A Historical Brief of the Gnostic Catholic Ecclesia
The Primitive Foundations of the Ecclesia
In the past 25 years, much misinformation has circulated in the English-speaking press and publications regarding the true identity of the Gnostic Catholic (Universelle) Ecclesia. Therefore, the Primacy of the Church has authorized the compilation of the present brief with intentions to publish a more rounded and complete history of the modern Ecclesia for the English-speaking public.
Indeed, the literary world is only now coming to fathom the antiquity of Gnostic inspiration in the early Ecclesia, with the recent finds of Nag Hammadi; theologians now begin to refocus attention to the early Gnostic Communities. The Gnostic Ecclesia visualizes that from such reassessment of the effect of the Gnostic Scriptures will come forth an objective and concise rendering of facts, which will shed much more light on the Gnostic influence in early Christian literature, including scriptural sources.
As a mystery church, the Gnostic Ecclesia has always been with us, though due to the brutal treatment of these lines of succession in the west, we find no reference to an organized church of Gnostic Sacraments after the demise of the Cathar Churches. Instead, we find numerous appearances, throughout Europe, of secret orders anonymously proclaiming to be the true repositories of the ancient and hidden (occult) Gnosis.
Such orders as the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, i.e. Rosicrucians, as well as Martinists of a later period, Freemasons, and Orders of Military Templars, were known agents of the gnosis, while the very landmarks of these orders prohibit them from openly claiming so. The western or Roman Church never ceased its open declaration of war on these bodies and all who follow them.
In the past 25 years, much misinformation has circulated in the English-speaking press and publications regarding the true identity of the Gnostic Catholic (Universelle) Ecclesia. Therefore, the Primacy of the Church has authorized the compilation of the present brief with intentions to publish a more rounded and complete history of the modern Ecclesia for the English-speaking public.
Indeed, the literary world is only now coming to fathom the antiquity of Gnostic inspiration in the early Ecclesia, with the recent finds of Nag Hammadi; theologians now begin to refocus attention to the early Gnostic Communities. The Gnostic Ecclesia visualizes that from such reassessment of the effect of the Gnostic Scriptures will come forth an objective and concise rendering of facts, which will shed much more light on the Gnostic influence in early Christian literature, including scriptural sources.
As a mystery church, the Gnostic Ecclesia has always been with us, though due to the brutal treatment of these lines of succession in the west, we find no reference to an organized church of Gnostic Sacraments after the demise of the Cathar Churches. Instead, we find numerous appearances, throughout Europe, of secret orders anonymously proclaiming to be the true repositories of the ancient and hidden (occult) Gnosis.
Such orders as the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, i.e. Rosicrucians, as well as Martinists of a later period, Freemasons, and Orders of Military Templars, were known agents of the gnosis, while the very landmarks of these orders prohibit them from openly claiming so. The western or Roman Church never ceased its open declaration of war on these bodies and all who follow them.
Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat (1773-1838).
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Ferdinand-François Châtel (1795-1875).
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Léonce-Eugène-Joseph Fabre des Essarts (1848-1917).
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Pierre-Michel-Eugène Vintras (1807-1875).
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However, historical record shows that by the late 18th through early 19th centuries in France, a serious movement was underway from within the Roman Catholic Church of France to return the Gnostic Throne of John to the Western World. This involved numerous ecclesiastics, including Mr. Mauviel (consecrated in 1800 at Paris as Constitutional Bishop of Cayes in Haiti). and Fabre-Palaprat (1777-1838). Ordained a priest by the Bishop of Lot and later consecrated by Mauviel, Fabre-Palaprat was also a leading Masonic and Templar figure of his country. These men, both initiates of the Resurrected Order of Templars, founded the Eglise Johannites des Chretians Primitifs. In 1831, A Mr. Chatel was initiated into the Order of the Temple and was reconsecrated by the Primate of the Johannite Catholic Church, Excellency Mgr. Machault. Mgr. Chatel was later to received the title "Bishop of the Gauls", creating the prominent but somewhat short-lived "Eglise Catholique Franchise, with Diocese in Paris, Brussels, and Nannies." At the same time that the Johannite Church was established in France, another more esoteric body was being formed by a man of Roman Catholic extraction who claimed a very great vision in which, it was alleged, the Madonna, St. Joseph and the Angels appeared to formally declare the coming of the Age of the Paraclete. This was Pierre-Eugene-Michel Vintras. He founded the Oeuvre de le misericorde to proclaim his revelation, and to this society many Roman Catholic and Irvingite Catholic Priests were drawn. Numerous spectacular miracles were attributed to him, such as the appearance of bleeding hosts which could remain perfectly preserved for many years.
However, Vintras was unable to avoid trouble with many of the ecclesiastical authorities of the Roman Church in France, having been condemned along with his movement by the Archbishops of Bordeaux and Nancy, even by Pope Pius IX himself in 1851. After a period of flight from France, during which time Vintras toured Europe, he eventually returned to Lyon, there to found the Sanctuary Interior of the Carmel of Elie' and later the Carmel Blanc in Florence, Italy. He died in Lyons on December 7, 1875, but many of his consecrated "Pontifs Divins" continued to propagate this Carmelite Society along strongly spiritualistic lines, as an underground church. The movement of this hidden ecclesia persisted throughout the 19th century in France and drew many Grand Masters of the Arcane Orders, who also continued to move in the shadows of the ongoing mystic and esoteric movements of this fascinating period. At this time, four sacred gnostic colleges were evolving: The Johannite, The Carmelian, The new Valentinian and The Universelle Gnostique Eglise. Yet it was not until the end of the 19th century that they would be plummeted to international prominence through the agency of Arch Bishop Rene Vilatte.
Joseph René Vilatte (1854-1929).
