THE BUILDER SEPTEMBER 1919

BY BRO. DUDLEY WRIGHT, ASSISTANT EDITOR "THE FREEMASON," LONDON

PART IV
THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES INITIATORY RITES

TWO important facts must be set down with regard to the Mysteries:
first, the general custom of all Athenian citizens, and afterwards
of all Greeks generally and many foreigners, to seek admission in
the only possible manner, viz., by initiation; and, second, the
scrupulous care exercised by the Eumo (1)pides to ensure that only
persons duly qualified, of irreproachable, or at any rate, of
circumspect character passed the portals. In the earlier days of
the Mysteries it was a necessary condition that the candidates for
initiation should be free-born Athenians, but, in course of time,
this rule was relaxed, until eventually strangers and foreigners,
slaves and even courtesans were admitted, on condition that they
were introduced by a mystagogue, who was, of course, an Athenian.
An interesting inscription was discovered a few years ago
demonstrating the fact that the public slaves of the city were
initiated at the public expense. Lysias was able without any
difficulty to secure the initiation of his mistress Metanira, who
was then in the service of the courtesan Nicareta. There always
prevailed, however, the strict rule that no one could be admitted
who had been guilty of murder or homicide, wilful or accidental, or
who had been convicted of witchcraft, and all who had incurred the
capital penalty for conspiracy or treason were also excluded. Nero
sought admission into the Eleusinian Mysteries! but was rejected
because of the many slaughters connected with his name Apollonius
of Tyana was desirous of being admitted into the Eleusinian
Mysteries, but the hierophant refused to admit him on the ground
that he was a magician and had intercourse with divinities other
than those of the Mysteries, declaring that he would never initiate
a wizard or throw open the Mysteries to a man addicted to impure
rites. Apollonius retorted: "You have not yet mentioned the chief
of my offenses, which is that, knowing as I do, more about the
initiatory rites than you do yourself, I have nevertheless come to
you as if you were wiser than I am." The hierophant when he saw
that the exclusion of Apollonius was not by any means popular with
the crowd, changed his tone and said: "Be thou initiated, for thou
seemest to be some wise man that has come here." But Apollonius
replied: "I will be initiated at another time and it is (mentioning
a name) who will initiate me." Herein, says Philostratus, he showed
his gift of precision, for he glanced at the one who succeeded the
hierophant he addressed and presided over the temple four years
later when Apollonius was initiated.

Persons of both sexes and of all ages were initiated and neglect of
the ceremony was regarded almost in the light of a crime. Socrates
was reproached for being almost the only Athenian who had not
applied for initiation. Persians were pointedly excluded from the
ceremony. Athenians of both sexes were granted the privilege of
initiation during childhood on the presentation of their father,
but only the first degree of initiation was permitted. For the
second and third degrees it was necessary to have arrived at full
age. So great was the rush of candidates for initiation when the
restrictions were relaxed that Cicero was able to write that the
inhabitants of the most distant regions flocked to Eleusis in order
to be initiated. Thus it became the custom with all Romans who
journeyed to Athens to take advantage of the opportunity to become
initiates. Even the Emperors of Rome, the official heads of the
Roman religion, the masters of the world, came to the Eumolpides to
proffer the request that they might receive the honour of
initiation and become participants in the Sacred Mysteries revealed
by the goddess.

While Augustus, who was initiated in the year B. C. 21, did not
hesitate to show his antipathy towards the religion of the
Egyptians, towards Judaism and Druidism, he was always scrupulous
in observing the pledge of secrecy demanded of initiates into the
Eleusinian Mysteries, and on one occasion, when it became necessary
for some of the priests of the Eleusinian temple to proceed to Rome
to plead before his tribunal on the question of privilege, and, in
the course of the evidence to speak of certain ceremonial in
connection with the Mysteries of which it was not lawful to speak
in the presence of the uninitiated, he ordered everyone to leave
the tribunal so that he and the witnesses alone remained. The
Eleusinian Mysteries were not deemed inimical to the welfare of the
Roman Empire as were the religions of the Egyptians, Jews, and
ancient Britons.

