MAJOR SYNODS OF THE GNOSTIC CHURCH IN THE XIX

CENTURY
EGLISE PRIMITIF CHRETIEN & EGLISE GNOSTIQUE UNIVERSELLE

Any sincere treatment of the development of the Gnostic Church of France in the post
renaissance period must inevitably focus upon an analysis of the movement of Eastern and
Independent Catholic bodies in Europe. Thus the thrust of the present historical brief is
meant to focus on these traditions. It is important to here remind our readers that what is
known in the modern day as 'Eglise Gnostique Universelle' (as of WW II renamed Eglise
Gnostique Apostolique) was in it's origin a union of Gnostic Schools of arcane tradition.
These were the Valentinian, Carmelian, Johannite and Cathar schools which are in essential
concordat with the various fraternal associations of esotericism of the day.

Primary among these being the Johannite school preeminence we will discuss at length
in the present article.

The origins of the Templar Johannites is not at all unclear to the general reading of
history. Having its foundation in France in 1811 the Order was known as L'Ordre du
Temple, deriving from well-celebrated Masonic roots. This order became renown for the
circulation of an obscure document, the Charter of Larmenius, among the high degrees of
this order. The controversial document detailed a lengthy succession of Templarism from the
founding of the order in 1118 originating from a small Gnostic faction in the Eastern or
Byzantine Catholic Rite, and whose unbroken authority found its eventual succession to one
Monsiegnuer Fabre Palaprat a Bishop of the Revolutionary Catholic Church of France and
also Grand Master of the Order installed in 1804 A.D. The first part of the document is
purported to have been written in Greek in the year 1154 and claimed the original Templar
Commanders to have been initiates to a secret affiliation of primitive Gnostic Christians
under the leadership of the Patriarch Theoclete who had made High de payens (the Grand
master) heir to the Apostolic Succession of John the Divine. Furthermore, the document
communicated a secret legend of succession through Our Lord Jesus through Moses who
having gained certain Gnostic Initiation from the Magi of Egypt, transmitted the same down
through the Essene discipleship to the Son of Man, wherefore He the Christ did likewise
transmit unto His apostles and disciples. He transmitted His spirit to them, divided them up
into several orders after the practice of John, the apostle of fraternal love, whom he
instituted sovereign Pontiff and Patriarch. The document then diverts to the year 1118 and
relates the consecration of Hugh de Payens in the sacred investiture of this awesome
Apostolic and Patriarchal succession and its permanent fusion with the Order of the Temple
of the East. The challenge of the document to follow as well as the anti-Masonic movements
of post revolutionary Europe caused the relevance of this document to eventually fade from
importance though its contents bearing great worthiness to scholarly analysis.

M. Matter was among those whose interest decidedly shifted from the question of the
archeology of the Charter of Larmenius to the heritage represented in the document. Matter
was convinced as was Eliphas Levi that the origin of the Johannite Church could be traced
to the sect of ancient Christians known as the Mandai Iyahi or Mandean Gnostics, who
originally dwelt on the River Jordan and were believed to have had ties to the Essenian
communities in this area as well as the region of the Dead Sea. These Gnostics taught a
doctrine familiar to that of John the Baptist whom they regarded as the Initiator of Jeshua
ben Jusef (Jesus) and through whom their mystical doctrine and mission was delivered to
John the Beloved Apostle. Among the peculiar symbols of this Order of the Mandai) also
known as the Wise of John and Christians of John) was the figure of a severed head, a
reminder of the martyrdom of their first teacher. In this connection we should note that
among the long list of distortions collected by the Holy Inquisition against the Templar
Order a reference to the veneration of a head interpreted as that of the devil or of Mohamet
was chief among the accusations. Nevertheless whether under torture or not many Templars
alluded to the figuring of their Grand Master by the head of an old bearded man.
After the death of Monsiegnuer Palaprat in 1838, the succession of the Eglise Des
Chretiens Primitif and the Ordre du Temple was transmitted to Monseiguer Chatel who
received the title of 'Bishop Primate of the Gauls' and who continued the succession and the
circulation of its doctrine and relics including the Levitikon, a Bogomil text of the
Johannine Gospel, and the Charter of Larmenius in secret. Nevertheless the influence of
such literature remains the important province of speculative French Templarism, and the
works of His Beatitude Bishop Palaprat comparable to the mysticism of Don Martinez
d'Pasquales. The secret synod that brought the Charter of Larmenius and the Levitikon to
light had a distinct effect upon the life of the Gnostic circles in France until its eventual
suppression by the civil authorities of the so-called second empire of France now once again
under the persuasion of the Roman Rite Church. The remaining half of this century saw
disillusionment and disarray in esoteric circles with the founding of L'oerve de la
Misericorde by Pierre Eugene Michel Vintras whose spiritualistic practices led to numerous
abuses and further governmental challenge to esoteric movements in France. The Gnostic
would not find further opportunity for cohesion in France until later when under Gerard
Encausse, Paul Sedir and Francois Chamuel would succeed in calling together the Gnostic
Universal Church at the century's end.
 THE NEW SYNOD

