Edmond Bordeaux Szekely was born on March 5, 1905, and died in 1979. He was a Hungarian expert in languages, a philosopher, a psychologist, and someone interested in living naturally. He wrote a book called The Essene Gospel of Peace, which he said he translated from an ancient text he found in the 1920s. Scholars believe the text is a fake. Szekely was the grandson of Sándor Székely, a poet and Unitarian bishop in Kolozsvár. He was also a relative of Sándor Kőrösi Csoma.
Life
Szekely's grandfather was Sándor Székely, a poet and Unitarian Bishop of Kolozsvár. His mother was French and Roman Catholic, and his father was a Hungarian Unitarian. According to Szekely's book Essene Gospel of Peace, he was a descendant of Hungarian philologist and orientologist Sándor Kőrösi Csoma (although the latter never married and had no children).
According to publications by the International Biogenic Society, including The Essene Gospel of Peace, Szekely earned a Ph.D. from the University of Paris and other degrees from the universities of Vienna and Leipzig. He taught philosophy and experimental psychology at the Franz Joseph University in Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, in Romania). His books were published in English, Romanian, Esperanto, German, French, Hungarian, and Spanish, as noted in the introductory bibliography of his 1938 book Cosmotherapy, the Medicine of the Future. Szekely claimed to have translated a text he discovered at the Vatican in 1923, called The Essene Gospel of Peace, which he published in four parts over several decades. The 1974 edition included what he said was the complete original Hebrew text from which he translated Book 1.
In 1928, Szekely founded the International Biogenic Society with Nobel Prize-winning novelist Romain Rolland. He traveled widely, visiting Tahiti, Africa, the Carpathians, France, and Eastern Europe. L Purcell Weaver met Szekely in Tahiti in 1934 and credited him with improving his health. Weaver later translated several of Szekely's works, beginning with the 1936 book Cosmos, Man and Society: A Paneubiotic Synthesis.
During the late 1930s, Szekely lived in Leatherhead, England, where he worked as the director of the British International Health and Education Centre.
In 1939, Szekely married Deborah Shainman, who was born in Brooklyn. Her mother had previously been a vice-president of the New York Vegetarian Society. In 1940, the couple opened a camp in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, which they named Rancho la Puerta. They had two children, Alexander and Sarah Livia. Edmund Szekely continued his research, writing many books and giving seminars worldwide.
In 1970, Szekely and his wife divorced, and he retired from Rancho La Puerta to live near Orosi, Costa Rica. He married Norma Nilsson, a longtime assistant, and focused on writing and teaching. Szekely died in 1979.
Vegetarianism
Szekely was a person who ate raw food and did not eat meat. He supported a lifestyle called "biogenic living." His diet included 75% of foods labeled "biogenic," such as whole grains, nuts, seeds, and "bioactive" raw fruits and vegetables. He suggested eating raw food, using hydrotherapy, breathing clean air, and bathing in sunshine.
Controversy: The Essene Gospel of Peace
Szekely said that while he studied at the Vatican in 1923, he found and translated several hard-to-find Hebrew and Aramaic texts. He claimed these texts showed that the Essenes were vegetarians and that Jesus taught vegetarianism.
Szekely claimed to find an Aramaic version of The Essene Gospel of Peace and The Essene Book of Revelation in the Vatican library. He also said he found the original Hebrew text of The Essene Gospel of Peace in the writing room of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino. His findings, like the writings of Romain Rolland, challenged the beliefs of many religious people and raised questions about the teachings of Jesus. Because of this, some religious groups criticized him.
Later, Szekely said he found pieces in his texts that were similar to or the same as parts of the Old and New Testaments, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Avesta. He used English translations of these works to help him write his own translations. He published Book 1 in 1936, claiming it was one-eighth of the material. Books 2 and 3 were published in 1974, and he said together they made up one-third of the material. In the 1974 edition, he included what he claimed was the complete original Hebrew text used to translate Book 1. While some people of different faiths were interested in Szekely’s translations, the original manuscripts have never been found. Some modern scholars believe the texts are forgeries.
In Strange Tales About Jesus, theologian Per Beskow investigated Szekely’s claims. Both the Vatican and the National Library of Vienna said the original manuscripts did not exist. The Vatican also said Szekely had never been allowed into the Vatican Archives in 1923. The third source Szekely claimed to use, the library at Monte Cassino, was destroyed during World War II.
Scholars who study the Bible rejected Szekely’s claims. Per Beskow wrote that The Essene Gospel of Peace is a fake created by Szekely himself. He called it one of the strangest forgeries in biblical history, as it was made up over many years and based only on imagination.
Richard A. Young wrote that the idea that Jesus was a vegetarian comes from The Essene Gospel of Peace, which Szekely said he translated from an ancient text he found in the 1920s. Szekely claimed this text was real and that the Bible’s traditional gospels were forgeries. However, no one else has seen the manuscript. Because of this and other reasons, scholars believe The Essene Gospel of Peace is not trustworthy.
Some critics noted that Szekely first published a French version of his work. He later published an English version in 1937 titled The Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ by the Disciple John. After the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the 1940s and people became more interested in the Essenes, Szekely republished an updated version called The Essene Gospel of John. The scrolls shown on the title page of later editions are not the ones Szekely claimed to translate. Instead, they are a reversed image of a Dead Sea Scroll from a book published in 1958 by Professor Millar Burrows.
Rancho la Puerta
In 1940, Szekely and his wife started a camp called Rancho la Puerta in Baja California. The camp had one adobe hut. Szekely and his wife planted an organic garden, bought goats, and sold cheese. They invited people who shared their beliefs to visit for $17.50 each week. Guests chopped wood, milked goats, and brought their own tents. They listened to Szekely's talks about good health, long life, and how the mind, body, and spirit are connected. Szekely talked about the dangers of herbicides, pesticides, artificial fertilizers, food processing, and smoking. He stressed the dangers of pollution and the need for clean air and water. He also gave advice on safe sunbathing and warned about the risks of high cholesterol and fats in the American diet.
In the early 1950s, the spa grew larger and stayed open all year. People interested in losing weight were drawn to the vegetarian diet at Rancho la Puerta. Szekely and his wife started hiring experts in yoga and other mind-body exercises, adding fitness programs to their services.
Today, Rancho La Puerta is a 3,000-acre (12 km²) holistic health spa and eco-resort with nearly 400 employees. It is owned and run by the Szekely family. The spa is located on the slopes of Mount Kuchumaa. The spa has many features, including a full-size copy of the labyrinth from the Cathedral of Chartres. There are 32 acres of gardens, a 5-acre organic garden, 87 rooms, 11 gyms, a library, and the Szekely Art Collection. This collection includes sculptures, paintings, glass, and other artwork mainly by Mexican and South American artists.
Annotated bibliography
Szekely has written more than 80 books, including two autobiographies. Some of his most well-known works include:
The 1951 book Medicine Tomorrow mentions that the following works were translated into English by Weaver.