The Masonic Degree of Rose-Croix and Chrstianity
braries , presents the first years of the young Christian community in idyllic terms ; sincerity and simplicity are its principal traits . In a totally different register , Voltaire himself was a good witness to the sentiments of the upstanding man of the 18th century with regard to the first years of Christianity . At the complete opposite of his attacks against the pomp of the Roman hierarchy as well as against fanaticism and superstition , the patriarch of Fernet describes with emotion , in a style marked by sympathy for the “ Original Church ,” how “ the Christians , in early times , took no name other than that of brothers . They assembled and awaited the spirit .” 37 As for worship , “ the mass was very different [...] in the original church [...] from the time of the apostles , people would assemble in the evening to eat communion , the Lord ’ s supper … ( Paul to the Corinthians . 38 ) [...] People abided in the breaking of bread …” ( Acts , ii : 39 ) [...] The disciples [ had come ] together to break bread ( Acts , xx 20 39 )". 40
This analytical framework appears all the more credible to us because the Masons of the Enlightenment seem to have been greatly interested in the Primitive Church . During the Convent des Philalèthes , brother Baron of Gleichen shows all the similarities between Masonic works and the customs of the “ first Christians [ who ] celebrated their mysteries at night , which they would end like ours , with Agapes [...] it results from this opinion that Masonic science is the science of the true Christian religion , such as was observed by pious Gnostics .” 41 And Brother de Paul adds : “ To return man to the original religion , to the purity and simplicity of his worship , such is the essential nature of Mas .[ onic ] science .” 42 In the same vein , Brother de Raimond declares that : “ Mas .[ onic ] science is the symbol of the true , original religion .” 43 This insistence on true religion leaves it of course understood that what one has before one ' s eyes is false or in any case quite corrupted . In the aftermath of the Convent ' s work , the Philalèthes would stress that “ Several educated M .[ asons ] find almost identical relations between the generally adopted customs of the interior economy of the M .[ asonic ] Society , and those whose trace we find in the original Church .” 44 The degree of Rose-Croix is certainly one of the most successful attempts to restore original worship and its priesthood .
What is often questioned is the name of Rose-Croix given to this degree . Indeed , the alchemy mobilized by the Fama Fraternitatis and the Confessio seems quite absent from the original rituals of the Masonic degree of Rose-Croix . But Roland Edighoffer 45 showed that for the author of
37
Voltaire , Œuvres complètes , Tome XVIII , Dictionnaire philosophique , De la primitive Eglise et de ceux qui ont cru la rétablir , 536 .
38
Ist letter to the Corinthians , XI , 20 , 33 .
39
Verse 7 . [ c . f . footnote 38 ]
40
Voltaire , Œuvres complètes , Tome XIX , Fragment sur l ’ histoire générale ( 1773 ), Mélanges VIII , 270 .
41
Charles Porset , op . cit ., Quatrième Circulaire , proponenda IV , mars 1785 , 325 .
42
Idem .
43
Charles Porset , op . cit ., 328 .
44
Charles Porset , op . cit ., 478
45
On this question , we will refer to his overview , Les Rose-Croix , Collection Que-sais-je ?, Paris , Presses Universitaires de France , 1986 . More widely , on the links between the imagination of Rose-Croix and Freemasonry , we will also consult the chapter Les Rose-Croix en quête du christianisme primitif in Jérôme Rousse-Lacordaire , op . cit ..
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