The Eleusinian mysteries & rites. - The Masonic Trowel

THE INITIATORY RITES 71
purity which was supposed to result from initiation.
One of the duties of the mystagogues was to see that
the candidates were in a state of physical cleanliness
both before and throughout the ceremony. According
to inscriptions which have been discovered there
appear to have been temples or buildings set apart
for the cleansing of candidates from special im-
purities. Initiation into the Lesser Mysteries only
permitted the neophyte to go as far as the outer
vestibule of the temple.
In the following autumn, if of full age and approved
by the hierophant, the neophyte could be initiated
into the Greater Mysteries, into the second degree,
that of Mysta. This, however, did not secure
admission to all the ceremonies performed during
the celebration of the Greater Mysteries. A further
year, at least, had to elapse before the third degree,
that of Epopta, was taken, before he could see with
his own eyes and hear with his own ears, all that
took place in the temple during the celebration of
the Mysteries. Even then, there was one part of
the temple and one portion of the ceremony which
could be entered and witnessed only by the hierophant
and hierophantide.
According to Plutarch, Demetrius, when he was
returning to Athens, wrote to the republic that on
his arrival he intended to be initiated and to be
admitted immediately, not only to the Lesser Mys-
teries, but to the Greater as well. This was unlawful