The Vilatte Succession
Joseph Rene Vilatte was born in Paris on January 24, 1854, originally baptized in the “Petite Eglise” and re-baptized conditionally as Roman Catholic. At age 22, Vilatte sailed to America where he attended the college of Saint Laurent, conducted by the Holy Cross Fathers, where he prepared for the Roman Catholic Priesthood. Vilatte never received the orders of the Roman Church, which he found intolerant and presumptuous. Eventually, Rev. Vilatte received the diaconat and prebyterat at Berne, Switzerland from Bishop Herzog of the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht in 1885. Father Vilatte returned to America where he assumed a pastoral post at the Old Catholic Church in Dykesville, Wisconsin. Father Vilatte was enthusiastic in his prebyterat, but having in mind the intent to expand the Old Catholic Church in North America, he would eventually seek the authority of the Episcopate. However, Vilatte would never submit to local Roman Catholic or Anglican authorities, and an Episcopate did not appear forthcoming until 1891, when Fr. Vilatte, entangled in dispute with the Anglican Auxiliary of Fond D Lac, sought and received alliance from Archbishop Vladmir, the Russian Orthodox Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, and Mar Julius I (Julius Alvarez,) Metropolitan of the Independent Catholic Church of Ceylon, Goa and India. The latter agreed to consecrate Vilatte as Bishop only after consultation with Ignatius Peter III, Patriarch of Antioch. Alvarez finally received a reply and, in the bull of Election from His Holiness Peter III, signed and sealed from the Patriarchal Palace in the Monastery of Sapran at Mardin of the border of Syria and Kurdistan dated December 19. 1891, the consecration of Joseph Rene Vilatte was granted for the Arch-Episcopal Dignity, Archbishop Metropolitan in the name Mar Timotheos, for the Church of the Mother of God in Wisconsin, of the Churches of the Archdiocese of America and the Churches “adhering to the Orthodox Faith.”
The ceremony took place in the Church of Our Lady of the Good Death, in Colombo, Ceylon on May 29, 1892, by Mar Julius and assisted by Mar Paul Athanasius, Bishop of Kattayom and Mar Gregorius, Bishop of Niranom. On June 5, 1892, Mar Julius is said to have presented Mar Timotheos with a certificate of consecration conferring on him the title of Archbishop of the Old Catholic Church of America with full powers to perform all the functions of the Metropolitan, Archbishop Vilatte also received a necessary supply of “Holy Mooron” or oil which is consecrated by the Patriarch alone.
On May 6, 1900, Vilatte consecrated a lapsed Roman Catholic priest, Paolo Miraglia-Gulatti as an Old Catholic Bishop of Italy with the title of Bishop of Piacenza. It was Mgr. Gulatti who in turn consecrated Abbe Julio (Julian Houssye) Mar Julio, who ascended to the Primacy of the Gallican National Catholic Church of France. Mar Julio in his turn on June 21, 1911, consecrated as Archbishop, Louis Francois Giraud in the Old Catholic Chapel at Aire, near Geneva, Switzerland. Both Msgrs. Houssaye and Giraud were in extremely close communion with four Gnostic Colleges of France as well as many of the Arcane orders which were in strict concordance with those bodies.
Joseph Rene Vilatte was born in Paris on January 24, 1854, originally baptized in the “Petite Eglise” and re-baptized conditionally as Roman Catholic. At age 22, Vilatte sailed to America where he attended the college of Saint Laurent, conducted by the Holy Cross Fathers, where he prepared for the Roman Catholic Priesthood. Vilatte never received the orders of the Roman Church, which he found intolerant and presumptuous. Eventually, Rev. Vilatte received the diaconat and prebyterat at Berne, Switzerland from Bishop Herzog of the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht in 1885. Father Vilatte returned to America where he assumed a pastoral post at the Old Catholic Church in Dykesville, Wisconsin. Father Vilatte was enthusiastic in his prebyterat, but having in mind the intent to expand the Old Catholic Church in North America, he would eventually seek the authority of the Episcopate. However, Vilatte would never submit to local Roman Catholic or Anglican authorities, and an Episcopate did not appear forthcoming until 1891, when Fr. Vilatte, entangled in dispute with the Anglican Auxiliary of Fond D Lac, sought and received alliance from Archbishop Vladmir, the Russian Orthodox Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, and Mar Julius I (Julius Alvarez,) Metropolitan of the Independent Catholic Church of Ceylon, Goa and India. The latter agreed to consecrate Vilatte as Bishop only after consultation with Ignatius Peter III, Patriarch of Antioch. Alvarez finally received a reply and, in the bull of Election from His Holiness Peter III, signed and sealed from the Patriarchal Palace in the Monastery of Sapran at Mardin of the border of Syria and Kurdistan dated December 19. 1891, the consecration of Joseph Rene Vilatte was granted for the Arch-Episcopal Dignity, Archbishop Metropolitan in the name Mar Timotheos, for the Church of the Mother of God in Wisconsin, of the Churches of the Archdiocese of America and the Churches “adhering to the Orthodox Faith.”
The ceremony took place in the Church of Our Lady of the Good Death, in Colombo, Ceylon on May 29, 1892, by Mar Julius and assisted by Mar Paul Athanasius, Bishop of Kattayom and Mar Gregorius, Bishop of Niranom. On June 5, 1892, Mar Julius is said to have presented Mar Timotheos with a certificate of consecration conferring on him the title of Archbishop of the Old Catholic Church of America with full powers to perform all the functions of the Metropolitan, Archbishop Vilatte also received a necessary supply of “Holy Mooron” or oil which is consecrated by the Patriarch alone.
On May 6, 1900, Vilatte consecrated a lapsed Roman Catholic priest, Paolo Miraglia-Gulatti as an Old Catholic Bishop of Italy with the title of Bishop of Piacenza. It was Mgr. Gulatti who in turn consecrated Abbe Julio (Julian Houssye) Mar Julio, who ascended to the Primacy of the Gallican National Catholic Church of France. Mar Julio in his turn on June 21, 1911, consecrated as Archbishop, Louis Francois Giraud in the Old Catholic Chapel at Aire, near Geneva, Switzerland. Both Msgrs. Houssaye and Giraud were in extremely close communion with four Gnostic Colleges of France as well as many of the Arcane orders which were in strict concordance with those bodies.
The Abbe Julio. The bishop celebrating in his Église Catholique Libre.
The Eglise Gnostique Universelle
In the year 1890, a certain Jules Doinel founded the Universal Gnostic Church, one of the aforementioned sacred colleges of Gnosis in France. It is alleged that he was consecrated as a Patriarch from Jesus Christ Himself and two Bogomil Bishops in a miraculous vision. Doinel assumed this Patriarchal rank with the name Tau Valentin II and consecrated three Bishops. These three Bishops were Papus (Dr. Gerard Encausse), Sedir, and Chamuel, and were, in their own right, prestigious leaders of Arcane Orders active in France. They formed the Sacred Synod of the Gnostic Ecclesia and, through the action of Fabre des Essarts, French symbolist poet and close friend of Houssaye, also a Gnostic Bishop (Tau Synesius), they undertook to enter the Universelle Gnostique Church into the communion of the Eglises Gallican (Catholique).
