In which we show the relevance of a curious name, and its relationship to a secret tradition. In other words, tracing the Authentic Tradition in "Christian" times. In addition, we trace the tradition from Primitive Christian and Gnostic times to its survivals in the Near and Middle East; and then show how this crossover occurred.
"I have now to inform you, my brethren, that the Order of the Rose Croix is of the highest antiquity, and has a double origin assigned to it, the one historic and the other philosophic. It was founded by Ormus, who was a Serapian Priest at Memphis, and a friend of the Christian Apostles. Converted by St. Mark in the year 46, he reformed the doctrines and ceremonies of the Egyptians by the recognition of the law of the Apostles. His disciples united with the Essenes, who had founded Lodges or Schools of Solomonic science, and travelled from the East to propagate their secret doctrines in the West, where they instructed their pupils in the mysteries of religion and philosophy. The Society, thus became divided into two sects, or orders, known as conservators of the Mosaic secrets, and conservators of the Hermetic secrets, or the doctrines of the Egyptian Thoth.
"The Rosicrucians of the twelfth century, were Hermetic philosophers, who derived from an anterior association which came from the East, with the mission of propagating the secret sciences in the West. Three of them founded in Britain a philosophical seminary, where they taught the sublime sciences. Of these some joined the Crusaders to fight in Palestine, side by side with those valiant Maccabees, and became known as Knights of Palestine and Knights of the Rose Croix, forming themselves into armed associations for the protection of pilgrims who visited the Holy City; there they cultivated our mysteries and entrusted them to Guarimont, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Hugh de Payens in the year 1118." - from Masonic Charges and Lectures, by John Yarker…. Probably a translation of J. E. Marconis de Negré. Lecture entitled "History of the Degree of Rose Croix".
"Of organised monastic communities the Vita tells us nothing. With regard to the motive of the earliest monasticism, this has been variously sought in
"(1) the development of the ascetic element present in Christianity from the very first;
"(2) in the influence of the Alexandrian School, especially Origen, who again is influenced by the spirit of revolt against the body and detachment from the world which characterised neo-Platonism (see Bornemann's work mentioned above);
"(3) in the persecutions, which drove Christians to the desert (Eus. H. E. vi. 42), which some adopted as their home;
"(4) to the (not necessarily conscious) imitation of analogous heathen institutions, especially the societies of agneuontej which were gathered round or in the temples of Serapis (Weingarten, R.E., X. 779-785. Revillout, p. 480 n, refers to Zoega, p. 542, for the fact that Pachomius himself was a monk of Serapis before his forced baptism by his Christian neighbours; and that after it he continued his ascetic life with no external difference.
"(5) To the desire to avoid civil obligations, already marked in the Rescript of Valens (Cod. Th. xii. 1. 63, quidam ignauiae sectatores desertis civitatum muneribus, &c.). " --Wace, Introduction to Athanasius' Vita of St. Antony. http://ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-04/Npnf2-04-37.htm#P3592_1472719 This is from Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Series II, Volume IV, Schaff, Philip, D.D., L.L.D., and Wace, Henry, D. D., Eds., This edition is from the Internet site: Christian Classics Ethereal Library,. at http://www.ccel.org
"There is no trace
of its existence before the middle of the eighteenth century, though the 'Dictionnaire
Maçonnique' declares that it was created in Palestine by Godfrey de
Bouillon in the year 1100, and that the Rose was emblematic of secrecy and
the Cross of immortality." - Waite, The Real History of the Rosicrucians,
pp. 405-406.
Rose Croix of Gold, Brethren of the. (Frères de la Rose-Croix d'Or.) An alchemical and Hermetic society, which was founded in Germany in 1777. It promised to its disciples the secret of the transmutation of metals, and the panacea or art of prolonging life. The Baron Gleichen, who was Secretary for the German language of the Philalethan Congress at Paris in 1785, gives the following history of the organization of this society:
"The members of the Rose Croix affirm that they are the legitimate authors and superiors of Freemasonry, to all of whose symbols they give a hermetical interpretation. The Masons, they say, came into England under King Arthur. Raymond Lully initiated Henry IV. The Grand Masters were formerly designated, as now, by the titles of John I., II., III., IV., etc.
"Their jewel is a golden compass attached to a blue ribbon, the symbol of purity and wisdom. The principal emblems on the ancient tracing-board were the sun, the moon, and the double triangle, having in its centre the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The brethren wore a silver ring on which were the letters I. A. A. T., the initials of Ignis, Aer, Aqua, Terra.
"The Ancient Rose Croix recognized only three degrees; the third degree, as we now know it, has been substituted for another more significant one."
