The Coptic Fellowship is a modern metaphysical organization, but its message and teachings are certainly not new. Our lineage goes back thousands of years into unrecorded history. Through the ages the wisdom teachings of the ancient masters have been kept and guarded by secret organizations. The White Brotherhood was one such group. They were formed in ancient Egypt to preserve the records of Truth. They were called the White Brotherhood because members wore white garments, symbolic of the purity of their teachings. Also, they met on the full moon, which is white in color.
The Master Moses was an initiate of the White Brotherhood. When the time approached for him to leave his physical body, he called together a chosen few to whom he entrusted the guardianship of the Truth. Thus, the secret order known as the Essenes, or the Essaioli arose. It was their duty to preserve the purity of the secret knowledge through the upcoming centuries of turmoil and tempestuous times. This was necessary to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah of the Piscean Age, Jesus.
Jesus, his parents Mary and Joseph, John the Baptist, and many of Jesus’ disciples were Essenes. Mary was prepared from the age of three to be the mother of Jesus. When Herod learned of the birth of a great king, he sought to destroy him. It was the Essenes that saw to it that the child was safely hidden in Egypt until Herod’s death.
Jesus, or Jeshua Ben Joseph as he was actually called, was trained and educated by the Essenes. At the age of twelve he was initiated into the Essene Order and given the name of Issa, meaning Master of all Masters. At seventeen, Jesus and his cousin, John the Baptist, both went to Egypt for further training and initiations. They studied at Heliopolis, which was close to the Great Pyramid. In the Pyramid, Jesus took the highest of the Brotherhood degrees and had his true life mission revealed to him.
Following this, Jesus, as Issa, traveled throughout the countries of the known world. He studied the ways of humanity, current philosophy, and religion. His purpose in his extensive travels was to evaluate the consciousness of the masses to learn how best to reach them. The name Issa, or Saint Issa, is many times recorded in ancient scriptures. It is found in the Koran, Hindu, Brahman, and Tibetan Buddhist writings. Jesus traveled as Issa to Ethiopia, India, Tibet, China, Japan, and Persia.
St. Mark the Elder, who was different from the apostle Mark, and apostle Thomas accompanied Jesus into Egypt. There, he created a secret retreat to train a few chosen Masters in his Truth. These Masters would preserve the purity of this knowledge and take charge of its further teaching to humanity.
In 40 A.D., under Jesus’ guidance and direction, St. Mark the Elder and Thomas established the Coptic Templar Order in Cairo. Their purpose was to maintain the pure philosophy and to help prepare the way for the Aquarian Age Awakening. The members were called Copts.
To make the teachings available to the outer world, at least to those who were ready for it, St. Mark and Thomas established an outer temple in 70 A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt. This outer temple gradually developed into the Coptic Orthodox Church. In 117 A.D. a Coptic Orthodox Church was established in Cairo.