In the year 1890, a certain Jules Doinel founded the Universal Gnostic Church, one of the aforementioned sacred colleges of Gnosis in France. It is alleged that he was consecrated as a Patriarch from Jesus Christ Himself and two Bogomil Bishops in a miraculous vision. Doinel assumed this Patriarchal rank with the name Tau Valentin II and consecrated three Bishops. These three Bishops were Papus (Dr. Gerard Encausse), Sedir, and Chamuel, and were, in their own right, prestigious leaders of Arcane Orders active in France. They formed the Sacred Synod of the Gnostic Ecclesia and, through the action of Fabre des Essarts, French symbolist poet and close friend of Houssaye, also a Gnostic Bishop (Tau Synesius), they undertook to enter the Universelle Gnostique Church into the communion of the Eglises Gallican (Catholique).
Jules Doinel (1842-1903)
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Gérard Encausse (1865-1916).
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Paul Sedir (1871-1926).
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Lucien Chamuel (18?-1936).
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On July 21, 1913, Louis Francois Giraud consecrated Jean Bricaud, an ex-Trappist monk, (with the name Tau Jean II), in the Gallican Church at Saint-Amond, Roche-Savine. Bricaud had come to his new status with very illustrious credentials, for by this time he held the titles of President de la Societe Occultiste Modaile, Patriarch de L'Eglise Gnostique Universelle, President du Supreme Consiel de L'Ordre Martiniste and Grand Hierophant du Rite Ancient and Primitif de Memphis-Mizraim and Rectuer de la Rose Croix. Tau Jean II gathered in Lyon, France a very strong following of Gnostic clergy and lay folk, and on May 5, 1918, consecrated Victor Blanchard under the name Tau Targilus. Tau Jean fell ill in 1933, and on February 24, 1934 he passed into the light beyond the shadow.
Louis Francois Giraud (1876-1951).
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Jean Bricaud (1881-1934).
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Constant Chevillon (1880-1944).
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He was replaced by Constant Martin Chevillon, who was elected to the Patriarchate and consecrated as such by Mgr. Giraud on January 5, 1936 with the name Tau Harmonius. Tau Harmonius, like his predecessor, was a man of achievement, but also of courageous and saintly character. Thus it comes as no surprise that he incurred the severest fear and hatred of Adolph Hitler. After the puppet Vichy government suppressed the Ecclesia, Chevillon was gunned down on March 22, 1944 by the Nazis and French militia men under the Gestapo subservience of Klaus Barbie, also known as “the Butcher of Lyon”.
The Roman Catholic Succession of Brazil and the Gnostic Church
With the deadly shroud of the second world war having been drawn back, Eglise Gnostique Catholique et Apostolic began to spread from France to Portugal, Italy, Belgium, North Africa and South America especially Brazil, where eventually it merged its succession with that of the Roman Catholic Succession of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (Igreja Catolica Apostolica Brasiliera). The National Brazilian Catholic Church was established some time after June of 1945 by Mgr. Carlos Duarte Costa (1888-1961), who had been Archbishop of Botacatu, but was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Curia for his attacks against Pope Pius XII for having given benediction to Nazi and Fascist troops in St. Peters Square in 1943. At the end of the second world war, Archbishop Costa's papal interdiction was lifted, though the Archbishop declined an invitation to return to his post in the Roman Church and founded the Brazilian National Catholic Church.
Carlos Duarte Costa (1888-1961).
On December 27, 1970, in the Church of Santa Catarina in Porto Alegre, Dom Antidio Vargas, formerly Orthodox Bishop of Brazil and Archbishop of the Brazilian Catholic Church, consecrated Pedro Freire as Patriarch of the Eglise Gnostique Apostolique with the name Mar Petrus-Johannes XIII. Dr. Freire had been previously the Primate of South America. As Patriarch, he succeeded Andre Mauer, Tau Andreas having been elected by the Synod of the Church in 1969.
Pedro Freire did much to propagate the Church in the Americas. On December 31, 1970, he established the Primacy for North America and appointed to this post the Metropolitan Roger St. Victor Herard, in Ecclesia Tau Charles, as Primate located in Chicago, Illinois. With the death of Pedro Freire in 1977, the Synod of the Gnostic Catholic and Apostolic Ecclesia failed to elect a successor and permitted the Ecclesia to become autocephalous (independent of external and patriarchal authority).
The Sacramental Ministry
The Apostolic ministry of the Gnostic Catholic Ecclesia is in its origin established to institute the sacramental ministry for the Arcane Orders of Initiation throughout the world, severed from the One Holy Catholic Church after the first French revolution by Clement XIV, Bishop of Rome and which continues to be maintained today by the present occupant of this chair.
The Gnostic Catholic Ecclesia continues to acknowledge and maintain a concordance with numerous of the chains of ancient and classical traditions of initiation.
We acknowledge and uphold the unity and the hypostasis of the Holy Trinity and Christ our Lord the Logos, who, abiding in the heart of the Divine Pleroma, confers to his faithful, salvation through grace, which is inseparable in its essence from the Holy Gnosis.
“We recognize One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the communion of the Holy Aeons and saints, custodians of the essential wisdom of the race, who preach the great law, who live and labor unselfishly dedicated to the advancement of all beings.” We look to the coming Parousia of the Logos and absorption of this world into the Universal Will hence bringing to an end the Universe of the Demiurgos, and his wheel of existences, the ultimate of Perfection and Unity.
We proclaim the necessary intercession of Our Holy Mother Sophia, and the Esoteric prominence of the Throne of John, Beloved of our Lord and to who He gave His revelations.
Of these confessions we are profoundly realized and make public to all beings daily in the Gnostic Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Apostolic Succession of the Gnostic Catholic Church
The Gnostic Apostolic Church has its origin in the affiliation of the very important Antioch Church which was before the Alexandrian Church and was the most important intellectual center of Christianity and which gave birth to the Edesse Church. Here is the summary of its Apostolic Succession.
