1915
L'ORDRE DU LYS ET DE L'AIGLE
ORDER OF THE LILY AND THE EAGLE
M.D.S.M.D.L.U.A.F.D.L.T.
“Mandate of the Sublime Master of the Universeto the Sons of the Earth”
INTRODUCTIONA young Greek from Egypt namedDémétrius Platon Sémélas(1883–1924), who’d developeda sincere interest into the occult at a young age, received a vision on one certain night in1902. A ‘mysterious voice’ ordered the young man to go to the monastery of the prophetElijah in Levadia at Mount Athos (
1
). Sémélas, at the time nineteen years of age and amedical student at the university of Athens, obeyed and undertook his long journey to themonastery. The ‘astral identities’ showed the young student i.a. the graves of rosicrucians.Furthermore, Sémélas found “in the bottom of a basin, in one of the crypts of the Monastery,three stones. He picked them up, by divine order. One day, by accident, he let them fall: theybroke; inside them, he found three tubes containing, in all, eight parchments. After muchstudy, he discovered the key of these parchments, and deciphered them: this is how theexplanation of the World was revealed to him.” (
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) Démétrius (‘Dimitris’) Sémélas claimed thathe had received the ancient heritage of the ‘Rose-Croix d'Oriënt’ at the monastery.Apparently, the documents Sémélas had discovered date back to the era of the Order of theTemple. Somehow the material seem to be “connected with St.John” and contains practicalapplications. Furthermore, it includes the prophecy that the finder of these documents will bethe reincarnation of Hugues de Payens, the first Grand Master of the Knights Templar (ca1181-1226). A Serbian member of the current Order stated to me that this material was alsoin the possession of the late Prince de San Severo,Raymondo di Sangro(1710-1771). ThePrince de San Severo was a famous (or notorious, to some sources) Neapolitan alchemist,scientist, Mason and the supposed founder of the Italian Ordine Osirideo Egizio, the EgyptianOsirian Order. Cagliostro is said to have been a disciple of the Prince. Returning to thesubject, according to Sémélas the ‘R+C d'Oriënt’ was founded in 1054 A.D. by a certainPhotius, the Patriarch of Constantinopel, and further developed byAlexis Comenius, who’s
also mentioned as one of the original founders of ‘L’Ordre du Lys et de L’Aigle’. Sémélasallegedly received the millenary tradition of the (eastern) R+C from “the last Master R+C ofthe Attican school, called Elie-Marius” (
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)
At the time D.P. Sémélas is said to have studied the occult sciences under the direction of amaster whose name history did not keep (
note:
Elie-Marius). The tradition of the Eastern R+Ctells us that these R+C Masters found refugee in the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Most (orall) of these R+C Masters were Clerks in one of the orthodox churches, such as the OrthodoxChurch of Greece or Byzantium. Apparently, these parchments and documents were buriedby surviving Templars that were hiding in the monasteries at the time. It is also claimed thatthese Eastern R+C Masters had connections with certain Sufi Masters that resided in Turkeyand Lebanon. The traditional history of the 'Frères d'Orient' continues ……The current Greek branch of the Order of the Lily and the Eagle [lead by Andreas Prokopiou,see final chapter] claims that “the Order of the Lily and the Eagle is the work of twoRosicrucian Masters, Maria Routchin Dupré and Demetrius Semelas. These two Rosicrucian
1
Masters were initiated by the Brothers of the Orient (“Brothers of Truth”) in Attica, in 1913.Consequently, the Order comprises and preserves intact the Rosicrucian Tradition of theBrothers of the Orient, which it conveys to its members in a new form, in keeping with theparticular Teachings of its founders.” [
from the Archives of the Order of the Lily and the Eagle
]French author and historian Serge Caillet explains that D.P. Sémélas [Déon, Sélaït-Ha] wasthe “Imperator of the “Frères d’Orient en Asie mineur [Brethren of the Orient in Asia Minor]and of the Frères de la Vérité en Attique [Brethren of Truth in Attica], and co-founder andmaître commandeur of the l’Ordre du Lys et de l’Aigle”. He was born in 1884 in Silivria,Thrace [Turkey] and died in 1924 in Paris, France. According to Caillet, Sémélas is receivedin the “Ordre des Frères de la Vérité” in 1909 in Attica, which was allied to the Rose-Croixd’Orient, by the last Imperator of the school of Attica. “Shortly hereafter, he presents himselfas head of this Order “ and in this capacity he granted membership to Eugène en MariaDupré in 1910 in Cairo, Egypt.LE TEMPLE d’ÉSSENIE No.IIIAfter his journey to the monastery at Mount Athos, Sémélas returned to Cairo, Egypt. In 1909he metEugène Dupréand his wifeMrs.Marie Routchine Dupré.Dupré was a French civil