Claudius, another imperial initiate, conceived the idea of
transferring the scene of the Mysteries to Rome and, according to
Suetonius, was about to put the project into execution, when it was
ruled that it was obligatory that the principal scenic presentation
of the Mysteries must be celebrated on the ground trodden by the
feet of Demeter and where the goddess herself had ordered her
temple to be erected.

The initiation of the emperor Hadrian took place in A. D. 125, when
he was present at the Lesser Mysteries in the spring and at the
Greater Mysteries in the following autumn. In September A. D. 129,
he was again at Athens when he presented himself for the third
degree, as is known from Dion Cassius, confirmed by a letter
written by the Emperor himself, in which he mentions a journey from
Eleusis to Ephesus made at that time. Hadrian is the only imperial
initiate who persevered and passed through all three degrees. Since
he remained at Eleusis as long as it was possible for him to do
after the completion of his initiation it is not rash to assume
that he was inspired by something more than curiosity or even a
desire to show respect.

It is uncertain whether Antonin was initiated, although from an
inscription it seems probable that he was and that he should be
included in the list of royal initiates. Both Marcus Aurelius and
Commodus, father and son, were initiated at the same time, at the
Lesser Mysteries in March, A. D. 176, and at the Greater Mysteries
in the following September. Septimus Severus was initiated before
he ascended the throne.

There was, as stated, three degrees, and the ordinary procedure
with regard to initiation was as follows:

In the flower month of spring, Anthesterion, corresponding to
February-March, an applicant could, if approved, become an initiate
into the first degree and participate in the Lesser Mysteries at
the Eleusinion at Agra, near Athens. The ceremony of initiation
into the Lesser Mysteries was much less elaborate than the ceremony
of initiation into the Greater Mysteries. The candidates had to
keep chaste and unpolluted for nine days prior to the ceremony, to
which they came offering sacrifices and prayers and wearing crowns
and garlands of flowers. Immediately prior to the celebration of
the Lesser Mysteries those about to be initiated were prepared by
mystagogues, the teachers selected from the families of the
Eumolpides and the Keryces, and instructed in the story of Demeter
and Persephone, the character of the purification necessary and the
preparatory rites, the fast days, with particulars of what food
could and must not be eaten, and the numerous sacrifices to be
offered up under the direction of the mystagogues. Without this
preparation no one could be admitted to the Mysteries. There was,
however, neither secret doctrine nor dogmatic teaching in the
instruction given. Revelation came through contemplation of the
sacred objects displayed by the hierophant, and by the
communication of mystic formulae; but the preparation demanded of
the initiates, the secrecy imposed, the ceremonies at which they
assisted in the dead silence of the night created a strong
impression and lively hope in regard to the future life. No other
cult in Greece, still less the cold Roman religion, had anything of
the kind to offer. In fasting from food and drink before and after
initiation the candidates attached to this voluntary privation no
idea of maceration or expiation of faults: it was simply the
reproduction of an event in the life of the goddess Demeter. Purity
was an indispensable condition for all who would enter the temples.
Bowls or vases of consecrated or holy water were placed at the
entrance for the purposes of aspersion. In cases of special
impurity a delay of one or more days in the preparation became
necessary and unctions of oil or repeated immersions in water were
administered. In the preparation of candidates for initiation,
purification assumed an exceptional importance. Hence several
writers have maintained that the primary aim of initiation was the
acquirement of moral purity. The outward physical purity, the
result of immersion prior to initiation, was but the symbol of the
inward purity which should result from initiation. The duty of the
mystagogues was to see that the candidates were in a state of
physical cleanliness and to see that that condition was maintained
throughout the ceremony. According to the inscriptions there appear
to have been temples or buildings set apart for the cleansing of
candidates from special impurities. After initiation into the
Lesser Mysteries the neophyte was permitted to go as far as the
outer vestibule of the temple. In the following autumn, if of full
age, he could be initiated into the Greater Mysteries, into the
second degree, that of mysta. This, however, did not entitle the
recipients of that honour to join in all the acts of worship or to
witness the whole of the ceremonial at Eleusis. A further year had
to elapse before the third degree could be taken, before they could
become epoptae, and see with their own eyes and hear with their own
ears the whole of the Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries were
celebrated at Athens on the hill of Agra, to the right of the
Stadium in a temple dedicated to Demeter and Persephone.
Occasionally when the number of candidates was very large the
Lesser Mysteries were celebrated twice in the year in order to give
those too late for the ceremony in Anthesterion another opportunity
before the Greater Mysteries were held.