The following is the report of the "ANTIQUITATES ANTIOCHENAE" from Simon Pierre the Apostle, First Bishop of Antioch, until the 125th degree of succession:
1. Simon Peter Apostle consecrated Evodius, the Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch;
126. Ignatius Peter III, Patriarch of Antioch and Eastern See, who consecrated in 1877 A.D.;
127. Mar Paul Athanasius, Syriac Bishop of Kotayan, who consecrated in July 29, 1889;
128. Julius I, Antoine Francois Xavier Alvarez, Bishop of Ceylon, who consecrated in May 29, 1892;
129. Mar Timotheus, J. Renee Vilatee, who consecrated May 6, 1900;
130. Paul, Paolo Miraglia, who consecrated December 4, 1904;
131. Julio, Julien Houssaye, who consecrated June 21, 1911;
132. Francois, Louis Francois Giraud, who consecrated July 12, 1913;
133. Jean II, Jean Bricaud, who consecrated May 5, 1918;
134. Targelius, Victor Blanchard, who consecrated January 7, 1945;
135. Eon II, Roger Menard, who consecrated June 10, 1946;
136. Jean III, alias Robert, Bishop of Samaria, Robert Ambelain, who consecrated January 26, 1958;
137. Andreas, Andre Mauer, second Patriarch of the Gnostic Apostolic Church;
138. Tau Jean, Roger Pommery consecrated by Robert Ambelain on May 26, 1958, who consecrated in September 16, 1967;
139. Tau Guillaume, Willer Vital-Herne, who consecrated September 7, 1970;
140. Tau Charles I, Roger Victor Herard.
Pedro Freire did much to propagate the Church in the Americas. On December 31, 1970, he established the Primacy for North America and appointed to this post the Metropolitan Roger St. Victor Herard, in Ecclesia Tau Charles, as Primate located in Chicago, Illinois. With the death of Pedro Freire in 1977, the Synod of the Gnostic Catholic and Apostolic Ecclesia failed to elect a successor and permitted the Ecclesia to become autocephalous (independent of external and patriarchal authority).
The Sacramental Ministry
The Apostolic ministry of the Gnostic Catholic Ecclesia is in its origin established to institute the sacramental ministry for the Arcane Orders of Initiation throughout the world, severed from the One Holy Catholic Church after the first French revolution by Clement XIV, Bishop of Rome and which continues to be maintained today by the present occupant of this chair.
The Gnostic Catholic Ecclesia continues to acknowledge and maintain a concordance with numerous of the chains of ancient and classical traditions of initiation.
We acknowledge and uphold the unity and the hypostasis of the Holy Trinity and Christ our Lord the Logos, who, abiding in the heart of the Divine Pleroma, confers to his faithful, salvation through grace, which is inseparable in its essence from the Holy Gnosis.
“We recognize One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the communion of the Holy Aeons and saints, custodians of the essential wisdom of the race, who preach the great law, who live and labor unselfishly dedicated to the advancement of all beings.” We look to the coming Parousia of the Logos and absorption of this world into the Universal Will hence bringing to an end the Universe of the Demiurgos, and his wheel of existences, the ultimate of Perfection and Unity.
We proclaim the necessary intercession of Our Holy Mother Sophia, and the Esoteric prominence of the Throne of John, Beloved of our Lord and to who He gave His revelations.
Of these confessions we are profoundly realized and make public to all beings daily in the Gnostic Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
The Apostolic Succession of the Gnostic Catholic Church
The Gnostic Apostolic Church has its origin in the affiliation of the very important Antioch Church which was before the Alexandrian Church and was the most important intellectual center of Christianity and which gave birth to the Edesse Church. Here is the summary of its Apostolic Succession.
The following is the report of the "ANTIQUITATES ANTIOCHENAE" from Simon Pierre the Apostle, First Bishop of Antioch, until the 125th degree of succession:
1. Simon Peter Apostle consecrated Evodius, the Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch;
126. Ignatius Peter III, Patriarch of Antioch and Eastern See, who consecrated in 1877 A.D.;
127. Mar Paul Athanasius, Syriac Bishop of Kotayan, who consecrated in July 29, 1889;
128. Julius I, Antoine Francois Xavier Alvarez, Bishop of Ceylon, who consecrated in May 29, 1892;
129. Mar Timotheus, J. Renee Vilatee, who consecrated May 6, 1900;
130. Paul, Paolo Miraglia, who consecrated December 4, 1904;
131. Julio, Julien Houssaye, who consecrated June 21, 1911;
132. Francois, Louis Francois Giraud, who consecrated July 12, 1913;
133. Jean II, Jean Bricaud, who consecrated May 5, 1918;
134. Targelius, Victor Blanchard, who consecrated January 7, 1945;
135. Eon II, Roger Menard, who consecrated June 10, 1946;
136. Jean III, alias Robert, Bishop of Samaria, Robert Ambelain, who consecrated January 26, 1958;
137. Andreas, Andre Mauer, second Patriarch of the Gnostic Apostolic Church;
138. Tau Jean, Roger Pommery consecrated by Robert Ambelain on May 26, 1958, who consecrated in September 16, 1967;
139. Tau Guillaume, Willer Vital-Herne, who consecrated September 7, 1970;
140. Tau Charles I, Roger Victor Herard.
The Gnostic Catholic Ecclesia in the Americas
The Krumm-Heller Order
Dr. Krumm-Heller was authorized in the early part of this century by Papus (Tau Vincent) to establish orders of the Great Work, i.e. The Martinist, Freemasonic and Rosicrucian orders of France, in Mexico and South America. He was also a keen Bishop of the Doinel line of the Gnostic Church. While very little documentation is available about his undertakings, it is known that he assumed the nom d'Eglise of Tau Huirarchoca, (Hauirachoca being the Mayan equivalent of Quetzalcoatl, "the feathered serpent", whom certain Mormon writers identified with the Hebrew figure Melchizedek). Krumm-Heller was certainly attracted to the mysteries of the Mayan and Inca civilizations and was known for spending much of his lengthy South and Central American trips in the highlands rather than in the major cities. Among the natives of these regions, he established the "Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua", which survives to this day.
In Venezuela, Columbia and kindred regions, the members of this society are notable for their flamboyant rosy red robes and large turban-like hats reminiscent of those worn by the Assyrian High Priests. In the last few decades there has circulated a text constructed from Cathar sources bearing the name "the Krumm-Heller liturgy". Regetfully, we have been unable to secure this document for examination.
The Krumm-Heller Order
Dr. Krumm-Heller was authorized in the early part of this century by Papus (Tau Vincent) to establish orders of the Great Work, i.e. The Martinist, Freemasonic and Rosicrucian orders of France, in Mexico and South America. He was also a keen Bishop of the Doinel line of the Gnostic Church. While very little documentation is available about his undertakings, it is known that he assumed the nom d'Eglise of Tau Huirarchoca, (Hauirachoca being the Mayan equivalent of Quetzalcoatl, "the feathered serpent", whom certain Mormon writers identified with the Hebrew figure Melchizedek). Krumm-Heller was certainly attracted to the mysteries of the Mayan and Inca civilizations and was known for spending much of his lengthy South and Central American trips in the highlands rather than in the major cities. Among the natives of these regions, he established the "Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua", which survives to this day.
