These reflections draw from centuries of philosophical, theological, and historical inquiry. They are offered in the spirit of genuine curiosity and intellectual refinement, not as definitive dogma. Readers are warmly encouraged to explore the primary sources — such as Saint Augustine’s City of God and On Christian Doctrine, the Pythagorean Sourcebook, the Wisdom of Solomon, and respected scholarly works on Kabbalah, Gematria, and ancient traditions — for themselves. Knowledge deepens through personal discovery. Let us approach these ancient ideas with openness and respect, extending patience and understanding to those who are encountering them for the first time. Wisdom, after all, reveals itself most beautifully to those who seek it with humility and grace.

 

Bible

The Bible is full of number symbolism — 7 for perfection, 12 for completeness, 40 for testing, 3 for divine completeness. The Jews developed this much deeper through Kabbalah and Gematria, where letters have numerical values and words with the same number are mystically connected.

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Saint Augustine, Numbers, and the Bible

What did Saint Augustine teach about numbers in Scripture?

Augustine repeatedly quoted Wisdom of Solomon 11:20: “You have ordered all things by measure, number, and weight.” He viewed numbers as part of divine order and used numerical symbolism to interpret the Bible (e.g., in The City of God and On Christian Doctrine).

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The Book of Wisdom (also called Wisdom of Solomon) is an ancient Jewish text from the Old Testament Apocrypha, written probably in the 1st century BC. Saint Augustine frequently quoted one famous line from it: "You have ordered all things by measure, number, and weight." He used this to show that God created the universe with mathematical harmony and that numbers reflect divine order. This is where his interest in numbers and scripture comes from.

 

Is the Book of Wisdom part of the Bible?
Yes — it is one of the seven Deuterocanonical books (Apocrypha in Protestant Bibles) accepted by the Catholic Church.

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Reliable English sources:

• On Christian Doctrine (De Doctrina Christiana) by Saint Augustine — especially Book 2, where he discusses how to interpret Scripture.

• The City of God by Saint Augustine — he discusses numbers and divine order.

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Now, about numerology being "ancient science":

Number symbolism and mysticism are very old — they existed in Babylon, Egypt, among the Jews (Kabbalah and Gematria), and with Pythagoras.

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What are the best reliable English sources for ancient information on Pythagoras?
The single best collection is The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (compiled/translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, 1987 edition edited by David Fideler). It contains the four main ancient biographies of Pythagoras plus many other Pythagorean writings.

Other excellent primary sources:

• Lives of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius (Book VIII on Pythagoras) — best modern translation by Pamela Mensch (2018).

• Life of Pythagoras by Porphyry (included in Guthrie’s collection).

• On the Pythagorean Life by Iamblichus (translations by Thomas Taylor or Gillian Clark).

• Herodotus, Histories Book 4 (section on Zamolxis and the Getae).

 

Good modern scholarly overviews: Charles Kahn’s Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans and Christoph Riedweg’s Pythagoras: His Life, Teaching, and Influence.

 

Numerology – Origins and Pythagoras

 

Did Pythagoras discover or invent numerology?
No. Mystical and divinatory use of numbers existed centuries earlier in Babylon, Egypt, and among ancient Jews (Gematria). Pythagoras taught that numbers reveal cosmic harmony and order as part of philosophy and mathematics.

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So the core idea — that numbers have mystical meaning — is ancient.

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Vedic philosophy comes from ancient India and is based on the Vedas — the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism. It’s very different from modern numerology.

Here are some clear examples:

• The concept of 3, 6, and 9 that Tesla was interested in comes from Vedic ideas about energy and vibration. Tesla believed these numbers held the key to the universe.

• The idea that everything in the universe is made of vibration and frequency — this is a core Vedic principle ("Nada Brahma" — the world is sound).

• Mantras are sacred sounds or words that carry specific vibrations. Repeating them is believed to affect consciousness and reality.

• The number 108 is considered sacred — there are 108 beads in a mala (prayer beads), 108 Upanishads, and many other important 108s in Hindu tradition.

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The City of God (De Civitate Dei) is one of Saint Augustine’s most important books. He wrote it between 413 and 426 AD.

It’s a massive work, in 22 books, written as a defense of Christianity after the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 AD. People were blaming the Christian God for Rome’s fall, so Augustine wrote this to answer them.

Regarding numbers, The City of God is where Augustine discusses the mystical meaning of numbers in the Bible more than anywhere else. He talks about the symbolic importance of numbers like:

• 6 (perfection)

• 7 (completeness)

• 8 (new beginnings / resurrection)

• 11 (sin)

• 40 (testing and preparation)

 

He especially analyzes the numbers in the Book of Genesis and explains how God uses numbers with deep meaning throughout Scripture. It’s not a book about numbers, but numbers appear regularly when he interprets the Bible. It’s one of the key early Christian texts that connects mathematics, symbolism, and faith.