At the next celebration of the Greater Mysteries, after having
sacrificed to Demeter, the initiate received the second degree and
became numbered among the mystae. The preliminary to this degree
was bathing in the river Ilissus, after which the Daduchos
instructed each candidate to place the left foot on the skin of an
animal which had been sacrificed to Zeus, in which position the
oath of secrecy was taken. Jevons, in his Introduction to the Study
of Religion, says that no oath was demanded of the initiated but
that silence was observed generally as an act of reverence rather
than as an act of purposed concealment. There seems, however, to be
conclusive evidence that an oath of secrecy was demanded and taken,
at any rate, in the second and third degrees, if not in the first.
Moreover, there are on record several prosecutions of citizens for
having broken the pledge of secrecy they had given. Aeschylus was
indicted for having disclosed in the theatre certain details of the
Mysteries, and he only escaped punishment by proving that he had
never been initiated and could not therefore have violated any
obligation of secrecy. A Greek scholiast says that in five of his
tragedies Aeschylus spoke of Demeter and therefore may be supposed
in these cases to have touched upon subjects connected with the
Mysteries; and Heraclides of Pontus says that on this account he
was in danger of being killed by the populace if he had not fled
for refuge to the altar of Dionysos and then begged off by the
Areopagites and acquitted on the ground of his exploits at
Marathon. An accusation was brought against Aristotle of having
performed a funeral sacrifice in honour of his wife in imitation of
the Eleusinian ceremonies. Alcibiades was charged with mimicking
the sacred Mysteries in one of his drunken revels, when he
represented the hierophant; Theodorus, one of his friends,
represented the herald; and another, Polytion, that of the torch-
bearer; the other companions attending as initiates and being
addressed as Mystae. The information against him ran:

Thessalus, the son of Cimon, of the ward of Laeais, accuseth
Aleibiades, the son of Clinias, of the ward of Seambonis, of
sacrilegiously offending the goddess Ceres and her daughter
Persephone by counterfeiting their Mysteries and shewing them to
his companions in his own house, wearing such a robe as the high
priest does when he shows the holy things; he called himself high
priest, as did Polytion, torch-bearer; and Theodorus, of the ward
of Phygea, herald; and the rest of his companions he called persons
initiated and Brethren of the Secret; therein acting contrary to
the rules and ceremonies established by the Eumolpides, the heralds
and priests at Eleusis.

Alcibiades did not appear in answer to the charge, was condemned in
his absence and his goods were confiscated. There was quite a panic
about this time B. C. 415. Many prominent citizens, Andocides
included, were prosecuted. He was included in the indictment
against Alcibiades. "This man," said his accuser, "vested in the
same costume as a hierophant, has shown the sacred objects to men
who were not initiated and has uttered words it is not permissible
to repeat." Andocides admitted the charge, turned king's evidence,
and named himself and certain others as the culprits. He was
rewarded with a free pardon under a decree which Isotmides had
issued but those whom he named were put to death or outlawed and
their goods confiscated. Andocides afterwards entered the temple
and was charged with breaking the law in so doing. He defended
himself before a court of heliasts, all of whom had been initiated
into the Mysteries, the president of the Court being the Archon
Basileus. The indictment was lodged by Cephisius, the chief
prosecutor, with the Archon Basileus during the celebration of the
Greater Mysteries, when Andocides was at Eleusis. He was acquitted
and it is asserted that Cephisius failed to obtain one-fifth of the
votes of the Court, the consequence being that he had to pay a fine
of 1,000 drachmae and to suffer permanent exclusion from the
Eleusinian shrine.

