Part I].—Tue Greek TRADITION

Study : Esoteric Christianity, Chapters I, and II
THE second stream through which Christian esoterism was conveyed came from Egypt through Greece. The greatest of the Greek sages, from Pythagoras onwards, sought instruction from the Egyptian priesthood. Orpheus, the first of the great light-bringers to the West, having undergone initiation within the temple-schools of Egypt, returned to his native land, and there instituted the Orphic rites, building up gradually, upon the primitive nature cults already existing, purer forms of worship which led at length to the development of the Mysteries. These grew to great power and splendour, preserving an unbroken period of in- fluence for over eight centuries and spreading eventually over almost the whole of the then civilised Western world. Their influence is un- doubtedly to be traced in Christian creed and ceremonial. Indeed, the close and constant resem- blance between the Christus drama as recorded in the Gospels and the drama of initiation as portrayed
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ESOTERIC CHRISTIANITY
in the Mysteries, is one of the most illuminating studies which comparative religion has to offer. Christianity came, moreover, to a world dominated by Greek culture, and it rapidly attracted adherents to whom the terminology of the Mysteries was familiar. Hence we find the Epistles of St. Paul abounding in mystery terms and in allusions only intelligible to those who had received instruction in those earlier schools.
With this historical background, then, and out of this religious heritage, there grew up within the first two centuries of the Church the “ Mysteries of Jesus.” Very little is known of these early rites, as only the advanced grades of disciples were admitted, and then under pledge of secrecy. Such instruction as was communicated was guarded with the utmost care. From various hints given by Dionysius the Areopagite * and other writers, we learn that during these mysteries there were certain things done, certain things sung or spoken and certain things shown ; that is, certain ritual acts were performed, certain “ words” or instruction in the faith im- parted, and certain holy objects disclosed. In time, however, these different grades of membership were abandoned and the Church ceremonial thrown open
* See “ On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.’’
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THE GNOSIS
to all alike. ‘Then the things “ done ” crystallised into the presentation of the Mass, with the gradual development of the further Sacraments, the things “said ” into the formal recital of the Creed, while the things “shown” became the conventionalised symbols of the faith. ‘Thus the inner rites were withdrawn, the memory of them was retained only in so-called heretical sects and handed down through the ages within occult fraternities, while of the Mysteries themselves fragments alone survive in certain secret orders of our own time.
ADDITIONAL BOOKS
Ancus, S. “‘ The Mystery Religions and Christianity.”
BarrizE, Mary W. “* Gnosticism.” (Brahmavidya Library).
Besant, ANNIE. “‘ Reincarnation a Christian Doctrine.”
DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE (trans. by PARKER).
HarnacuH. “ History of Dogma,” Vol. I.
IAMBLICUs (trans. by TayLor).
Kinc. ‘‘ The Gnostics and their Remains.”
KincstanD, W. “‘ The Esoteric Basis of Christianity.”
Megap,G.R.M. “ Apollonius of Tyana” ; ‘ Orpheus” ; “Echoes from the Gnosis” ; ‘‘ Thrice-greatest Hermes”’ ; “Fragments of a Faith Forgotten.’ (Contains a summary of the “ Pistis Sophia”’ treatise.)
OricEN. “ Against Celsus.” *
Puito. “On the Contemplative Life.”
PiutarcH. ‘“‘ The Mysteries of Isis.”
Waite, A. E. ‘‘ The Secret Doctrine in Israel.”
* In Clarke’s Ante-Nicene Library, Vol. X. 7