Enochism: Merging UFOism with An Unique Understanding of Christianity
If one listens to certain corners of the UFO/UAP fandom, whether in modern non-traditional, non-denominational forms of Christianity or the ancient aliens groups, one will stumble upon people who cite something they call the “Book of Enoch.” Recently, these groups are getting louder and louder while gaining social media impressions.
But what is meant by the “Book of Enoch”? The First Book of Enoch - commonly called the “Book of Enoch” in modern translations while also being referred to as the “Scroll of Enoch” in more traditional translations since books as we know them were not published back then - is an ancient Jewish religious text credited to the great-grandfather of Noah. The oldest Aramaic fragments we have of it dates to the Second Temple period of about 300 B.C. to 200 B.C. while the oldest full translation we have of it is a 15th Century A.D. manuscript from Lake Tana, Amhara, Ethiopia. In the book, the pre-Noah’s Flood figure serves as a prophet who gives context to Genesis 6:2-7 which states before Noah’s Flood:
And now the sons of God saw how beautiful were these daughters of men, and took them as wives, choosing where they would. But God said, This spirit of mine shall not endure in man for ever, he is but mortal clay; his life-time shall be a hundred and twenty years. Giants lived on the earth in those days, when first the sons of God mated with the daughters of men, and by them had children; these were the heroes whose fame has come down to us from long ago. And now God found that earth was full of men’s iniquities, and that the whole frame of their thought was set continually on evil; and he repented of having made men on the earth at all. So, smitten with grief to the depths of his heart, he said, I will blot out mankind, my creature, from the face of the earth, and with mankind all the beasts and the creeping things and all that flies through the air; I repent of having made them. (Knox Translation)
What the First Book of Enoch claims is that these “sons of God” described as Watchers taught knowledge such as metallurgy, cosmetics, and astrology to all of humanity. God then punishes these sons of God by binding them in a black abyss and floods the Earth to cleanse the world of the giant children, sometimes translated as Nephilim. The book then goes on to describe Enoch’s visions of the heavens and contains a prophecy of the coming messiah.
So what is so attractive about this book with the UFO crowd? Representative Anna Paulina Luna on the Joe Rogan Show encouraged people to read it as she linked traditional Christian stories of angels and UFO entities - put this way as to avoid calling UFO creatures aliens, thus allowing for different origins other than outer space - to the Watchers in the First Book of Enoch. Thus, for her, the UFO subject is part of a bigger cosmological issue, including a conspiracy to keep knowledge of Watchers from humanity, which she implies the Catholic Church actor in the plot.
The “this was removed from the Bible” discourse is heavy in the Book of Enoch-UFO discussion. It ties older anti-Catholic ideas of censoring the Bible with modern UFO conspiracy theories. In part, that Protestantism is helpful for the theory as it gives a supposed literal interpretation of Bible books. The thinking goes, “If the First Book of Enoch belonged in the Bible, then it is 100% perfect and must be read literally, therefore its texts about powerful creatures coming down and influencing humanity must be literally true.” These people try to use the First Book of Enoch to unite UFOism and their newer form of Christianity as part of a Disclosure-like revelation to awaken mankind to what they considered hidden cosmic truths. This is modern day Gnosticism.
The belief goes further and has even been embraced by other Christians and secularists to promote Ancient Aliens-related ideas. First, Enochism is used by some of the “aliens are demons crowd.” These individuals read about what they think are fallen angels teaching technology, and they embrace theories of advanced civilizations. Some like Antiochian Orthodox Church priest Father Stephen De Young use the Books of Genesis and Enoch as evidence that there were advanced civilizations pre-Noah’s Flood. Others like Catholic influencer Joshua Charles will not cite Enoch but accept pagan mythologies, but put them through an “aliens are demons” mindset to claim there were demon-influenced advanced cultures and flying craft before the Flood. (Both Father De Young and Charles are converts from Protestantism.) Meanwhile, since the 1960s, Ancient Aliens supporters have attempted to link Enoch and pagan tales of gods giving fire and other technology to humans with ideas of aliens influencing mankind. In 2023, Chariots of the Gods author Erich von Daniken released a book called Enoch and the Return of the Gods, which also claimed the First Book of Enoch was about aliens.