Diagiras was accused of railing at the sanctity of the Mysteries of
Eleusis in such a manner as to deter persons from seeking
initiation and a reward of one talent was offered to any one who
should kill him or two talents to anyone who should bring him
alive.

An ancient theme of oratorical composition and one set even in the
sixth century of the Christian era was:

The law punishes with death whoever has disclosed the Mysteries:
some one to whom the initiation has been revealed in a dream asks
one of the initiated if what he has seen is in conformity with
reality: the initiate acquiesces by a movement of the head: and for
that he is accused of impiety.

Every care, therefore, was taken to prevent the secrecy of the
Mysteries from becoming known to all save initiates. They have,
however, come to light in a great measure through the ancient
writings and inscriptions. Step by step and piece by piece the
diligent researcher has been rewarded by the discovery of
disconnected and isolated fragments which, by themselves, supply no
precise information, but, taken in the aggregate, form a perfect
mosaic. Though it was strictly forbidden to reveal what took place
within the sacred enclosure and in the Hall of Initiation it was
permissible to state clearly the object of initiation and the
advantages to be derived from the act. Not only was the breaking of
the pledge of secrecy given by an initiate visited with severe,
sometimes even capital, punishment, but the forcing of the temple
enclosure by the uninitiated, as happened sometimes, was an offence
of equally heinous character. By virtue of the unwritten laws and
customs dating back to the most remote periods the penalty of death
was frequently pronounced for faults not grave in themselves, but
solely because they concerned religion. It was probably by virtue
of those unwritten laws that the priests ordered the death of two
young Arcanians who had penetrated, through ignorance, into the
sacred precincts. This was in B. C. 200 and Rome made war upon
Philip V of Macedonia on the complaint of the government of Athens
against that king who wished to punish them for having rigorously
applied the ancient laws to those two offenders, who were found
guilty of entering the sanctuary at Eleusis, they not having been
initiated. No judicial penalty, however, was meted out to the
fanatical Epicurean eunuch, who, with the object of proving that
the gods had no existence forced himself blaspheming into that part
of the sanctuary into which the hierophant and hierophantide alone
had the right of entry. Aelianus states that a divine punishment in
the form of a disease alone overtook him. Horace declared that he
would not risk his life by going on the water with a companion who
had revealed the secret of the Mysteries.

One of the essential preliminaries to initiation into each degree
was fasting. Two days prior to initiation into the second and third
degrees were spent by the candidate in solitary retirement when a
strict fast was observed. It was a "retreat" in the strictest sense
of the word. Fasting was practised, not only in imitation of the
sufferings of Demeter when searching for Persephone, but because of
the danger of the contact of holy things with unholy, the clean
with the unclean. Thus it was held that even to speak of the
Mysteries to the uninitiated would be as dangerous as to allow such
unclean persons to take part in the ceremonies. Hence the
punishment meted out by the State was in lieu of, or to avert, the
divine wrath which such pollution might bring on the community at
large. At the entrance to the temple tablets were placed containing
a list of forbidden foods. The list included several kinds of fish,
including the whistle-fish, gurnet, crab and mullet. The whistle-
fish and crab were held to be impure, the first because it laid its
eggs through the mouth and the second because it ate filth which
other fish rejected. The gurnet was rejected because of its
fecundity as witnessed in its annual triple laying of eggs, but,
according to some writers, it was rejected because it ate a fish
which was poisonous to mankind. It is believed that other fish were
forbidden but Prophyry was probably exaggerating when he says that
all fish were interdicted. Birds bred at home, such as chickens and
pigeons, were also on the banned list as were beans and certain
vegetables which were forbidden for a mystic reason which Pausanias
said he dared not reveal save to the initiated. The probable reason
was that they were connected in some way with the wanderings of
Demeter. Pomegranates were, of course, forbidden from the incident
of the eating of the pomegranate seeds by Persephone.