servant in the service of the Egyptian Government and a Martinist. According to Belgianhistorian Marcel Roggemans Sémélas came in contact with the Martinist current in Egypt in1911 through a certainEdouard Troula. “Shortly thereafter he corresponded withPapusto be
admitted as a member of the Martinist Order. Papus directed him toDemesthenos Verzato,the delegate of the Order in Egypt.” (
4
). A bit further on in the text Marcel states that in 1914 itwas Eugène Dupré who was the official national delegate for the Martinist Order in Egypt.Other sources state that Sémélas apparently frequented several various heads of ‘orientalphilosophical schools’ after his return from Greece. These leaders were also visited by theDuprés and this is how they met D.P. Sémélas. In 1911 Dupré and Sémélas founded theMartinist Lodge ‘Le Temple d'Essénie’ in Cairo, Egypt. According to French historian ChristianRebisse, this Lodge had a certain independence and was free to establish Lodges actingunder its authority (
5
). To me, if this information is correct, this ‘proves’ that by 1911 bothDuprés as well as Sémélas (who’s Martinist name wasSelait-Ha) were already dignitaries ofPapus’ French Martinist Order. In October of that same year, 1911, Sémélas allegedlyinitiated the MartinistGeorges Lagrèze(1882-1946) into the ‘aspirant R.C’ degree of the‘Freres d'Orient’(see “R+C d’Orient”) (
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).Sémélas is said to have included Lagrèze from the beginning in the development of the‘Rose-Croix d’Orient’. Lagrèze is said to have transmitted the oriental R+C initiation to Papusin 1914, on request of Sémélas. In 1912 he composed a ‘rituel de réception’ for variousdegrees of the Order that were accepted by Papus. Sémélas was also responsible for thewritten rituals (at least, parts of those rituals) of the 2
nd
and 3
rd
Degree (see “ History of theMartinist Order” , p.47) that were allegedly accepted by Papus in May, 1912. Next to theregular Martinist rituals he apparently also created the so-called “Martinist Rite of the Lily andthe Eagle”, a rite which seems to be heavily influenced by the doctrines of the Brethren of theOrient as well as the Order of the Lily and the Eagle. How, when and why this rite was workedor practised is absolutely unknown to me, unfortunately. When the First World War broke outin 1914, Eugène Dupré was mobilized and repatriated to France to serve in the ‘compagnie20/28 du régiment du 1er Génie’ (Engineers) at Versailles. D.P. Sémélas also left for Franceand settled with his family in Paris where he i.a. closely associated himself with Papus.1915 L'ORDRE DU LYS ET DE L'AIGLEBut just before Dupré and Sémélas left for France, at the outbreak of Worldwar I, “both menvisited the pyramid of Khephren at Giza where they met a certain Sheik S. This meetingresulted in the birth of the Order Of The Lily And Eagle (‘L’Ordre du Lys et de L’Aigle’)”, thusMarcel Roggemans. Unfortunately, no further information is given ….What is known for certain is that the Order Of The Lily And Eagle (O.L.A.) was officiallyfounded in January 1915 by D.P. Sémélas
and Marie Routchine Dupré (1884-1918) “for therebirth of the Orphean spirit." As mentioned before, Sémélas had met the Duprés in 1909. It isstated that he revealed to them “the key of the Mystery” (
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) which Sémélas had deciphered
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from the discoveries he’d made back in 1902 at Mount Athos; “the explanation of the World”(
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). Sémélas had allegedly explained to the Duprés that he represented ‘Déon’, “the temple ofWisdom” (
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) and that Marie Routchine was Déa, “the temple of Love” (
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). This needs somefurther explanation. The following account is taken from “Parmi les sectes et les rites: LesPetites Eglises de Paris" (Editions Emile-Paul Freres, 1937), a piece of text which explainsthe doctrine regarding the evolution of the universe in the teachings of the Order (