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Here's the clear difference:

• The Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon) — this is part of the Apocrypha (also called Deuterocanonical books). It was written around the 1st century BC.

• The City of God — this was written by Saint Augustine in the 5th century AD. It is a theological and philosophical book, not part of the Bible at all.

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Apocrypha and Related Books

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How many books have in total the Apocrypha?

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It depends on which tradition you're asking about.

• Catholic Bible: There are 7 books in the Apocrypha (called Deuterocanonical books): Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, and 1st and 2nd Maccabees. They also include some additions to Esther and Daniel.

• Protestant and most English Bibles: They usually recognize these same 7 books plus some extra parts, but classify them as Apocrypha — not part of the official canon.

• Eastern Orthodox: They accept even more, around 10 to 12 books.

 

The most common number you’ll hear, especially in Western Christianity, is 7 books in the Apocrypha.

Here are the seven official Apocrypha books accepted by the Catholic Church:

1. Tobit

2. Judith

3. Wisdom of Solomon (also called the Book of Wisdom)

4. Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus)

5. Baruch

6. First Maccabees

7. Second Maccabees

These are the seven main books. Some editions also include extra chapters added to the books of Esther and Daniel, but the seven listed above are the core ones.

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The 7 books I listed earlier (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1 & 2 Maccabees) are called the Apocrypha (or Deuterocanonical books). They are Jewish writings from between the Old and New Testament periods.

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Why Book of Enoch and Gospel of Mary are not included:

• Book of Enoch: This book is much older in its ideas, but it was written between the 3rd and 1st century BC — hundreds of years after the real biblical Enoch lived. It is pseudepigrapha, meaning it was falsely written under Enoch’s name. The Jewish people never accepted it as scripture. It also contains teachings that contradict the rest of the Bible, especially about angels having children with human women. Only the Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes it in their Bible. Most Christians and Jews do not.

• Gospel of Mary (and similar books about Mary Magdalene): These are Gnostic writings from the 2nd or 3rd century AD. They were written too late, by unknown authors, and contain ideas that early Christians considered heretical — especially the Gnostic belief that salvation comes from secret knowledge rather than through Jesus’ death and resurrection. They were never seriously considered for the Bible.

 

Short version: The Apocrypha books were at least written by Jews in the correct historical period. The Book of Enoch and the Gnostic gospels (like Gospel of Mary) were rejected because they were either written under false names, too late, or taught ideas that didn’t match the rest of Scripture. Or at least, this is what ,,they told us".

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1. How do we know when the Apocrypha books (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, etc.) were written?

We know their dates mainly from scholarly analysis of:

• Language and writing style

• Historical references inside the books

• Fragments found among the Dead Sea Scrolls

• How they were used by early Jewish and Christian writers

These 7 books were written between roughly 250 BC and 100 BC by Jewish authors. They fit into the historical period between the Old and New Testaments. This is why Catholics accept them as part of the Bible.

 

2. Why is the Book of Enoch not in the Bible?

• It was written much later than the biblical Enoch (who lived before the flood). Most of it was written between 300–100 BC, some parts even later.

• It is pseudepigrapha — it falsely claims to be written by the ancient Enoch.

• Ancient Jews never accepted it as scripture.

• It contains ideas (especially about angels and the origin of evil) that many early Jews and Christians considered strange or conflicting with the rest of the Bible. Only the Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes it in their Bible.

 

3. Why were Gnostic texts (e.g., Gospel of Mary) rejected?

These books were written in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD — too late, long after the apostles died. They teach very different ideas from the New Testament:

• Salvation comes from secret knowledge (gnosis), not from Jesus' death and resurrection.

• The physical world is evil, created by a lesser god.

• Jesus is often presented as only appearing human, not truly human.

Early Church leaders like Irenaeus (around 180 AD) rejected them because they contradicted the teachings passed down from the apostles.

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4. Was Jesus a Gnostic?

Yes!

 

Bottom line:

We know these things from historical evidence, ancient manuscripts, and what early Jewish and Christian communities actually accepted.

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Jesus, Christianity, and Judaism

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When Christianity was formed?

Christianity appeared in the 1st century AD, right after Jesus was crucified (around year 30-33 AD). It started in Jerusalem with Jesus’ apostles, especially Peter and Paul. The first Christians were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah. From there, it slowly spread across the Roman Empire.

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Was Jesus a Christian? Did he found Christianity?
No. Jesus was born Jewish, lived as a Jew, and taught within Judaism. He never used the word “Christianity.” The term “Christians” first appeared later (in Antioch, ~40s CE). Christianity as a distinct religion developed after his death through his followers, especially Paul.