The candidates were carefully instructed in these rules beforehand.
Originally the instruction of the candidates was in the hands of
the hierophant, who, following the example of his ancestor,
Eumolpus, claimed the privilege of preparing the candidates as well
as that of communicating to them the divine Mysteries. But the
constantly increasing number of applicants made it necessary to
employ auxiliary instructors, and this work was given over to the
charge of the mystagogues, who prepared either one individual or a
group of candidates, the hierophant reserving to himself the
general direction of the instruction. In the course of the
initiation ceremony certain words had to be spoken by the
candidates and these were made known to them in advance, although,
of course, apart from their context.

Admission to the second degree took place during the night between
the sixth and seventh days of the celebration of the Mysteries,
when they were led into the temple precincts and the second Archon
opened the ceremony with prayers and sacrifices. The candidates
were crowned with myrtle and on entering the building  an edifice
so vast and capacious as to exceed in area the largest theatre of
the period they purified themselves by immersing their hands in the
consecrated water. The priests, vested in their sacerdotal
garments, then came forward. During the first part of the ceremony
the candidates were assembled in the outer hall of the temple, the
temple proper being closed. Then a herald came forth and
proclaimed: "Away from here all ye that are not purified, and whose
souls have not been freed from sin." If any who were not votaries
had by chance entered the precincts they now left for if discovered
afterwards the punishment was death. In order to make certain that
no intruders remained behind all who were present had to answer
certain specified questions. Then all again immersed their hands in
the consecrated water and renewed the pledge of secrecy. Next they
took off their ordinary garments, and girded themselves with the
skins of young does, whereupon the priests wished them joy of all
the happiness their initiation would bring them and then went away.
Within a few minutes the building was plunged in total darkness.
Suddenly terrific peals of thunder resounded, shaking the very
foundations of the temple; vivid flashes of lightning lit up the
darkness and displayed fearful forms, while dreadful sighs, groans,
and cries of pain resounded on all sides, like the shrieks of the
condemned in Tartarus. The novices were taken hold of by invisible
hands, their hair was torn, and they were beaten and thrown to the
ground. At last a faint light became visible in the distance and a
fearful scene appeared before their eyes. The gates of Tartarus
were opened and the abode of the condemned lay before them. They
could hear the cries of anguish and the vain regrets of those to
whom Paradise was lost forever and could, moreover, witness their
hopeless remorse. They saw, as well as heard, all the tortures of
the condemned. The Furies, armed with relentless scourges and
flaming torches, drove the unhappy victims incessantly to and fro,
never letting them rest for a moment. Meanwhile the loud voices of
the hierophant, who represented the judge of the world, was heard
expounding the meaning of what was passing before them and warning
and threatening the initiates. It may well be imagined that all
these fearful scenes were so terrifying that very frequently beads
of anguish appeared on the brows of the novices. At length the
gates of Tartarus closed and the innermost sanctuary of the temple
lay open before the initiates in dazzling light. In the midst stood
the statue of the goddess Demeter brilliantly decked and gleaming
with precious stones; heavenly music entranced their souls; a
cloudless sky overshadowed them; fragrant perfumes arose; and in
the distance the privileged spectators beheld flowering meads,
where the blessed danced and amused themselves with innocent games
and pastimes. Among others writers the scene is described by
Aristophanes in The Frogs:

Heracles: The voyage is a long one. For you will come directly to
a very big lake of abysmal depth.

Dionysos: Then how shall I get taken across it?

Heracles: In a little boat just so big; an old man who plies the
boat will take you across for a fee of two oboles.

Dionysos: Oh dear! How very powerful those two oboles are all over
the world. How did they manage to get here?

Heracles: Theseus brought them. After this you will see serpents
and wild beasts in countless numbers and very terrible. Then a
great slough and over-flowing dung; and in this you'll see lying
anyone who ever yet at any place wronged his guest or beat his
mother, or smote his father's jaw, or swore an oath and foreswore
himself.... And next a breathing of flutes shall be wafted around
you, and you shall see a very beautiful light, even as in this
world, and myrtle groves, and happy choirs of men and women, and a
loud clapping of hands.

Dionysos: And who are these people, pray? 

