He was a contemporary of Jesus Christ and was extremely popular with the Roman nobility. Several times his life hung by a thread, but his amazing abilities saved him every time. The name of this mysterious man was Apollonius of Tyana.
Two-headed calf and unprecedented lightning
Apollonius was born in A. D. 1. in Tiana, a small town in Asia Minor. His father was a wealthy city dweller. According to the biographer Apollonius, the Roman writer Flavius Philostratus, the birth of the future sage and magician was marked by many miraculous events. So, his pregnant mother at the door of the house met a gray-haired old man. To her unexpected question, whom she will give birth to, the old man suddenly replied: "Me!" The amazed woman asked who he was, to which the stranger declared that he was the god Proteus, who gave people wisdom and clairvoyance.
Shortly before the birth of Apollonius, a cow in the yard of his parents calved with a two-headed calf, and at the moment of the birth of the baby himself, a bright lightning traced the sky and, before reaching the ground, again rushed up. This very rare occurrence was considered by the locals as an omen that a great man was born.
Strange boy, strange youth
Already in childhood, Apollonius began to show amazing abilities. So, at times the boy suddenly began to speak in unknown languages. Sometimes it seemed to others that Apollonius was talking with someone invisible. According to biographers, the boy ate and slept very little, but despite this he was a strong child. When the plague broke out in those parts. Apollonius helped bury the bodies of dead people, but, unlike adults, he did not resort to any precautions and did not get sick.
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And once Apollonius healed his relative, who was sick with leprosy. The boy advised her to go to the stream that ran behind the temple, sprinkle it with the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and then bathe in it three times. After that, as the chronicles testify, the woman really got rid of a serious illness …
When my father died. Apollonius was twenty years old. The young man gave the inheritance due to him to his younger brother and went to Babylon.
School of wisdom
Babylonian magicians and priests all over the world were famous for their secret knowledge in the field of magic, astrology, alchemy. Apollonius wanted to understand their secrets. It was after his return from Babylonia that he began to show people miracles, which many considered witchcraft. So, one day Apollonius entered a burning house, and when the onlookers had already decided that he had died under a collapsed roof, he suddenly appeared behind them. Another time, with just one movement of his hand, he gathered near him all the birds that lived in the area. Apollonius could look to pacify an enraged animal and control the wind. However, this knowledge and the glory that followed on his heels was not enough for him, and at the age of thirty Apollonius went to India. With the help of the teachers of the Great Himalayan Brotherhood, he hoped to comprehend the highest wisdom of the world.
According to the testimony of a disciple of Apollonius, Damid, with whom he traveled to India, the magician was first admitted to the king-philosopher Draot, a disciple of the Mahatmas. Having received a letter of recommendation from the king, Apollonius arrived at the monastery of the Mahatmas, located in the mountains between the Gyphas and Ganges rivers …
Some modern researchers of eastern religions are inclined to conclude that Apollonius managed to get into the legendary Shambhala, where all the wisdom of the universe is collected and where the Great Enlightened Ones live - Mahatmas, bringing light and knowledge to people. Indirectly, this assumption is confirmed by the fact that, according to Damid's stories, the Mahatmas demonstrated to Apollonius the miracles of levitation and healing, clairvoyance and expulsion of demons. In addition, the magician who visited the Mahatmas was given the opportunity to look at the Crystal Ball of the future, in which he saw many past and future events.
Itinerant preacher
According to the testimony of the ancient Greek writer Flavius Philostratus, Apollonius spent more than five years in the impregnable monastery of the Mahatmas. It was there that he comprehended the highest wisdom, which he began to preach during his travels: to love and help each other. Apollonius of Tyana visited many countries of the East and Western Europe, showing people mysterious miracles, healing and prophesying. So, he predicted the future to the Roman emperor Titus, saying that he should be wary of seafood. A few years later, Titus, who had forgotten the magician's warning, died of poisoning from a fish called a sea hare.
While in Syracuse, Apollonius learned that one of the townspeople gave birth to a three-headed baby, who soon died. To this, the great magician and preacher said that soon the Romans will have three rulers, however, not having time to rise, they will all perish. Indeed, the Roman emperors Galba, Vitellius and Otgon managed to hold out on the throne for only a few months and were killed in a conspiracy. Apollonius mentally saw the imminent death of the emperor Domitian, who almost executed the magician for the fact that he, allegedly, having performed a rite of worship of demons, brought damage to him. By order of Domitian, Apollonius was shaved bald, shackled and thrown into prison. During the trial, which was supposed to sentence the magician to death, he suddenly disappeared in front of everyone, and after a while he appeared in another place. This miracle seemed to be for the emperor proof of the divine nature of the magician, and Apollonius was acquitted. And a few hours after the acquittal of the court, the magician was already with his friends and students in the city of Puteola, although at that time the road from Rome to Puteola took three days.
Death is more mysterious than life
Not only the birth and life of Apollonius were a mystery to his contemporaries and subsequent generations, but also the mysterious death of a wise magician. Rather, his disappearance, after which there was no material evidence of his earthly existence.
It is known that when he was sixty years old, Apollonius settled on the island of Crete, where he lived for almost three decades, not allowing his disciples or numerous pilgrims who came to the island to see the famous preacher. One day a passer-by who accidentally came to the magician found his modest dwelling empty …
Later, eyewitness stories began to spread. Some saw Apollonius going into the distance along the sea surface. Others argued that the magician had left forever for his beloved India. Still others told the story of how, before his disappearance, Apollonius approached the temple at night, which was guarded by fierce dogs. The guards grabbed the magician and tied him up, believing that he was a thief. However, Apollonius threw off the ropes, entered the sanctuary with a quick step, after which the doors slammed shut behind him. Only the next morning the ministers of the temple managed to get into a closed room. However, Apollonius was no longer there.
Another hypothesis, which became widespread in medieval Europe, claims that Apollonius was able to create an elixir of immortality, with the help of which he repeatedly prolonged his life. Following this hypothesis, many contemporaries considered the alchemist and philosopher Artephius, who lived in the 12th century, to be none other than Apollonius of Tyana …
Despite the fact that Apollonius was not an adherent of any of the religions that existed in those years, he had great respect for the beliefs of people and saw the goal of his life to cleanse them from delusions, to separate the "grain from the chaff" - the light teachings from the dark ones. Perhaps that is why his name for many centuries has evoked deep respect among educated people of the world, for whom the main measure of a person is his morality.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century - No. 8, February 2010, Sergey Kozhushko