The Book of the Holy Secrets of Enoch,  a Jewish apocalyptic writing, is one of the most compelling ancient texts to survive to the present day.   Although knowledge of the book was unknown in the West until 1892, Slavonic manuscripts of the book survived in Russia for more than 1200 years.  Although not part of the Biblical canon today, R.H. Charles, editor of the first English translation (1896), noted that it was "much used...by Christian[s]...in the early centuries".   Considering its status as a Jewish book, it's intriguing that early Christians and not Jews were the ones known to have preserved it.  The preservation of the text, coupled  with references to the text in early Christian writings and among early Church theologians and ecclesiastical leaders, suggests the text may have constituted part of the sanctioned canon of the early Church.   The book is included here for its exceptional preservation of many elements of The Ancient Tradition.

In this audio recording of The Book of the Holy Secrets of Enoch, Chapters 1-20, Enoch is woken from a distressing sleep to find two angels at the foot of his bed.  The angels recount God's command to escort Enoch to the highest heaven.  In the first heaven, Enoch is shown the rulers of the stellar orders and the angels guarding the storehouses.  In the second heaven, he's shown the prisoners awaiting the great judgment.  In the third heaven, he's shown a paradisical-like Eden and a tree of "incomprehensible goodness."  In the fourth heaven, he's shown all of the movements and sequences of the sun, moon and stars.   In the fifth heaven, he's shown the Watchers who broke their covenants on the summit of Mount Hermon.  In the sixth heaven, he's shown the seven archangels who rule over angels.  In the seventh heaven, he is shown the "dominions, orders and governments" of heaven and he's shown a glimpse of God sitting on his throne in the highest heaven. 

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