Heracles: The initiated.

It was regarded as permissible to describe the scenes of the
initiation, and this has been done by many writers, but a complete
silence was demanded as to the means employed to realize the end,
the rites and ceremonies in which the initiate took part, the
emblems which were displayed, and the actual words uttered and the
slightest divergence rendered the offender liable to the strongest
possible condemnation and chastisement.

In the course of the ceremony the hierophant asked a series of
questions to which written answers had been prepared and committed
to memory by the candidates. Holy Mysteries were revealed to the
initiates from a book called Petroma, a word derived from petra, a
stone, and so called because the writings were kept enclosed
between two cemented stones. The garments worn by the candidates
during the initiation ceremony were accounted sacred, and equal
with incantations and consecrated charms in their power to avert
evils. Consequently, they were never cast off until torn and
tattered. Nor was it usual, even then, to throw them away but it
was customary to make them into twaddling clothes for children or
to consecrate them to Demeter and Persephone.

Admission to the third degree took place during the night between
the seventh and eighth days of the celebration of the Mysteries.
This, the final degree with the exception of those called to be
hierophants, was known as the degree of epoptie. Exactly in what
the ceremonial consisted, save in one particular presently to be
described, little is known. Hippolytus is practically the only
authority for the main incident of the degree. Certain words and
signs were communicated to the initiated which, when pronounced
after death, were held to ensure the eternal happiness of the soul.

The most solemn part of the ceremony was that which has been
described by some writers as the hierogamy or sacred marriage of
Zeus and Demeter, although some have mistakenly referred to it as
the marriage of Pluto and Proserphine. During the celebration of
the Mysteries the hierophant and the hierophantide descended into
a cave or deep recess and, after remaining there for a time,
returned to the assembly, surrounded seemingly by flames, the
hierophant displaying to the gaze of the initiated an ear of corn
and exclaiming in a loud voice: "The divine Brimo has Wiven birth
to the holy child Brimos: the strong has Drought forth strength."

"The Athenians," says Hippolytus, "in the initiation of Eleusis
show to the epoptes the great, admirible, and most perfect mystery
of the epoptie: an ear of corn gathered in silence." The statement
is so clear as to leave no doubt whatever on the subject; indeed,
it has never been called into question. The presentation of the ear
of corn was part of the Mysteries of Eleusis and it was reserved
for the epoptes.

Much has been made of this incident by many who can see no beauty
in pre-Christian or non-Christian forms of religion, their comments
being based mainly on a statement of St. Gregory Nazianus, who
stands alone in discerning lewdness in the Eleusinian ceremonial.
He says:

It is not in our religion that you will find a seduced Cora, a
wandering Demeter, a Keleos, and a Triptolemos appearing with
serpents; that Demeter is capable of certain acts and that she
permits others. I am really ashamed to throw light on the nocturnal
orgies of the initiations. Eleusis knows as well as the witnesses
the secret of this spectacle, which is with reason kept so
profound.

Apart from this isolated statement the Eleusinian Mysteries have
not been charged as many ancient rites were with promoting
immorality. In his account of the doings of the false prophet
Alexander of Abountichos, Lucian describes how the impostor
instituted rites which were a close parody of those at Eleusis and
he narrates the details of the travesty. Among the mimetic
performances were not only the Epiphany and birth of a god but the
enactment of a sacred marriage. All preliminaries were gone through
and Lucian says that but for the abundance of lighted torches the
marriage would actually have been consummated. The part of the
hierophant was taken-by the false prophet himself. From the
travesty it is evident that in the genuine Mysteries in silence, in
darkness, and in perfect chastity the sacred marriage was enacted
and that immediately afterwards the hierophant came forth and
standing in a blaze of torchlight made the announcement to the
initiates. 'When came the words from the hierophant:

I have tasted, I have drunk "cyceon." I have taken from the cystus
and after having tasted of it I placed it in the calathos. I again
took it from the calathos and put it back in the cistus.

This formula, notwithstanding its length, became the "pass word" of
the perfect initiate.

