Moses of Crete was a
Jewish Messiah claimant
The messiah in Judaism means "anointed one" and included Jewish priests, prophets and kings such as David and Cyrus the Great. Later, especially after the failure of the Hasmonean Kingdom (37 BCE) and the Jewish–Roman wars (66–135 CE), ...
and
apocalyptic prophet in the 5th century A.D.
After the failed
Bar Kokba war, there was an end to Messianic movements for several centuries. However, the hope of a coming messiah nonetheless continued. In accordance with one interpretation of the Talmud, the Messiah was expected in 440 (Sanh. 97b) or 471 ('Ab. Zarah 9b).
This expectation in connection with the disturbances in the Roman empire attendant upon invasions may have raised hopes in a messiah claimant who appeared about this time in Crete, and who won the Jews there to his movement. He called himself Moses, and promised to lead the people, like the ancient
Moses, dry-shod through the sea back to
Palestine. His followers, convinced of his claim, left all their possessions and waited for the promised day; upon which they followed Moses to a promontory overlooking the sea and at his command cast themselves off - where many drowned or were destroyed on the rocks below.
Then Moses himself immediately disappeared.
Socrates of Constantinople
Socrates of Constantinople ( 380 – after 439), also known as Socrates Scholasticus ( grc-gre, Σωκράτης ὁ Σχολαστικός), was a 5th-century Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret.
He is the ...
states that Moses fled, while the Chronicle of
John of Nikiû
John of Nikiû (fl. 680-690) was an Egyptian Coptic bishop of Nikiû (Pashati) in the Nile Delta and general administrator of the monasteries of Upper Egypt in 696. He is the author of a ''Chronicle'' extending from Adam to the end of the Muslim ...
claims that he perished in the sea. Others claimed he had been a demon, sent to lead the Jews astray. While he called himself "Moses", the ''Chronicle'' gives his actual name as 'Fiskis'.
Donna Kossy
Donna J. Kossy (born May 18, 1957) is a US writer, zine publisher, and online used book dealer based in Portland, Oregon. Specializing in the history of "forgotten, discredited and extreme ideas", which she calls "crackpotology and kookology", she ...
, ''Kooks''
See also
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Jewish Messiah claimants
The messiah in Judaism means "anointed one" and included Jewish priests, prophets and kings such as David and Cyrus the Great. Later, especially after the failure of the Hasmonean Kingdom (37 BCE) and the Jewish–Roman wars (66–135 CE), the ...
References
Nikolai N. Seleznyov,
Al-Makīn ibn al-ʿAmīd on Moses of Crete” ''Scrinium'' 15 (2019): 321–327. — doi:10.1163/18177565-00151P20
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moses Of Crete
5th-century apocalypticists
5th-century Byzantine people
5th-century Jews
Byzantine Jews
Jewish messiah claimants
Rabbis from Crete