Tradition tells us that Jesus consecrated his disciples and transmitted unto them the same powers as He Himself had been bestowed by His Father. As we can read in The Acts of the Apostles and in the letters of Paul, did His disciples, or apostles as they are sometimes called, perpetuate the teachings and consecrations of their master. As time passed the subtle teachings were corrupted by lesser men, but the lineage of consecration survived the centuries. A vast corpus of gospels was written in a desperate attempt to protect the then fragile teachings that had been scorned by philosophical scepticism and ignorance. The gospels were written in a manner that their true meaning should not be found if they were read according to the letter, but truly they conveyed a symbolic religion describing the human soul and its ascension to Divinity. Few that bore the emblem of Christianity ever knew even the lesser mysteries of it inner secrets, and those who did were swiftly put to silence by the ignorant authority. Of the many brought to the stake were the Cathars and the early Gnostics, to name but a few – and the remaining of those chosen formed a group outside the church, to kept its secrets in silence so that it might eventually prosper, and thus again might the true interpretation of the scripture be embodied in a congregation.  

 

This group was the first of the Rosicrucians, who established the initial secret order after the dark middle ages. It was followed later by the Martinists and the Freemasons of the Egyptian rites. Sadly the early days of the Rosicrucians are clouded in history and may be veiled to us forever. Yet before the end of the 18th century, none of these groups had access to the original apostolic lineage with the execption of such churches as the Theosophia Apostolica Rosae + Crucis. As far as is known today, the written records of their ceremonies have survived and are in our possession. 

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As the years passed and times changed, even within these secrets societies was the true interpretation of the Christian mythos often misunderstood, yet it survived in secret; making stronger bonds to the apostolic light – the source of the power of the Holy Spirit upon earth. The Ecclesia Theurgica Apostolica Rosae+Crucis has received the Rosicrucian keys to unlock the Christian mysteries both through initiation and esoteric transmissions of their secret teachings, and we perpetuate both the Apostolic lineages of the east and the west – the catholic and orthodox ordinations. Indeed we live to see glorious times. 

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The esoteric Apostolica of the 18th and 19th century were desperately few and they seldom survived more than the span between one master and his apprentice at the most. Yet at the turn of the 20th century, the established orders that bore both the apostolic lineage and the key to its understanding grew until World War II, when, again, they were almost all laid in ruins. A few masters lived through the following few decades, passing the ordinations on to newer generations to further develop the teachings and, thus adapting them to the modern world that was at hand. 

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This is made mention to you so that you might better understand that the work we offer is the same that was laid dead for the greatest period of time after the last of the Gnostics of the first centuries A.D. came to an end. From then, it took nearly 1500 years before the esoteric interpretation of scripture and the apostolic light were again united (and that being only since the end of the Second World War) that this unison could live in peace and prosper. 28 

 

ETAR+C, is one of a few schools that initiate in both these lineages today - Rosicrucianism and Apostolica, and the responsibility to give this most ancient teachings to the generations to come lies upon our shoulders.