Believers in these theories have a major oversight, though. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, both members of the Oriental Orthodox Communion, have the First Book of Enoch in their Bible. What they teach differs from what the UFO believers would want you to think, though. But don’t take my word for it; take it from Deacon H.E. Negash - himself named after Enoch, of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
Why is it easier to believe in aliens than angels and gods? - by H.E. Negash
Chris Nolan’s much watched film, and much written about by the chattering class, The Odyssey dryly strips Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem of the personal and intimate presence of the gods and goddesses, leaving one with: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) hallucinations from war, low-level enchantresses, nature (bad weather), and generally the deist worldview of a universe crafted beautifully like a clock and then left alone, which we have been stuck with for the past quarter millennium or so. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has painted Thor and the Asgardian race as aliens instead of Norse gods and goddesses. Giorgio Tsoukalos, the Swiss-born ethnic Greek aliens guy on the History Channel, very publicly (Ancient Aliens. S03 E03 beginning at 29:13. Aliens and Sacred Places. 2011.) attributed the 13th Century below ground level carving of eleven Orthodox churches out of rock, in Lalibela, Ethiopia, to alien aiding and abetting rather than the local story of angelic assistance, or even the Graham Hancock explanation (The Sign and the Seal. 1992.) that Western European Templar Knights and crusaders were the project and product managers thereof, after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The Scroll of Enoch, for whom my father Elias named me (those being the two characters in scripture that never died), is not about aliens. It is about the nephilim. The Biblical Hebrew meaning of which is the fallen ones. Often, Biblical Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew render the same meaning, but in this particular case scholars argue. And it is from the Biblical Aramaic that the more popular meaning of giants is extracted from the text. Let us examine a few verses, and then move on from this argument. As it is written, “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition” (Titus 3:10 NKJV).
The Scroll of Enoch: According to the Aksumite School of Biblical Exegesis
Chapter 2 (In Ge’ez and Old Amharic; Classical Ethiopic and Neo Ethiopic)
ወኮነ እምዘበዝኁ ውሉደ ሰብእ። እምድኅረ በዝኁ ሲል ነው እምዘነሰቱኪ ትትሐነፂ ወእምዘ ረወዩ አግማሊሁ እንዲል የሰው ልጆች ከበዙ በኋላ እንዲህ ሆነ። በእነዚያ ወራት መልከ መላካሞች ደመግቡዎች ሴቶች ልጆች ተወለዱላቸው። ቃየል አቤል ከሞተ በኋላ ሉድንም አቅሌማንም አግብቷቸዋል። ከሉድ ዓይነ መልካም ተረከዘ ክት ተወለዱ እስመ እምብእሲት ላህይት ተወልዳ ሎሙ አዋልድ ላህይት እንዲል ከአቅሌማ የተወለዱት ዓይነ ሸውራራ ዓይነ ጨምጫማ ሁነዋል።
ወርእዩ ኪያሆን መላእክት ውሉደ ሰማያት ወፈተውዎን። የሰማያት ልጆች እነርሱን አይተው ወደዱአቸው። መላእክት የተባሉ ደቂቀ ሴት ናቸው። ወሰመዮ መልአከ በእንተ ንጽሑ እንዲል በደብር ቅዱስ የሚኖሩ አንድም በልዑል መዓርግ በሰማያዊ መዓርግ የሚኖሩ። ደቂቀ ሴት ለጊዜው ከሴት ርቀን ንጽሕ ጠብቀን እንኖራለን ብለው ተሳሉ። እስከ ጊዜያቸውም ጠበቁ። ደቂቀ ቃየል በእግረ ደብር ራቁታቸውን የወገብ ድባ እያሠሩ እንዳለሌ እንደባዝራ ሲንጠላጠሉ አይተው በሐፀ ዝሙት ተነደፉ ለጊዜው አንዳንድ ሁነዋል።
ወይቤሉ በበይናቲሆሙ ንዑ ንኅረይ ለነ አንስተ እምውሉደ ሰብእ ወንለድ ለነ ውሉደ። እርስ በእርሳቸውም ኑ ለእኛ ከቃየል ልጆች ሴቶችን እንምረጥ ለእኛም ልጆችን እንውለድ አሉ።
English Translation:
And it came to be that the sons of men multiplied. It says they multiplied. As it is said, from the time they kissed you, you shall be built, and from the time they saw his camels. After the sons of men multiplied, this happened. In those months, daughters, with a good image and a beautiful glow (rooted in healthy blood flow), were born to them. Cain, after Abel had died, married Lud and Aqlema. Those born from Lud, all of them were born with good eyes; as it is said, from a comely woman were born to them comely daughters. Those born from Aqlema were cross-eyed and dim-eyed.