In Venezuela, Columbia and kindred regions, the members of this society are notable for their flamboyant rosy red robes and large turban-like hats reminiscent of those worn by the Assyrian High Priests. In the last few decades there has circulated a text constructed from Cathar sources bearing the name "the Krumm-Heller liturgy". Regetfully, we have been unable to secure this document for examination.
Arnold Krumm-Heller (1876-1949).
The Post World War II Recovery of the Universel
Gnostic Church and The American Expansion of the E.G.A.
Due to the efforts of Dr. Krumm-Heller at the behest of "PAPUS" earlier in this century, as well as the surge of migration of Europeans fleeing to South American from the Oppression manifested by World War II, the occult and esoteric population of Latin America grew to produce a strong renaissance. Meanwhile, in Europe, Robert Ambelain had ascended the patriarchal throne and began the recovery of the Gnostic Church in founding his own branch, and whose name he altered from the Universal (Catholic) Gnostic Church, as it was known since the patriarchate of Jean Bricaud (Tau Jean II) and the martyred Constant Martin Chevillon (Tau Harmonius), to the Gnostic Catholic Apostolic Church, or otherwise known as the Ecclesia Gnostica Apostolica (E.G.A.). During the period of the 1950s, His Beatitude Robert Ambelain (Tau Jean II) authored and translated many Gnostic and Masonic works and recovered the Gnostic Archives. Unfortunately, one of his most notable works, Jesus and The Mortal Secret of the Templars, was greeted in Europe with such controversy that it ultimately led to his untimely departure from active leadership of the Church. Robert Ambelain, however, is also to be credited for his recognition of the growing gnostic spirit in the Americas. In 1956, he consecrated Pedro Freire (Tau Petrus) of Porto Alegre, Brazil, as Bishop Primate of Latin America, who consecrated Fermin Vale Amesti (Tau Valentinus III), Primate of Venezuela and Central America. Later after his departure from the Patriarchal Office in the 1960s, Roger Pommery (Tau Jean IV) took over the American resurgence and, in 1967, Willer Vital-Herne was consecrated in Paris as Tau Guillaume, Primate of the Antilles and the Caribbean. Following the loss of Roger Pommery, in 1969, Andre Mauer (Tau Andreas) briefly ascended the Patriarchal throne and, under him, the consensus was made to elect a North American bishop. This was Roger St. Victor Herard, who was consecrated Bishop of Bethany (Tau Charles) on September 7 by Tau Gillaume in New York City. Tau Charles was a political refugee who had come to the United States to escape oppression and possible assassination from the Duvalier government in Haiti. Monsignor Roger Herard was a highly celebrated Mason and Martinist in his homeland as well as in North America and in Europe. He was much respected by the heads of numerous esoteric fraternities, especially L'Ordre Martiniste and Philippe Encause its Grand Master, who was the son of “Papus”, Dr. Gerard Encause.
Robert Ambelain (1907-1997).
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Fermin Vale Amesti (1923-1999).
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Roger Saint-Victor Hérard (d. 1989).
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The Holy Gnostic Apostalate in the America's
Premier Patriarchate and The North American Primacy
When Tau Andreas resigned on August 1, 1969, the High Synod elected, in a strange move, the Primate of Latin America, Pedro Freire, who was consecrated originally in 1956 by Robert Ambelain. This was the first time in history that the patriarchate was moved not only out of France itself, but out of the hemisphere and to the Americas.
Dr. Freire was a much loved and respected man, not only in the Eglise Gnostique Apostolique, but also amongst many other clergy of Apostolic Rites around the world. He was given a very grand coronation and installation to the Patriarchate on December 17, 1970 by Mgr. Dom Antides Vargas, (Patriarche Titulaire of Theoupolis and Dean of the Cathredral of The Brazilian National Catholic Church in the City of Lajes in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil.) Mgr. Vargas, who was assisted by Bishops of the Armenian Church, was famous for his own resignation from The Church of Rome after his criticism of Pope Pius XII for political collaboration with the Nazi troops in World War II. Mgr. Vargas was now the Patriarch of the Old Roman Catholic Church of Brazil. He named Dr. Freire Mar Petrus-Johannes XIII following eastern catholic style rather than Gnostic. It is worth noting that the reign of Petrus-Johannes XIII seemed to begin a trend of ecumenicism which continued into the career of Roger Saint Victor Herard, whom he appointed Primate of North America on December 31, 1970. Unfortunately, Petrus-Johannes was unable to heal, in his seven year Patriarchate, the deep division amongst the Bishops concerning the feminine ordinand.
Soon after Roger St. Victor Herard took his chair under the name Tau Charles I, he instituted churches in New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. These churches were predominantly of Haitian membership and, in 1972, he named an ex-Haitian military man, Clement Lucien Papillon (Tau Paul) to be his assistant in Chicago, where Mgr. Herard had made his home after moving from New York. In 1973, Herard made Gaspard Mervilus (Tau Louis) Archbishop of New York and, later, the title “coadjutor cum jure succcessiones,” i.e. the exclusive right to succession of him (Herard). Mgr. Mervilus was also an ex-Haitian military man and both commanded respect within their community. Roger Herard, on the other hand, was a refugee from the government of “Papa Doc” Duvalier, and, as a lawyer and school teacher in Haiti, he fought forces of oppression from the government, which was seeking to trample the peasant population. Alas, Mgr. Herard was obliged to leave his homeland in 1966 with the Ton Ton Mechauthe fast on his heels. As a Bishop of the Church and as a greatly and highly celebrated Mason of Haiti and a Martinist of the Parisian Ordre Martiniste de Papus, Herard commanded great admiration and respect. He sought to use this to help support and console his fellow citizens in Haiti; he wrote articles published in Masonic periodicals in Port au Prince, and spoke on Haitian radio with transmission for Haitians both here and in Haiti. However, in as much as he held national and international respect, difficulties in the ranks of the Haitian clergy became apparent. Mgr. Herard described, in a prior journal of the Athenea Theologica, power plays between his two Bishops, much to his consternation.