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Catholicism is not something that appeared separately. For the first 1000 years, there was basically one single Christian Church. That original Church is what we now call the Catholic Church.

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The word “Catholic” means “universal”. It started being used already in the 2nd century to describe the main Christian Church.

The big split happened much later:

• In 1054 AD, the Christian Church split into Catholic (West, led by the Pope in Rome) and Orthodox (East, led by the Patriarch of Constantinople).

So to summarize:

• Christianity → born in the 1st century

• Catholicism → is the continuation of the original Christian Church in the Western part of the Roman Empire.

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Jesus was not a Christian. He was a Jew who lived and taught within Judaism. He never used the word "Christianity" and never told people to start a new religion.

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Jesus taught that he was the Messiah promised in the Jewish scriptures and that the Kingdom of God was arriving. His first followers were all Jews who continued to go to the synagogue and follow Jewish Law.

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The term "Christians" only appeared later — probably around the year 40-50 AD in the city of Antioch. It was originally a name given by outsiders to the followers of Jesus.

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Christianity as a distinct religion developed after his death, mainly through the work of his apostles, especially Paul, who began spreading the message to non-Jews (Gentiles).

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Jesus was born Jewish, lived as a Jew, and taught within Judaism. 

However, he didn't just repeat traditional Judaism. He taught his own interpretation of it — sometimes very radical for his time. He emphasized love, forgiveness, and inner purity over strict external rules. He often criticized the religious leaders of his day (the Pharisees and scribes) for focusing too much on traditions and not enough on justice and mercy.

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So while Jesus was fully Jewish and taught within the Jewish framework, his teachings eventually became the foundation for a new religion — Christianity — after his death.

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What Jesus criticized were some religious leaders — particularly the Pharisees and scribes — not the Jewish people or Judaism itself. He criticized them for being hypocritical, for putting heavy burdens on people while not following their own rules, and for focusing on small rules while ignoring justice, mercy, and love. That's very different from being "against the Jews."

 

Here's the accurate version:

• Jesus was Jewish and taught his own understanding of Judaism.

• He did not create Christianity as a new religion.

• After his death, his Jewish followers slowly began spreading his message to non-Jews (Gentiles). This process took decades.

• Over time, as more non-Jews joined, the movement separated from mainstream Judaism and became what we now call Christianity.

 

So Christianity developed from the teachings of Jesus, but Jesus himself did not found Christianity as a separate religion. That happened later through his followers.

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What exactly caused the split between Christianity and Judaism?

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The split happened gradually, over many decades, not suddenly.

Here are the main reasons that caused Christianity and Judaism to separate:

1. Belief about Jesus: Jews believed the Messiah would be a powerful king who would free them from Roman rule. Christians claimed Jesus was the Messiah even though he was crucified — something most Jews found impossible. This was the biggest difference.

2. The Resurrection: Christians believed Jesus rose from the dead. Most Jews rejected this claim.

3. Paul’s mission: Paul began preaching to non-Jews (Gentiles) and said they did not need to follow Jewish Law — no circumcision, no kosher food, no full Jewish customs. This was very controversial. Traditional Jews saw this as abandoning God’s commandments.

4. Destruction of the Temple: In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This was a huge turning point. Without the Temple, Judaism changed, and Christianity became even more separate.

5. Different practices: Christians began meeting on Sunday (the day of resurrection) instead of Saturday (Jewish Sabbath), and they developed their own rituals.

By the end of the 1st century, the two religions had mostly become separate. The final break became clear after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132–135 AD, when Christians refused to join the Jewish rebellion against Rome.

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Chronology of Major World Religions 

1. Hinduism — ~1500–2000 BCE or earlier (Indus Valley/Vedic period, India) — no single founder.

2. Judaism — ~2000–1500 BCE (Patriarchs) / ~1300–1200 BCE (Moses/Exodus traditions); shaped by Babylonian Exile (586–538 BCE).

3. Zoroastrianism — ~1500–1000 BCE or 7th–6th century BCE (Persia) — Zoroaster.

4. Buddhism — 5th–6th century BCE (India) — Siddhartha Gautama.

5. Confucianism — 6th–5th century BCE (China) — Confucius.

6. Taoism — 6th–4th century BCE (China) — Lao Tzu (traditional).

7. Christianity — 1st century CE (Judea).

8. Islam — 7th century CE (610–632 CE, Arabia) — Prophet Muhammad.

9. Sikhism — 15th–16th century CE (Punjab, India) — Guru Nanak.

10. Bahá’í Faith — 19th century CE (Persia) — Bahá’u’lláh.

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