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).“Before everything,Eon, or Being, or Sprit, existed in itself and in the absence of time andspace. But the Being in power possesses two virtues:TroposandPathos. Tropos is the virtue
of activity, demonstrated by penetrating movement. It is male. It is Wisdom. Pathos is thevirtue of emotionalism, demonstrated by enveloping movement. It is female. It is Love.Tropos, by its virtue of penetration, created space; and Pathos, reacting to the effect ofTropos by its enveloping movement, created time. Space and Time produce Shape. Fromwhence came Substance.But there were other attributes in power Eon:Noûs(Thought),Voulos(Will),Logos(Speech), etc. But, so that these unconscious and detached attributes
might become conscious and alive, it was necessary to have Generators situated within Eon.These Generators were of two groups: one related to Tropos, the other to Pathos; one waspenetrating, male and wise, the other was enveloping, female and tender. There were severalgroups of Generators. But those that interest those living on this earth: 1stDéonandDéa;
2ndRéonandRéa; 3rdFéonandFéa. Déon and Déa ruled those of the white race; Réon
and Réa those of the yellow race; Féon and Féa those of the black race. They sometimesincarnate in this world; Déon was, notably, the prophet Elijah, then John the Baptist; Réonappeared as Confucius and then Lao-Tsu. And, very fortunately for humans, theseGenerating Aeons give consciousness and life to the unconscious Aeonian attributes:Noûs,Voulos,Romos,Noïmon,Logos,MimitisandThymos, that are thus the sons of the
Generators, with the quality of Giants.”(
“Parmi les sectes et les rites: Les Petites Eglises de Paris" (1937) pp 194-209
)
The Duprés and Sémélas lived together at 31, Avenue de la Republique, in Paris. PierreGeyraud claims, as stated before, that it was Sémélas (Déon) and Marie Routchine Dupré(Déa) who founded this (mixed) initiatic order in 1915. The Order Of The Lily And Eagle wasdirected by a Supreme Council. The hierarchy consisted of 1) Adherents, 2) Knights/ Ladies,3) Commanders/ Mistresses, 4) Grand Commander/ Grand Mistress. Rituals were includedand the date of foundation activated a new cycle of the Order, its third cycle to be moreprecisely, which was known as ‘the era of Déa’. The Order claimed that its history dated backto early Christianity. A former Greek member of the Order claims that the Order wasreactivated “between the 8-12 century A.D where it helped to the founding of some 34chivalric orders of the period, many of them well known for their historical activities.” (
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)In a following essay, on the history of the ‘Rose-Croix d’Orient’, we’ll take a deeper look at theevents that occurred during this ‘second cycle’, a period during which i.a. the mysterious‘Brethren of the Orient’ was ‘founded’. As we know by now, ‘L’Ordre du Lys et de L’Aigle’ andthe ‘Rose-Croix d’Orient’ have a common source in Démétrius Platon Sémélas. These ritesare intimately connected with Sémélas (under Sémélas the RC d’ Orient was implementedwithin ‘L’ Ordre du Lys et de L’ Aigle’). When Sémélas arrived in France his main focusseemed to be the Martinist Order. As soon as Sémélas arrived at Paris he started a closeworking relationship with the Grandmaster of the Martinist Order,Gérard Anaclet Encausse (1865-1916), who’s better known as ‘Papus’. For instance, in 1915 both men created the ideato replace ‘l’Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix’, which was the inner order of ‘L’OrdreMartiniste’, with the ‘Rose-Croix d’Orient’. Another project he was involved with was thepossible implementation of the masonic 'Rite Ecossais Rectifié' within the framework ofPapus’ organization (
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). The death of Papus in 1916 prevented the completion of theseideas. D.P. Sémélas was one of the closest associates of Papus towards the end of Papus'life.1918 D.P. SÉMÉLAS AND THE ‘GROUPE INDÉPANDANT d’ÉTUDES MARTINISTES’When the Great War ended in 1918 most of the French Martinists who’d lived in Egypt up tothen, decided to return to France. Many of these Martinists associated themselves with the‘Groupe Indépandant d’Etudes Marinistes’ (GIEM), a Martinist group co-founded around thattime by Sémélas and his secretary, Dupré
.
He also re-opens the Martinist Chapter INRI,
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