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

216 DISCIPLINE
DISPENSATION
St . Ambrose has written a book, the title of
which is, Concerning those who are Initiated
into the Mysteries . They were also called the
Perfect, to intimate that they had attained to
a perfect knowledge of all the doctrines and
sacraments of the church.
There were certain prayers, which none but
the Faithful were permitted to hear . Among
these was the Lord's praper, which, for this
reason, was commonly called Oratio Fidelium,
or, "The Prayer of the Faithful ." They were
also admitted to hear discourses upon the
most profound mysteries of the church, to
which the Catechumens were strictly forbidden
to listen . St . Ambrose, in the book written
by him to the Initiated, says that sermons on
the subject of morality were daily preached to
the Catechumens ; but to the Initiated they
gave an explanation of the Sacraments, which,
to have spoken of to the unba tized, would
have rather been like a betrayal of mysteries
than instruction. And St . Augustine, in one of
his sermons to the Faithful, says : "Having
now dismissed the Catechumens, you alone
have we retained to hear us, because, in addition
to those things which belong to all Christians
in common, we are now about to speak in
an especial manner of the Heavenly Mysteries,
which none can hear except those who, by the
gift of the Lord, are able to comprehend them ."
The mysteries of the church were divided
like the Ancient Mysteries, into the lesser anc
the greater . The former was called "Missa
Catechumenorum," or the Mass of the Catechumens,
and the latter, "Missa Fidelium,"
or the Mass of the Faithful. The public service
of the church consisted of the reading of the
Scripture, and the delivery of a sermon, which
was entirely of a moral character. These being
concluded, the lesser mysteries, or Mass of the
Catechumens, commenced. The deacon proclaimed
in a loud voice, " Ne quis audientium,
ne quis infidelium," that is, "Let none who are
simply hearers, and let no infidels be present ."
All then who had not acknowledged their
faith in Christ by placing themselves among
the Catechumens, and all Jews and Pagans,
were caused to retire, that the Mass of the
Catechumens might begin . And now, for better
security, a deacon was placed at the men's
door and a subdeacon at the women's, for the
deacons were the door-keepers and, in fact,
received that name in the Greec church . The'
Mass of the Catechumens-which consisted
almost entirely of prayers, with the Episcopal
benediction-was then performed .
This part of the service having been concluded,
the Catechumens were dismissed by
the deacons, with the expression, "Catechumens,
depart in peace." The Competentes,
however, or those who had the Second or intermediate
degree, remained until the prayers
for those who were possessed of evil spirits,
and the supplications for themselves, were
pronounced. After this, they too were dismissed,
and none now remaining in the church
but the Faithful, the Missa Fidelium, or
greater mysteries, commenced .
The formula of dismission used by the dea-
con on this occasion was : "Holy things for the
holy, let the dogs depart," Sancta sanetis, foris
canes .
The Faithful then all repeated the creed,
which served as an evidence that no intruder
or uninitiated person was present ; because the
creed was not revealed to the Catechumens,
but served as a password to prove that its possessor
was an initiate . After prayers had been
offered up-which, however, differed from the
supplications in the former part of the service,
by the introduction of open allusions to the
most abstruse doctrines of the church, which
were never named in the presence of the Catechumens-the
oblations were made, and the
Eucharistical Sacrifice, or Lord's Supper, was
celebrated . Prayers and invocations followed,
and at length the service was concluded, and
the assembly was dismissed by the benediction,
"Depart in peace ."
Bmgham records the following rites as having
been concealed from the Catechumens,
and entrusted, as the sacred mysteries, only to
the Faithful : the manner of receiving baptism
; the ceremony of confirmation ; the ordination
of priests ; the mode of celebrating
the Eucharist ; the liturgy, or Divine service ;
and the doctrine of the Trinity, the creed, and
the Lord's prayer, which last, however, were
begun to be explained to the Competentes .
Such was the celebrated Discipline of the
Secret in the early Christiah church. That its
origin, so far as the outward form was concerned,
is to be found in the Mysteries of
Paganism, there can be no doubt, as has been
thus expressed by the learned Mosheim :
"Religion having thus, in both its branches,
the speculative as well as the practical, assumed
a twofold character,-the one public or
common, the other private or mysterious,-it
was not long before a distinction of a similar
kind took place also in the Christian discipline
and form of divine worship ; for, observing
that in Egypt, as well as in other countries,
the heathen worshippers, in addition to their
public religious ceremonies,-to which everyone
was admitted without distinction,-had
certain secret and most sacred rites, to which
they gave the name of "mysteries," and at the
celebration of which none but persons of the
most approved faith and discretion were permitted
to be present, the Alexandrian Christians
first, and after them others, were beguiled
into a notion that they could not do
better than make the Christian discipline accommodate
itself to this model ."
Discovery of the Body . See Euresis .
Discovery, Year of the . "Anne, Inventionis,"
or "in the Year of the Discovery," is
the style assumed by the Royal Arch Masons,
in commemoration of an event which took
place soon after the commencement of the rebuilding
of the Temple by Zerubbabel .
Dispensation . A permission to do that
which, without such permission, is forbidden
by the Constitutions and usages of the Order .
Du Cange (Glossarium) defines a dispensation
to be a prudent relaxation of a general
law . Provida juris communis relaxatio . While