Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

DIOCESAN
DIONYSIAN 213
of the word, and makes to demit mean to dismiss.
Certainly it is impossible to discuss the
law of Masonic demission when such contrary
meanings are given to the word in one and the
same paragraph .
But certain wiseacres, belonging probably
to that class who believe that there is always
improvement in change, seizing upon this
latter definition of Morris, that to demit meant
to dismiss, and seeing that this was a meaning
which the word never had, and, from its
derivation from demittere, never could have,
changed the word from demit to dimit, which
really does have the meaning of sending away
or dismissing . But as the Masonic act of demission
does not mean a dismissal from the
Lodge, because that would be an expulsion,
but simply a resignation, the word dimit
cannot properly be applied to the act .
A Mason demits from the Lodge ; he resigns
. He takes out his demit (a strictly technical
expression and altogether confined to
this country) ; he asks for and receives an acceptance
of his resignation.
Diocesan . The Fifth Degree of Ba.hrdt's
German Union .
Dionysian Architects . The priests of
Bacchus, or, as the Greeks called him, Dionysus,
having devoted themselves to architectural
pursuits, established about 1000
years before the Christian era a society or fraternity
of builders in Asia Minor, which is
styled by the ancient writers the Fraternity
of Dionysian Architects, and to this society was
exclusively confined the privilege of erecting
temples and other public buildings .
The members of the Fraternity of Dionysian
Architects were linked together by the
secret ties of the Dionysian mysteries, into
which they had all been initiated . Thus constituted,
the Fraternity was distinguished by
many peculiarities that strikingly assimilate
it to our Order . In the exercise of charity, the
"more opulent were sacredly bound to provide
for the exigencies of the poorer brethren ."
For the facilities of labor and government,
they were divided into communities called
auvoudal, each of which was governed by a
Master and Wardens . They held a general
assembly or grand festival once a year, which
was solemnized with great pomp and splendor .
They employed in their ceremonial observances
many of the implements which are
still to be found among Freemasons, and
used, like them, a universal language, by
which one brother could distinguish another
in the dark as well as in the light, and which
served to unite the members scattered over
India, Persia, and Syria, into one common
brotherhood . The existence of this order in
Tyre, at the time of the building of the Temple,
is universally admitted ; and Hiram, the widow's
son, to whom Solomon entrusted the
superintendence of the workmen, as an inhabitant
of Tyre, and as a skilful architect
and cunning and curious workman, was, very
probably, one of its members . Hence, we may
legitimately suppose that the Dionysians were
sent by Hiram, King of Tyre, to assist King
Solomon in the construction of the house he
was about to dedicate to Jehovah, and that
they communicated to their Jewish fellowlaborers
a knowledge of the advantages of
their Fraternity, and invited them to a participation
in its mysteries and privileges . In
this union, however, the apocryphal legend of
the Dionysians would naturally give way to
the true legend of the Masons, which was unhappily
furnished by a melancholy incident
that occurred at the time . The latter part of
this statement is, it is admitted, a mere speculation,
but one that has met the approval of
Lawrie, Oliver, and our best writers ; and
although this connection between the Dionysian
Architects and the builders of King Solomon
may not be supported by documentary
evidence, the traditionary theory is at least
plausible, and offers nothing which is either
absurd or impossible. If accepted, it supplies
the necessary link which connects the Pagan
with the Jewish mysteries .
The history of this association subsequent
to the Solomonic era has been detailed by
Masonic writers, who have derived their information
sometimes from conjectural and
sometimes from historical authority . About
300 years B .c ., they were incorporated by the
kings of Pergamos at Teos, which was assigned
to them as a settlement, and where
they continued for centuries as an exclusive
society engaged in the erection of works of
art and the celebration of their mysteries .
Notwithstanding the edict of the Emperor
Theodosius which abolished all mystical associations,
they are said to have continued their
existence down to the time of the Crusades,
and during the constant communication which
was kept up between the two continents
passed over from Asia to Europe, where they
became known as the "Traveling Freemasons"
of the Middle Ages, into whose
future history they thus became merged .
Dionysian Mysteries . These mysteries
were celebrated throughout Greece and Asia
Minor, but principally at Athens, where the
years were numbered by them . They were instituted
in honor of Bacchus, or, as the Greeks
called him, Dionysus, and were introduced
into Greece from Egypt . In these mysteries,
the murder of Dionysus by the Titans was
commemorated in which legend he is evidently
identified with the Egyptian Osiris, who
was slain byhis brotherTyphon . The aspirant,
in the ceremonies through which he passed,
represented the murder of the god and his
restoration to life, which, says the Baron de
Sacy (Notes on Sainte-Croix, ii ., 86), were the
subject of allegorical explanations altogether
analogous to those which were given to the
rape of Proserpine and the murder of Osiris .
The commencement of the mysteries was
signalized by the consecration of an e gg , in
allusion to the mundane egg from which all
things were supposed to have sprung. . The
candidate having been first purified by water,
and crowned with a myrtle branch, was introduced
into the vestibule, and there clothed
in the sacred habiliments . He was then de-