The latter quarter of the 19th century saw a tumultuous political, economical and social
climate pervading most of the European continent. The activities of revolutionaries in
Russia and in France, the rise of the socialist's commune and its open hostility to the Roman
Catholic Church took the center stage in the European Theatre. In particular response to the
'anti-clerical movement ' in France and other Latin countries under socialist influence, the
Roman Church attempted to counter with a movement of its own known as the 'anti-
Masonic congress' which sought to discredit the Ferry-Grivey government on the grounds
that it was a plot engineered by the Grand Orient of France, to install an official religion of
atheism to the nation with a certain under current of Satanism. Against this curious
backdrop, France experienced such lunatic episodes as the Naundorff attempt to revive the
Bonapartist and Bourbonist monarchy and the most bizarre and over publicized Diana
Vaughn affair whose eventual exposure in the press (chiefly due to Papus and his associates)
caused the unraveling of the anti-Masonic congress.

In the more intimate esoteric circles of France a greater gathering of influences was
occurring. The young Theosophical Society of Madame Blavatsky' founding was flourishing
in Paris. Likewise the Orders of Martinism and Rosicrucianism were founding numerous
salons throughout the country and the continent at large. In Britain a resurgence of Celtic
romanticism was underway guided by the literary genius of such men as W. B. Yeats,
George (AE) Russell and William Sharp and in France the founding of a Welsh Gorsedd!
Even the now perpetually stalked Vintrasian sects were bearing new colors and a new
mystical liturgy known as "The Sacrifice of Glory of Melchizedek". It was thus apparent
that the atmosphere in Europe at least from the point of view of the esoteric and Gnostic
bodies had much improved and that fair weather approached for yet synodic activity.

Between the years of 1888-1891 while Gerard Encausse "Papus" and his associates P.
Sedir and L. Chamuel were forming a Supreme Council to gather and unite Martinist
Initiates from around the world, one Jules Doinel claimed special revelation from an
apparition of the "Aeon Jesus" and two Bogomil Bishops (this in synchronicity with a rare
find of an ancient Cathar document) established L'Eglise Gnostique Universelle. Papus and
the S.C. of the Martinist Order were among those who were received into the Episcopate of
this reformed body. A short time afterwards these men received re-consecration from Abbe
Julio (Tau Julius) otherwise known as Julius Houssaye in order to further secure Apostolical
credential and assure the success of this new Gnostic union. In January of 1901 AD Fabre
Des Essarts a poet of the symbolist movement and close friend of Abbe Julio entered into
union with Jules Doinel and was consecrated to the Episcopate of the Universal Gnostic
Church at the home of lady Caithness (Marie Countess of Caithness). Soon a flow of
personages began to become attracted to the new Church including one Doctor Fugarion
(later to be consecrated Tau Sophronius) and a certain young ex seminarian, Jean Bricaud
who was to receive the Episcopate of the Diocese of Grenoble-Lyon where the Church held
its Holiest See. This new conglomerate soon received the attention of Roman Catholic
authority and in an Apostolic letter Pope Leo XIII characterized the union as a revisitation
of the Albigensian teaching however he had declared their apostolic authority to be
legitimate as instituted vis a vis by the ancient Syro-Antiochene Catholic Rite with which
the Church had been infused.

This new re-assemblage of Gnostic Bishops in France quickly drew to their circle the
attentions of others claiming unique succession from Gnostic heritage having laid in
dormancy for years, even centuries. These are the College of Albi Brethren (Cathars), the
Gnostics of Carmel (some of whom abided with the Vintrasians for a time), the Johannites
who remained active within the structure of Masonic Chivalry, and the Valentinians who
were allied to many of the Rosicrucian fraternities. Thus was the pattern of unity's weave
spun amongst ancient brethren once smitten by the scourge and stake, now to find it's Aeon
of Be With Us!

