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 Sacramental 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. 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 Pris 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. The Vilatte Succession Joseph Rene' Vilatte was born in Paris on January 24, 1854, originally baptized in the "Petite Eglise" and rebaptised 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 diconat 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 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). On July 21, 1913, Louis Francois Giraud consecrated Jean Bricaude, 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 21, 1934 he passed into the light beyond the shadow. 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. On December 27, 1970, in the Church of Santa Catarina in Porte Allegre', 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 previously been 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 institue 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 acknoledge 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, whom consecrated in May 29, 1892; 129. Mar Timotheus, J. Renee Vilatee, whom consecrated May 6, 1900; 130. Paul, Paolo Miraglia, who consecrated December 4, 1904; 131. Julio, Julien Houssaye, whom consecrated June 21, 1911; 132. Francois, Louis Francois Giraud, who consecrated July 12, 1913; 133. Jean II, Jean Bricaud, whom consecrated May 5, 1918; 134. Targelius, Victor Blanchard, whom consecrated January 7, 1945; 135. Eon II, Roger Menard, whom consecrated June 10, 1946; 136. Jean III, alias Robert, Bishop of Samaria, Robert Ambelain, whom consecrated January 26, 1958; 137. Andreas, Andre Mauer, second Patriarch of the Gnostic Apostolic Church; 138. Tau Jean, Roger Pommery consecrated by Robert Ambelain in May 26, 1958, who consecrated in September 16, 1967; 139. Tau Guillaume, Willer Vital-Herne - Tau Charles Harmonius II (L'Eternelle Acolyte)