The Sabbatean Prophets

126 The Sabbatean Prophets
deemer, he and none other. He would immediately rise from the ground,
wash, and bow to the Shekhinah [heavenly presence.] In those days this occurred
every day and night—that is, in 24 hours he would fall thus and
prophesy four times.
This R. Moses knew how to tell each person the roots of his soul and what
soul he possesses. All of this R. Moses Saravel’s prophecies were found to be
reliable. And just as he could predict the future, so too could he tell what
was inside someone. I spoke to great [wise] men of the world, who testified
that this prophet, R. Moses, had told them the sins of their youth which
they had indeed committed, and he gave them penances [tikkun]. Behold,
these are most wondrous things in which every man must perforce believe,
for there is a solid basis to it.
In short, there were more than 800 prophets and spirits in Constantinople,
and in Adrianople there were also several hundred—in fact there were
prophets like this everywhere. Some were extremely holy, and some were
admixed with the evil husks [kelippot], chaff and dross from the Other
Side. 96
De la Croix, the French author whose information came from an eyewitness,
reports almost identical details. The people of Istanbul, he says, turned
feigned possessions into new prodigies, stimulating the mass penitential
movement.
They enticed a young man from Brussa to Constantinople, whose name
was Moyse Suriel, a scholar of the Kabbalah. In order to cover up his game
he would conjure up sham spirits, which he made to both speak and respond.
They replied that to punish his disbelief, a spirit greater and more
powerful than the others would take possession of his body and tell surprising
things which would bring about the conversion of many and make a great
reputation for him. The next morning, upon hearing singing and the playing
of instruments he fell into a Pythonian fit. He fell to the ground foaming
at his mouth, and a voice issued from him with such rapidity that the scribes
could hardly follow. When his spirit returned to him after this simulated ecstasy,
they showed him the text of what he had said in his trance, but he
pretended not to understand his own words because of the excellence of
their style and the depth of their wisdom. He began every day at the same
hour, which attracted many spectators and turned many people to Shabbatai
Zvi, for all his utterances ended with the words: “Repent ye, for our salvation
is at hand, and ye shall behold Shabbatai Zvi, the Messiah, the Son of