The Sabbatean Prophets

From Mystical Vision to Prophetic Eruption 129
cepts and images from Christian Kabbalah. 104 These examples indicate yet
again how closely related were the patterns of Sabbatean prophecy to the
contemporary European and Mediterranean context of messianic expectation.
The flood of Sabbatean prophecy from 1664 to 1666 is important for a number
of reasons. First, at least two Sabbatean figures, Sarah and Cardoso,
claimed to have known about Shabbatai’s messianic status through prophecies
occurring before Shavu’ot of 1665. They were both deeply influential
and succeeded in convincing many contemporaries of their veracity. Second,
the widespread appearance of prophecy in the Ottoman Empire in the
winter of 1665–66 was above all the effect of mimesis, rooted mainly in the
model of Nathan of Gaza, with the likely influence of various European and
Ottoman precedents. The resemblances between lay and learned prophecy,
prophetic possession and diabolic possessions of the period, and Sabbatean
possessions with others found around the world suggest a much broader
network of mimetic effects. A third conclusion is that prophecies were not a
mere side effect of some more essential Sabbatean belief system based on
Kabbalah. Contemporary witnesses tell us that people believed in Shabbatai
largely because of these prophecies. Nathan’s original prophetic revelations
convinced an important group of rabbis to believe, and some of these figures
brought the message of the renewal of prophecy to the wider Jewish world,
where Nathan’s possessions were both credited and imitated. This dynamic
closely resembles patterns found among the English Quakers, the French
prophets, and other millenarian groups. Prophecy, then, in all its manifestations,
was right at the center of Sabbatean belief during the height of the
movement.