SECTION II — SLIDES AND RESEARCH ON EPHRATA
by Linda S. Schrigner, et al
24
Note: Naming a hill at Ephrata, "Mt. Zion" and building a dome on the temple of the Zionitic Brotherhood, as in this drawing, is very much reminiscent of the Mt. Zion in, and Temple of, Jerusalem. The Zionitic Brotherhood was not a Jewish sect, however; its members were of the western esoteric tradition, of which Rosicrucianism is one Order. It may be that the name "Zionitic" alludes to certain Kabbalistic aspects of one selective area of Rosicrucian study, and was perhaps a means of not identifying the members here as Rosicrucian, for the same reasons that a code name "Woman in the Wilderness" was used in continued contacts with European Rosicrucians. The reference to "Zion" may also allude to the desire to bring humanity back to the universally divine, symbolized by the "mountain top" in sacred allegories. The "Zionitic" reference may also be a "landmark" to identify many contemporary aspects of the Rosicrucian perfecti working in Early America. Below: This is the Qabbalah Rose Croix
[Kabbala Rose Whether in fact there are ties with the Zionitic Brotherhood |
There were 13 Rosicrucian men who formed
what is known as the "Zionitic Brotherhood". It is not to be confused
as an official Rosicrucian body; it was a group of the local Wissahickon
members who went on to Ephrata, some time after Beissel began his work
there in 1732. Their purpose in organizing was to carry on as in
the tradition of Kelpius after his death or transition. The perfecti
of the original group or others who came later, would carry on certain
additional work and study that continued to be specific to them under the
vehicle of the Zionitic Brotherhood, as explained by Sachse. This
brotherhood also built a monastery at the old Wissahickon site in 1737,
where Conrad Mathaii continued his work as successor to Kelpius.
According to Sachse, the private meetings of the Brotherhood at Ephrata
were for mutual studies and physical and spiritual regeneration.
The Zionitic Brotherhood was separate from the other memberships at the Cloister. The members had their own temple—a domed structure on what was named Mt. Zion at the Cloister. It is depicted here in this image of a drawing done of Beissel at Ephrata, before the buildings on the hill later burned. Women were a part of the Rosicrucian tradition specifically that spanned centuries under different names. Female Rosicrucians and other male Rosicrucians who were not perfecti, or not of the Zionitic Brotherhood, would participate with the perfecti, however, only in the specific Rosicrucian ritual work and study. Think of it as an analogy where Rosicrucians today may meet privately at a Masonic Temple, but only participate in Rosicrucian activity unless they also are Masons. One controversial section of the last chapter of Julius Sachse's book of 1895 concerns a conclusion drawn by Corliss Fitz Randolph who wrote the chapter, that contradicts previous and subsequent history written by Julius Sachse himself, and later historians, as well. Because of its inconsistency in understanding the history of the Ephrata connection with the Rosicrucian movement, it is necessary to clarify the issue at this point. |