First among resolves of the new Church was the election and ratification of Fabre Des
Essarts as the Patriarch of the Holy Alliance and so did he become Holiness and Beatitude
Tau Synesius I. Many important matters lay before the Patriarch of the new century, matters
of great interest to the esoteric societies of the day, who watched with interest and
anticipation. On December 7th, 1906 in their Sanctuary of the Gnosis at the Prefecture of
the Seine in Paris a Constitutional Synod was convoked to declare the doctrine of the
Gnostic Universelle Ecclesia publicly before the world. Thus having met and accomplished
the promulgation of Doctrine of a new Constitution for the Church, an array of dignitaries
entered into commitment with the with the new Sanctuary of the Gnosis including the Grand
Masters and Hierophants of the Ancient and Primitive Rites of Memphis and Misraim as
well as several Orders of the Rose-Croix. Among those who clamored to its rolls were
Doctor Krumm Heller (Tau Huirachoca), Rudolph Steiner and Jonathan Yarker to mention
but a few. Thus the Gnostic Church had put its mark upon the foundations of the new
millennium and restores the Divine measure to those who would guard it safely in the face
of two great world wars, which would come to test the new order.

Throughout the period of collective and massive war between 1914-1945 the new
Gnostic order found itself limited geographically and in practicality to the borders of
France, Austria, Belgium and Britain. However, under the leadership of Tau Harmonius I
(Constant Martin Chevillon) Patriarch and successor to jean Bricaud (Tau Jean I) the
Gnostic Ecclesia began to take her position of pre-eminence among other of the Continental
Initiatic orders, to the extent that such orders as those of Martinism, Antiqua Ordo
Rosicrucia and Memphis Misraim Rite Masonry were in solid alliance with or under
governance of the Bishops who composed the "Sanctuary of the Gnosis". The assassination
of Tau Harmonius I by collaborationist under the command of the Nazi Klaus Barbie,
momentarily inhibited the activities of the Gnostic Church which in consequence of this
event accepted refuge for the Chancery of the Church in Brazil(1), so that by 1946 the
Ecclesia was able to spread its sphere of influence quickly to the Americas, Africa and far
Asia. Furthermore the decade of the 1950's saw a healthy revival of the intimate association
of the Ecclesia and its patrons in Templar, Rosicrucian and Egyptian Masonic Orders. The
Sanctuary of the Gnosis had thus become so revived, reconstituted and rebroadcast.

Thus the Eglise Gnostique (Universelle) Apostolique attend to the threshold of the new
aeon of Sayoshant with its credentials intact that is no less than two successions of
Apostolicity(2), four schools of Gnosis and a host of ancient and traditional orders of
initiation. It is to us ancient tradition of John no small irony that the smoke of two universal
wars clears and cools the new age awakens and with it the earth gives forth from its womb
ancient scrolls from an Egyptian desolate desert. Perhaps as a rejuvenating reward for the
past faithfulness of it's humble Hierophants, true builders of the mystic and cosmic temple
of the highest and unknown God, merely awaiting the proper time and the proper tools by
which the promised heavenly city would be erected. Such is the history of a Church
uniquely young as even the ever-coming son and a daughter of the Just nevertheless older
than the oldest a mother of all religions a womb of the earliest intuition and light, a bread
mashed from the kernel innumerable seeds. May God be with all who are truly in the
Gnosis. AMEN+++

Tau Charles Harmonius II

L'Eternal Acolyte
Bibliography

Webb, James, The Occult Underground. (Open Court) 1974.

Webster, Nesta H., Secret Societies and Subversive Movements. (The Christian Book Club) 1924.
J. S. Hyland & Company, The Great White Shepherd of Christendom; the Life of Pope Leo XIII.
(Chicago) 1903.
Clymer, R.S., The Book of the Rosicrucia. (Beverly Hall, Quakerstown) 1946.
Anson, Peter F., Bishops at Large. (Faber & Faber) London 1964.
Athenea Theologica. Primacy Archives; (Chicago) 1984.

1 This was by way of invitation from Dom Antidio Vargus; Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boto
Catu, interdicted by Pope Pius XII in 1943 formed the Roman Catholic Church of Brazil along Old
Catholic lines.

2 One could calculate three if accepting the succession of the Constitutional Catholic Church
(Episcopal Church) of France.

https://www.ancientmartinistorder.org/readings/2.html