Things came to a head when Mgr. Herard registered appointment of Gaspard Mervilus as his coadjutor in Brazil with our Patriarch after learning of Mgr. Papillon's unsuccessful attempt to found a branch of the New Alliance Church in North America and in Haiti (The Haitian Church, not comprehending what he was trying to do, thought he was forming a “New Adventist” Church and pushed his effort away). However, a final blow was yet to come, as, on April 23, 1977, Mar Petrus-Johannes XIII passed away. On September 22, 1977, Edmond Fieschi (Tau Siabul,) Primate of the Gauls, was elected by the Holy Gnostic Synod as Patriarch; however, it is related by Mgr. Herard that Mgr. Papillon held influence with Mgr. Fieschi and, in a scandalous move, persuaded him of the agreement of the New Alliance that the Hagio Pneuma (The Holy Ghost) had left the Gnostic Church. Tau Siabul resigned in December of 1977, abdicating in favor of his coadjutor Mgr. Fermin Vale-Amesti, Tau Velentinus III, Primate of Central America, having his Apostolic seat in Caracas, Venezuela, but Mgr. Vale-Amesti refused to accept this nomination and “proclaimed the independence of the ecclesiastical provinces on April 7, 1978” (Athena Theological No. 3, pg. 22). Roger Herard also notes that Papillon, for reasons unknown, attempted to influence the College of Primates to reverse this apparent abolition of an international patriarchate but without success. In the aftermath, Mgr. Papillon resigned his status in the Church and, in his letter to Mgr. Herard, he also cited the contention that the Hagio Pneuma had left the Church. In the absence of an international patriarche, the E.G.A. would claim autocephalaus status, which Roger Herard seconded in 1979 following Vale-Amesti's declaration. This left René Chambellant as a constitutional patriarch or patriarche titulaire in the south of France, since René Chambellant (Tau Renatus) had retained the title of “Primate of The Gauls” after having been elected successor to Chevillon.
By the end of the 1970's, Roger Herard had consecrated two more bishops in Chicago: Mgr. Carl St. Cyr (Tau Patrick) in 1978, and Mgr. Alphonse Douyon for Washington D.C.; both men were clergy of Haitian descent. During this time, Mgr. Herard also began to broaden his relations to these clergy belonging to other churches of Gnostic acclaim, though not necessarily of the E.G.A. First of all, he recognized the patriarchate of Mgr. George Boyer in England (Tau Georgius de Londres,) whose gnostic lineage descended from Richard Powell, Duc de Palatine, and also another George, Mgr. George Brister (Tau Georgius,) the Archbishop of Oklahoma City for the Old Catholic Church, and a Bishop in concordat with the Ecclesia Gnostica in Hollywood, California, under the Regionary Bishop, Stephen A. Hoeller, also of the de Palatine lineage. The drawing closer of these two successions eventually becomes more prominent, as we will later see. However, from these relationships, Mgr. Herard began to receive various items of gnostic interest in English print, including the de Palatine Mass, which Mgr. Herard eventually would approve for American adherents of our Church. At the beginning of the 1980s Mgr. Herard turned his focus toward other communities of American culture, especially with a view toward opening the Church to all Americans whose primary language was English, and who were natural born citizens of the United States. It was in this period that the author was introduced to Mgr. Herard through a mutual friend and disciple of the Church, Rev. Steven A. Godlewski. Roger had inspired my interest in the Gnostic Church. Although my sole original intent was to seek studies in the Martinist Order of France (L'Ordre Martiniste), I completed the necessary courses to presbyterate ordination in June of 1985. Mgr. Herard had turned his attention at this time to the expansion of the Ecclesia Gnostica Apostolica to the greater American (especially English-speaking) population and the subcultures therein. I was presented by Mgr. Herard with a gnostic mass in English, which he had received from our very good and dear Brother Mgr. Georgius in Oklahoma City, and was told that, with a few adjustments, this would be the preferred liturgy for the American Church. At this time, the majority of our church was using a French form of the Novus Ordo mass, adopted, at some points, to gnostic usages. In August of 1984 I was elected Bishop of Wisconsin and Auxiliary Metropolitan of Chicago, with the mandate to develop Churches for the American people (especially of primarily English speech) and after my consecration in November of the same year, I was authorized to incorporate the Church in the United States and to select American clergy for its Board of Trustees/Rectors, which I did on November 29, 1984. Mgr. Herard approved the administrative title of Diocese of the Midwest for our registered offices at that time, since our main mission to American congregants focused on the Midwestern states. Mgr. Herard did not include the Haitian clergy in this corporate structure, stating that it was his plan to have a separate corporation for Haitian congregations. Mgr. Herard had the same policy in mind for other cultures immigrating into the U.S. and early in 1985, Mgr. Herard ordained and consecrated Jorge Enrique Rodriguez Villa as an Archbishop of Bogota, Columbia and Miami, Florida, in order to oversee a ministry for Spanish speaking constituents of the church. Mgr. Rodriguez founded churches in Columbia and maintained a church in Chicago. His liturgy was exclusively Latin and tridentine in nature, and in addition, Mgr. Rodriguez preferred orthodox adaptation, perhaps following the practice of our friend and also a concordat Bishop with our Church, Archbishop Roberto Toca of the Catholic church of the Antiochene Rite. Late in 1985 or early 1986, Mgr. Rodriguez founded the Iglesia Catholica Orthodoxa Apostolica and incorporated it in the State of Illinois, assuming the title of Patriarche for this Church, which functioned on Old Catholic lines and was non-gnostic. Mgr. Herard's attention at this period was focused on his Haitian congregations on the east coast, when there again emerged certain rivalries and difficulties. This time it was between Bishops Alphonse Douyon and Mgr. Gaspard Mervilus, who were in dispute over jurisdiction in that Mgr. Douyon was allegedly recruiting priests in New York. Mgr. Douyon was warned by Mgr. Herard to desist this activity; however, Mgr. Douyon failed to heed this warning and allegedly ordained two men in New York without the primate’s permission, at the cost of being deposed from the Church by Mgr. Herard. The problems were not over, however, as Mgr. Mervilus, who had a reputation for asserting his interests over others’ within the Church, sought to limit correspondence from members of the clergy, who were also members of the Supreme Consul of L'Ordre Martiniste, to the Grand Master in Paris, suggesting the such correspondence should only go through him, as he was the Grand National Delegate for the Order to the United States. Mgr. Herard, who had appropriated that position to Mgr. Mervilus, was greatly angered at this, citing that such a restriction was a violation of a right accorded to initiators of the Order by virtue of the “sacred chain of initiation.” This controversy eventually ended with Mgr. Mervilus' resignation from both L'Ordre Martiniste and the E.G.C.A. of which he was coadjutor to the Primat. This sparked a number of changes in both organizations. The Grand Master of L'Ordre Martiniste (now Emilio Lorenzo, following the death of Philippe Encausse) decided that no longer would an initiator of the Ordre hold simultaneously the rank of Bishop in the Church. This was a blow to Mgr. Herard and the Church, given the close concordat between the two orders since 1911, when then Patriarch and Grand Master of L'Ordre Martiniste, Jean Bricaud (Tau Jean I,) put them together in exclusive union. This was so much in vogue up to the present time that in the late 1970s Roger Herard initiated the process of election in a document naming his good friend, The Grand Master Philippe Encausse (Papus' son) in Paris, as a Bishop of the E.G.A. However, Philippe declined this dignity. Following the departure of Mgr. Mervilus, Mgr. Herard abolished the Archdiocese of New York and made the new Bishops preside over the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Queens. They were Mgr. Louis Etienne (Tau Franciscus) and Mgr. Luxy Achille Claude (Tau Jean.) Mgr. Herard continued to keep his sights on ecumenical relations with other gnostic churches in the U.S. and also began to work toward his long intended goal of ordaining and consecrating a woman within the church in the near future. At about this same time, with enthusiastic endorsement from Mgr. Herard, I began a series of correspondence and telephone conversations with the renowned female Evêque Lady Rosamonde Miller (Tau Rosa) in Palo Alto, California. At about the same time, we gained association to Mgr. Stephan Hoeller (Tau Stephanus,) Regionary Bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica, whose apostolic residence was Hollywood, California. He was the Bishop to convey the successions of late Richard Duc de Palatine to Bishop Rosa Miller and to our Concordat Brother, Tau Georgius in Oklahoma. Mgr. Herard was quite eager to see a unification with those two important figures of gnosticism in America.