The Baron de Westerode, in a letter dated 1784, and quoted by Thory (Act. Lat., i., 336), gives another mythical account. He says:
"The disciples of the Rose Croix came, in 1188, from the East into Europe, for the propagation of Christianity after the troubles in Palestine. Three of them founded in Scotland the Order of the Masons of the East (Knights of the East,) to serve as a seminary for instruction in the most sublime sciences. This Order was in existence in 1196. Edward, the son of Henry III., was received into the society of the Rose Croix by Raymond Lully. At that time only learned men and persons of high rank were admitted.
"Their founder was a seraphic priest of Alexandria, a magus of Egypt named Ormesius, or Ormus, who with six of his companions was converted in the year 96 by St. Mark. He purified the doctrine of the Egyptians according to the precepts of Christianity, and founded the society of Ormus, that is to say, the Sages of Light, to the members of which he gave a red cross as a decoration. About the same time the Essenes and other Jews founded a school of Solomonic wisdom, to which the disciples of Ormus united themselves. Then the society was divided into various Orders known as the Conservators of Masonic Secrets, of Hermetic Secrets, etc.
"Several
members of the association having yielded to the temptations of pride, seven Masters
united, effected a reform, adopted a modern constitution, and collected together
on their tracing-board all the allegories of the hermetic work." - Mackey's
Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry, II-635-636.
Throughout the story presented to us in HBHG, emphasis is placed upon the name "Ormus". ORMUS is said to have been converted by St. Mark, in the year 46 c.e., to the Christian faith, and to have organized the Mysteries of Alexandria under a Christian form, and founded the Rose+Croix. The famed Prieuré de SION is said to have adopted ORMUS as one of its devices. ORMUS is spoken of very little elsewhere.
We find ORMUS in the legends attributed to the New and Gold Rosicrucians and in the Oriental Rite of Memphis. Could there be any truth to them? In this section of Qadosh: The Johannite Tradition, we shall explore this and other important parts of the Story.
In the beginning, we use what material we have, and we attempt to make sense of the skewed reporting pertaining to the Gold R+C, to the Philadelphian Society and its relationship to French Quietists; to the Philadèlphes of Narbonne and the Disciples of Memphis. Therefore, this material alone will be jam-packed full of historical details concerning the Authentic Tradition in "Christian" Times.
Where the term ORMUS comes up, we analyze and compare, and then we follow some of the clues left behind. We find ties to the Primitive Gnostics, and some of the earliest Christians who were deemed Heretics by the emerging clergy. Also, we find some interesting similarities between the Story of Ormus and the story of the founder of the Monastic society among the monks of the Thebaid…
And then there's that Secret Gospel of Mark that came out a while back, and the things suggested in that particular item, lead us to the Serpent Tribe, the Ophites and Sethians.
When the Ophites found themselves surviving in Mesopotamia, did they merely get warred upon by the Mandaeans, or did they absorb themselves into another form?
Also, there are a couple of other important lines that derived from the events in Palestine, so long ago. These would be the Archontics, according to the account of them provided us by Epiphanius. Then, too, we have the Paulician current, which moved across Europe like a wild Prairie fire. Some of these groups still exist to this day, and right where the accounts of them in the histories had them.
As to an interlude section at this point, containing a presentation upon the Knight of the Sun or Prince Adept Degree (aka Key of Masonry, 28° AASR), it might seem absurd --- yet we are showing the survival of Gnostic and Pagan traditions, and Wisdom Traditions among them, throughout and beyond the Christian Dark Ages. Something had to have survived the centuries if the Pike materials on the 28° were an example.
Finally, we come to the survey on the Nusairi: The Way of the Stars. That is all we can say at this point.
Except this: by the time we get to the final segment of this part of the Work, it should be clear just what is being said in all these stories, and in our interpretation of them.
That the Pure Gnosis of the Near East survived the first century of Christianity, and was transmitted to the West, and that it exists today. Well, of course it exists today. What we meant to say is: The Traditional Teachings as to Technique, Method, Philosophical, Ethical and Moral applications of the Technology… survived the centuries and arrived in the West (where its occurrence was, up to the 15th Century, quite rare)…
It is not good enough to say that the R+C is exclusively Christian and European. It falls flat in the light of what's being unearthed. True, some elements were Christian. But we do not regard the RC legends as mere legends. Particularly the Legends that do not get repeated much, like that of John Heydon, Journey to the Land of the Rosicrucians…. he describes going there, to the place….. the Place!
This led to the R+C, the Reformation, to Böhme and the Quietists, to the Freemasons and those behind their foundation; to the Alchemists, to the surviving Templar traditions, to the Stuarts and their troubles; to High Grade Masonry, French Theurgy / Theosophy; to Revolutions, the Occult Revival (19th Century, that is), and, of course, to the foundation of the Order of the Temple in Paris, in the late 18th / early 19th Century period; and earlier, to the traditions underlying the foundation and perpetuation of the Bavarian Illuminati.
So,
working backwards, with the Gold Rosicrucians and the Rite of Memphis materials,
we shall go back to various movements that they were successors and survivors
and offshoots of, and we shall see where this leads us….
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