And the messengers, the sons of the heavens, saw them and desired them. The sons of the heavens saw them and liked them. The ones called messengers are the little ones (children) of Seth. As it is said, he appointed him a messenger for purity. Those who live on the Holy Mountain. And one meaning is those who live with a high title, with a heavenly title. The children of Seth took a vow saying, for the time being we will live distancing ourselves from women, keeping our purity. They waited until their time. When they saw the children of Cain at the foot of the mountain nude tying beads around their waist, dangling like beads on the back of a donkey or steed, they were stung with the bosom of whoredom. For that time, they became one.
And they said, amongst themselves, come let us select for us women from the sons of men and let us sire sons.
Exegesis (Interpretation):
These are not aliens. These are angels. But as it is said, in the Aksumite School of Biblical Exegesis, “the letter kills but the exegesis (spirit) gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). So, what is an angel exactly?
The Consonantal Biblical Hebrew, which precedes both the Masoretic Text and the Old Greek Text, renders angel as מלאך (melak; mlak). It is the exact same spelling and meaning in the Ge’ez, መልአክ (melak). The only difference is that Hebrew is written from right-to-left, and Ge’ez is written, uniquely amongst Semitic tongues, from left-to-right. This reminds me of Greek Orthodox Christians and Afroasiatic Orthodox Christians mirroring each other as they make the sign of the cross over their body with their hand.
Melak literally means messenger. And so does its Old Greek equivalent ἄγγελος (aggelos; angelos), from whence we get the English angel, and the Spanish name of my beloved hometown Los Angeles. Melak appears in the Hebrew Bible over two hundred times. About half the time, it is referring to the bodiless army of our father who art in the heavens. And about half the time it is referring to an earthly envoy or ambassador. Here, it is clear that the Aksumite School of Biblical Exegesis is treating these angels (messengers) as earthly envoys of Seth who began to intermarry with the children of Cain.
Hopefully, without committing the Argumentum ad Verecundiam Fallacy (an argument from inappropriate authority), I will remind the dear readers that the full version of the Scroll of Enoch is found today only in the Ge’ez of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church whose Aksumite School of Biblical Exegesis I am citing. You may find fragments hither-and-thither in Aramaic and Old Greek, but the Ge’ez stands alone in כבוד (kabod; weightiness; glory). And Old Amharic is the heir of Ge’ez.
Abbott’s Summary of the Above
That’s right. The ancient and still living Christian tradition of those who have the First Book of Enoch in their Bible is that the story involves the descendants of Adam and Eve’s third son Seth intermarrying with the corrupted descendants of Adam and Eve’s first son Cain, the one who killed his brother Abel. Instead of warning about aliens or demon children, the First Book of Enoch calls on people to avoid worldly things and focus on God, much like every other part of the Bible.
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Apt, it is after all a Science Fantasy story, written in the intertestimonal period. The best guess is that it retells with a twist* the Babylonian mythology of the Apkallu, making it an example of syncretism following the Jewish exile. The Apkallu are gods who come to earth and teach men how to do stuff. They are too beloved by the Ancient Aliens crowd. We see them carrying the magic buckets or bags. * The twist is the Apkallu were not all bad, whereas the Watchers of Pseudo-Enoch are.
Bottom line is the actual biblical text shows technology is not a product of alien or angelic assistance, but human ingenuity, and both pagan myths rob humans of agency and contradict the account.
Tucker Carlson talked a lot. Fr Stephen didn’t say much.