi
I am currently reading two books which are telling about him: Sabbatai Zevi - Testimonies to a Fallen Messiah by David J. Halperin and Sabbatai Sevi - The Mystical Messiah by Gershom Scholem. I am enjoying the Scholem's book more - to be honest. However, at the beginning of the Halperin's book, I found an interesting part which I would like to share with you:
"For all his piety and asceticism, there was something demonic about the young Sabbatai. People in Izmir remembered, after he had become notorious, how in his early twenties he used to quote with reference to himself biblical verse Isaiah 14: 14, "I will ascend ipon the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." Once, indeed, Sabbatai spoke these words ´with so special an emphasis that he imagined, was indeed convinced, that he was lifted into the air. He therefore dared onceto ask his comrades whether they had not seen him being lifted up from the earth, and when they answered truthfully that they had not, he answered them: 2Your are not worthy of so glorious a sight, for you are not purified as I am"
The comic absurdity of this anecdote, transmitted by the contemporary Dutch Minister Thomas Coenen, must not be allowed to obscure its sinister subtext. In their context in Isaiah, Sabbatai's words are spoken by the 'Morning Star', Lucifer. This archetypal rebel against God proposes to climb to heave, to 'set my throne above the stars of God' to make himself God's equal. So, it would seem Sabbatai intended, at least unconsciously. He thereby forgot . as Coenen gleefully reminds us-what, according to Isaiah, was the shining rebel's ultimate end. "Thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the uttermost parts of the pit." "
So, from this part what I understand is , Sabbatai Zevi, somehow had Luciferian and also antinomian side. If I am mistaken and if you have more information about him, please correct me.