From the book
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
R. Swinburne Clymer · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordGnostics and Manichaeans are religious groups invoked as preservers and transmitters of concealed spiritual teaching amid persecution.
- In Ancient Mystic Oriental MasonryThe Foundations division places them within a series leading through later sects and fraternities.
- In this editionThe copy text uses several spellings for Manichaean forms.
- A place to readI.21: … “taught by Him, and by the Essenes and Gnostics of the first centuries, and it becomes” …
Meaning
Gnostics and Manichaeans are religious groups invoked as preservers and transmitters of concealed spiritual teaching amid persecution.
Use in the book
The Foundations division places them within a series leading through later sects and fraternities. Differences of name are treated as compatible with an underlying identity of wisdom. The account of Manes presents his teaching as a restoration and synthesis rather than as a wholly new beginning. These descriptions are part of the book’s historical argument, not independent testimony from all the groups named.
Places to read
- Original Introduction · Block 21… “taught by Him, and by the Essenes and Gnostics of the first centuries, and it becomes (Mystic) Masonry. Masonry, in its purity, derived as it is from the old Kabalah as” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 75… “the possession of those grand early Christians, the Gnostics, the so-called heretics; then straight from the Gnostic schools of Syria and Egypt to their successors, the Manichaeans, and from these through” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 87… “the year 200 A. D., the most noteworthy Gnostic sect was a Persian branch, the Manichees; it was divided into three classes — Auditors, Elect, and Perfect, and the sect was” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 91“138. "Manes lived under the Persian King Sopares. He endeavored to recall to life in their entire purity the Mysteries and the religion of Zoroaster, uniting them with the pure compassionate” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 94… “middle ages the Christian sects, and especially the Manichaeans and Gnostics, had concealed themselves as much as possible in the Orthodox Church itself; the remainder of the Manichæans who had maintained” …
In this edition
The copy text uses several spellings for Manichaean forms. They are separately listed when attested, without silently making the spelling variation a doctrinal distinction.
Reading the argument
The repeated appeal to persecution explains why the proposed chain is hidden. It does not itself prove the chain. Ask what specific evidence connects one named community to the next instead of assuming that secrecy fills every chronological gap.
Gnostic
“Gnostic” — 10 occurrences in 9 text blocks: M.64, 72; F.75, 85, 87, 110, 144, 146; N.86.
Gnostics
“Gnostics” — 6 occurrences in 6 text blocks: I.21; F.75–76, 87, 94, 130.
Gnosticism
“Gnosticism” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: F.85.
Manichaeans
“Manichaeans” — 3 occurrences in 3 text blocks: F.75, 91, 94.
Manichæans
“Manichæans” — 3 occurrences in 2 text blocks: F.94, 130.
Manichæism
“Manichæism” — 2 occurrences in 2 text blocks: F.85, 87.
Manichees
“Manichees” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: F.87.
Manes
“Manes” — 11 occurrences in 7 text blocks: F.22, 90–93, 96, 121.