Consecration of Robert Michael Cokinis (Tau Charles Harmonius) as Bishop of Wisconsin and Presiding Bishop of the Diocese of the Midwest.
Pictured left to right:
Tau Patrick / Karl St. Cyr (co-Consecrator)
Tau Charles Harmonius II / Robert Michael Cokinis
Tau Charles / Roger St. Victor Herard (Consecrator).
In November of 1988, I had an opportunity to meet Mgr. Hoeller (Tau Stephanus,) who was to lecture at the headquarters of The Theosophical Society in America, located in Wheaton, Illinois. Mgr. Herard was very encouraging of this. I did so and was most warmly and affectionately greeted by Tau Stephanus, who immediately recognized me from a photo of my consecration. He had seen the photo at the home of Rosamonde Miller (Tau Rosa) while visiting her. Tau Rosa had been consecrated by Tau Stephanus, Neil P. Jack and Gregory Forest Barber in January of 1982, and we spoke much concerning the feminine episcopate in general, and other important inter-ecclesiastical affairs, including the already firm relationship between Tau Georgius and Tau Charles (Mgr. Herard.) Mgr. Herard was extremely pleased to know of the exchange of information (much of which was new to him) and he hoped very much for a more personal contact with Tau Stephanus.
In February of 1989, I met at the home of Mgr. Herard with Mgr. Karl St. Cyr, Mgr. Herard's Chancellor Bishop. At this time, we were advised of Mgr. Herard's intention to elect Rev. Yanick Morin, a lady of Haitian descent, as the first female bishop of our church in the United States; both Mgr. St. Cyr and myself were in full consent of this decision. Mgr. Herard requested that Bishop Rosamonde Miller be the actual consecrating Bishop, thus fusing her succession into ours in an intercommunal way, much the way he had wished that Tau Georgius could do in the case of my own consecration, though it was impossible at the time, due to a number of difficulties. Tau Rosa informed Mgr. Herard that, as much as she so also desired, she regretted that she could not attend due to her being scheduled to travel to France at the time officially designated for this event (July 22nd, the feast of Mary Magdalene.) Mgr. Roger Herard himself presided and officiated the consecration of Rev. Yanick Morin as Tau Magdalen, Bishop of New Jersey, and with the special mandate to protect subsequent successions of feminine ordinands in the U.S. so that it would not be ignored or overlooked by masculine Bishops in the future, who may not be in agreement with this decision. Mgr. Herard knew well the perils that might occur due to the decision.
Upon returning from New York to Chicago at the end of July, 1989, Mgr. Herard was noticeably fatigued and he remarked that our next effort was to further advance the American Church and to ordain an assistant Bishop (Fr. Godlewski) with me, so that our efforts could expand and gain foundation. This however was not to be, at least not according to Herard's plan, for in the early hours of an August morning, Mgr. Herard collapsed at his home and was brought to the University of Chicago Hospital in a coma. Ironically, on August 16th, a day after the Assumption of the Holy Sophia, the Bishop's favorite feast day, and with the full moon in eclipse, his brain waves ceased and he emerged into the Light beyond the shadow, as we initiates often say. His life was celebrated at that time by many dignitaries and initiates around the world and he was cremated after high and holy gnostic and masonic ceremony. His ashes still await consignment to a family crypt in Port au Prince, when a friendlier government so permits. Thus went the gnostic upon his way (as our prayer states,) not merely a man of wisdom and gnosis but a compassionate man, a lawyer who sought to protect the land of poor Haitian farmers, a teacher who sought to uplift the uneducated in society.
In 1990, the synod of Bishops in North America met in New Jersey in order to begin discussion on the future of the Church without its Primate. No significant changes were made in the operational activities of the Dioceses. A moment of great significance occurred on July 13th, 1991, the eve of Bastille Day, when I celebrated the High Mass of the Hagia Pneuma and exchanged successions with Mgr. Hoeller, Tau Stephanus I, at the chapel in Villa Park, Illinois. This historic event was witnessed and assisted by Mgr. Karl St. Cyr (Tau Patrick,) Rev. S. Godlewski and Rev. Carmen Izguerdo. This event represented to many a culmination of earlier concordats and fraternal relations of the Duc de Palatine lineage which Mgr. Herard recognized as parallel to our own French heritage. As the strength of our Church appeared to be gaining, there were still difficulties in reconciling cultural differences as well as governing issues in the absence of our Primate and without a coadjutor or clear successor.
In remembering the advice given to me long ago by Mgr. Herard, (“If anything happens to me, contact Rene. He will help you.”) I entered into a correspondence with His Beatitude René Chambellant in Ecclesia Tau Renatus, Patriarch according to the Synesius constitution of 1906, since Tau Renatus had retained the title of “Primate of Gauls”, which granted him automatic patriarchal succession. Tau Renatus offered informed and comforting advice and was quite supportive of our efforts toward ecumenism of the associated gnostic rites, which had been our focus at that time. Sadly, however, we last saw Chambellant on September 1, 1993. Though the saying “when a door closes, another opens is true enough in this case, Rene's passage brought us into closer relationship with his surviving Episcopal college, led by Tau Johannes, Tau Gilbertus and Tau Christianus. The following year brought yet another loss and also, another find, when our very dear friend Brother Peter Maydon passed away. A good friend of Mgr. Herard, a high Martinist, Rosicrucian and Masonic initiate of Canada, he was internationally respected and admired. He had been raised to the Episcopate for Canada and all provinces by the Primate of the Church, Mgr. Ronald Cappello (Tau Mikael) on September 12, 1994, in the Old Templar Church and taken the name Tau Petrus. Tau Petrus passed away in his sleep almost exactly a month from his elevation. In our Sanctuary of Gnosis in Villa Park, Illinois, I entered our dear brother into posthumous communion with Eglise Gnostique Apostolique on November 4th. We notified Bishop Cappello of this and announced our desire to seek spiritual communion with the Old Templar Church as well, and Mgr. Cappello agreed. News of this development was announced to our Brethren in France where both our late Brother Peter and Bishop Cappello were well-known, and where this decision was hailed enthusiastically as well.
