The Wanderings of Judas Iscariot

A Chronology of the Second Betrayal

c. AD 30–33 — The Last Supper

Judas Iscariot partakes in the Last Supper and unknowingly receives a fragment of Christ’s immortality along with a handful of the other disciples.

AD 30–33 — The First Betrayal

Judas delivers Jesus to the authorities, believing this will force Him to reveal His divine nature and inaugurate the Kingdom of God.

Instead, Christ accepts crucifixion.

AD 30–35 — The Failed Suicide

Consumed by guilt, Judas attempts to end his own life.

Death refuses him.

He discovers that he cannot die.

This becomes known in later traditions as the Second Betrayal.

1st Century — The Gospel of Rejection

Judas abandons Jerusalem and begins wandering throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

He rejects both political and religious authority, concluding that institutional Christianity is the true betrayal of Christ.

He gathers small circles of followers devoted to poverty, asceticism, and preparation for the coming Kingdom.

2nd Century — Gnostic Communities

Judas secretly influences several Gnostic circles.

His teachings emphasize:

rejection of worldly authority,
hostility toward the flesh,
spiritual liberation,
imminent apocalypse.

3rd–4th Centuries — Desert Ascetics

Travelling through Egypt and Syria, Judas inspires radical hermits and ascetic communities.

He never remains long enough to establish a permanent order.

7th–10th Centuries — Hidden Eastern Sects

Judas continues eastward through the Byzantine world.

His teachings survive among scattered dualist and ascetic communities living beyond imperial control.

10th–12th Centuries — Bogomils

Judas becomes an unseen influence behind the Bogomil movement in the Balkans.

His followers reject both Church hierarchy and secular authority, preaching an imminent transformation of the world.

12th–13th Centuries — Cathars

Crossing into southern France, Judas quietly supports Cathar communities.

Although never publicly acknowledged, some Perfecti claim to have been instructed by a mysterious wandering teacher whose age cannot be determined.

Following the Albigensian Crusade, he disappears once more.

14th–17th Centuries — The Hidden Pilgrim

Judas wanders across Europe.

He appears briefly among persecuted sects, radical reformers, wandering mystics, and isolated ascetic communities before vanishing again.

During the Protestant Reformation he avoids the established Reformers, instead gravitating toward the most radical movements. Traditions attribute his influence to groups such as the Spiritual Franciscans, the Taborites, the Radical Reformation, the Anabaptists, the Münster radicals, the Hutterites in their earliest communal period, the Family of Love, and other apocalyptic sects that rejected worldly authority, private wealth, or established churches.

History remembers these communities as unrelated movements born from different circumstances.

Judas knows them as successive attempts to restore the original message of Christ.

18th Century — The Skoptsy

Judas reaches Russia.

His teachings merge with an emerging sect later known as the Skoptsy.

Their radical rejection of sexuality and worldly desire reflects ideas Judas has preached for nearly seventeen centuries.

18th–19th Centuries — The Thieves Outside the Law

Legends within the Russian criminal underworld speak of an ageless wanderer who teaches that no earthly law possesses legitimate authority.

Some traditions identify this figure with Judas himself.

Others claim he merely inspired the earliest Vory v Zakone.

20th Century — The Forgotten Heretic

Judas continues travelling anonymously.

He avoids publicity, governments, and organized churches.

Wherever he stays for more than a few months, small communities devoted to asceticism, communal living, and apocalyptic expectation begin to emerge.

He leaves before authorities notice.

Present Day

Judas still wanders.

He possesses no home.

No church.

No organization.

No permanent disciples.

Only an endless trail of forgotten sects scattered throughout history.

Each believes it has rediscovered the original teachings of Christ.

None realize they have all been taught by the same weary immortal who has spent two thousand years trying to undo what he believes was the greatest mistake in human history.