This leaves us at the end of 1996, on the threshold of the next century and, no less, the beginning of another millennium for the Christian theology, of which gnosticism has also been an integral part (though least appreciated by past history of the churches.) We can only hope that the fortitude, and sometimes in the face of horrendous peril, the ecumenicism of our Past Masters, will prove a greater foundation for future collegiality with dedication to The Great Work of Our Lord.
- Tau Charles Harmonius II (L'Eternelle Acolyte)
In February of 1989, I met at the home of Mgr. Herard with Mgr. Karl St. Cyr, Mgr. Herard's Chancellor Bishop. At this time, we were advised of Mgr. Herard's intention to elect Rev. Yanick Morin, a lady of Haitian descent, as the first female bishop of our church in the United States; both Mgr. St. Cyr and myself were in full consent of this decision. Mgr. Herard requested that Bishop Rosamonde Miller be the actual consecrating Bishop, thus fusing her succession into ours in an intercommunal way, much the way he had wished that Tau Georgius could do in the case of my own consecration, though it was impossible at the time, due to a number of difficulties. Tau Rosa informed Mgr. Herard that, as much as she so also desired, she regretted that she could not attend due to her being scheduled to travel to France at the time officially designated for this event (July 22nd, the feast of Mary Magdalene.) Mgr. Roger Herard himself presided and officiated the consecration of Rev. Yanick Morin as Tau Magdalen, Bishop of New Jersey, and with the special mandate to protect subsequent successions of feminine ordinands in the U.S. so that it would not be ignored or overlooked by masculine Bishops in the future, who may not be in agreement with this decision. Mgr. Herard knew well the perils that might occur due to the decision.
Upon returning from New York to Chicago at the end of July, 1989, Mgr. Herard was noticeably fatigued and he remarked that our next effort was to further advance the American Church and to ordain an assistant Bishop (Fr. Godlewski) with me, so that our efforts could expand and gain foundation. This however was not to be, at least not according to Herard's plan, for in the early hours of an August morning, Mgr. Herard collapsed at his home and was brought to the University of Chicago Hospital in a coma. Ironically, on August 16th, a day after the Assumption of the Holy Sophia, the Bishop's favorite feast day, and with the full moon in eclipse, his brain waves ceased and he emerged into the Light beyond the shadow, as we initiates often say. His life was celebrated at that time by many dignitaries and initiates around the world and he was cremated after high and holy gnostic and masonic ceremony. His ashes still await consignment to a family crypt in Port au Prince, when a friendlier government so permits. Thus went the gnostic upon his way (as our prayer states,) not merely a man of wisdom and gnosis but a compassionate man, a lawyer who sought to protect the land of poor Haitian farmers, a teacher who sought to uplift the uneducated in society.
In 1990, the synod of Bishops in North America met in New Jersey in order to begin discussion on the future of the Church without its Primate. No significant changes were made in the operational activities of the Dioceses. A moment of great significance occurred on July 13th, 1991, the eve of Bastille Day, when I celebrated the High Mass of the Hagia Pneuma and exchanged successions with Mgr. Hoeller, Tau Stephanus I, at the chapel in Villa Park, Illinois. This historic event was witnessed and assisted by Mgr. Karl St. Cyr (Tau Patrick,) Rev. S. Godlewski and Rev. Carmen Izguerdo. This event represented to many a culmination of earlier concordats and fraternal relations of the Duc de Palatine lineage which Mgr. Herard recognized as parallel to our own French heritage. As the strength of our Church appeared to be gaining, there were still difficulties in reconciling cultural differences as well as governing issues in the absence of our Primate and without a coadjutor or clear successor.
In remembering the advice given to me long ago by Mgr. Herard, (“If anything happens to me, contact Rene. He will help you.”) I entered into a correspondence with His Beatitude René Chambellant in Ecclesia Tau Renatus, Patriarch according to the Synesius constitution of 1906, since Tau Renatus had retained the title of “Primate of Gauls”, which granted him automatic patriarchal succession. Tau Renatus offered informed and comforting advice and was quite supportive of our efforts toward ecumenism of the associated gnostic rites, which had been our focus at that time. Sadly, however, we last saw Chambellant on September 1, 1993. Though the saying “when a door closes, another opens is true enough in this case, Rene's passage brought us into closer relationship with his surviving Episcopal college, led by Tau Johannes, Tau Gilbertus and Tau Christianus. The following year brought yet another loss and also, another find, when our very dear friend Brother Peter Maydon passed away. A good friend of Mgr. Herard, a high Martinist, Rosicrucian and Masonic initiate of Canada, he was internationally respected and admired. He had been raised to the Episcopate for Canada and all provinces by the Primate of the Church, Mgr. Ronald Cappello (Tau Mikael) on September 12, 1994, in the Old Templar Church and taken the name Tau Petrus. Tau Petrus passed away in his sleep almost exactly a month from his elevation. In our Sanctuary of Gnosis in Villa Park, Illinois, I entered our dear brother into posthumous communion with Eglise Gnostique Apostolique on November 4th. We notified Bishop Cappello of this and announced our desire to seek spiritual communion with the Old Templar Church as well, and Mgr. Cappello agreed. News of this development was announced to our Brethren in France where both our late Brother Peter and Bishop Cappello were well-known, and where this decision was hailed enthusiastically as well.
This leaves us at the end of 1996, on the threshold of the next century and, no less, the beginning of another millennium for the Christian theology, of which gnosticism has also been an integral part (though least appreciated by past history of the churches.) We can only hope that the fortitude, and sometimes in the face of horrendous peril, the ecumenicism of our Past Masters, will prove a greater foundation for future collegiality with dedication to The Great Work of Our Lord.
- Tau Charles Harmonius II (L'Eternelle Acolyte)