Dr. Jevons maintains that this ear of corn was the totem of Eleusis
and this view has been adopted by M. Reinach who says:

We find in the texts a certain trace not only of the cult but of
the adoration and the exaltation (in the Christian meaning of the
word) of the ear of corn.

But he has omitted to quote the texts on which he relies for this
assertion. It would be interesting to know why among all the plants
which die and revive in the course of a year, wheat was chosen for
preference, why the ear more than the grain, why it should be
emphasized that it was gathered, for what reason the spectacle was
reserved for the epoptae and in what manner it secures or ensures
for the individual a blissful existence after death. The
demonstration presupposes that the preceding rites and ceremonies
were leading up to this supreme display. This practically ended the
third degree save that then the epoptae were placed upon exalted
seats around which the priests circled in mystic dances. The day
succeeding admission into the final degree was regarded as a
rigorous fast at the conclusion of which the epoptae also drank of
the mystic kukeon and ate of the sacred cakes.

The Greeks laid great stress upon the advantages to be derived from
initiation. Not only were the initiates under the protection of the
State but the very act of initiation was said to assist in the
spreading of good will among men, keep the soul free from sin and
crime, place men under the special protection of the gods, and
provide them with the means of attaining perfect virtue, the power
of living a spotless life, and assure them of a peaceful death and
everlasting bliss hereafter. The priests assured all who
participated in the Mysteries that they would have a higher place
in Elysium, a clearer understanding, and a more intimate
intercourse with the gods, whereas the uninitiated would always
remain in outer darkness. Indeed, in the final degree the epoptae
were said to be admitted to the presence of and converse with the
goddesses Demeter and Persephone. Initiates were placed under the
immediate care and protection of the goddess Demeter. Initiation
was referred to frequently as a guarantee of salvation conferred by
outward and visible signs and by sacred formulae.


According to Theo of Smyrna the full or complete initiation
consisted of five steps or degrees:

Again, philosophy may be called the initiation into true sacred
ceremonies, and the tradition of genuine mysteries; for there are
five parts of initiation; the first of which is previous purgation;
for neither are the Mysteries communicated to all who are willing
to receive them, but there are certain characters who are prevented
by the voice of the crier, such as those who possess impure hands
and an articulate voice, since it is necessary that such as are not
expelled from the Mysteries should first be refined by certain
purgations, hut after purgation the tradition of the sacred rite
succeeds. The third part is denominated inspection. And the fourth
which is the end and design of inspection is the binding of the
head and fixing the crown: so that the initiated may, by this
means, he enabled to communicate to others the sacred rites in
which he has been instructed; whether after this he becomes a
torchbearer, or an interpreter of the Mysteries, or sustains some
other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth which is
produced from all these, is friendship with divinity, and the
enjoyment of that felicity which arises from intimate converse with
the gods. According to Plato purification is to be derived from the
five mathematical disciplines, viz., arithmetic, geometry,
steretometry, music, and astronomy.

The fee for initiation was a minimum sum of fifteen drachmas, in
addition to which there were the usual honoraria to be bestowed
towards the various officiating ministers to which reference has
already been made. Presumably, also, gifts in kind were made
annually to the principal clergy for an inscription of the fifth
century B. C. found at Eleusis reads:

Let the hierophant and the torch-bearer command that at the
mysteries the Hellenes shall offer first-fruits of their crops in
accordance with ancestral usage.... To those who do these things
there shall be many good things, both good and abundant crops,
whoever of them do not injure the Athenians, nor the city of
Athens, nor the two goddesses.

The Telestrion or Hall of Initiation, sometimes called "The Mystic
Temple," was a large, covered building, about 170 feet square. It
was surrounded on all sides by steps which presumably served as
seats for the initiated while the sacred dramas and processions
took place on the floor of the hall. These steps were partly built
up and partly cut in the solid rock: in latter times they appear to
have been covered with marble. There were two doors on each side of
the hall with the exception of the north-west where the entrance
was cut out of the solid rock, a rock terrace at a higher level
adjoining it. This was probably the station of those not yet
admitted to full initiation. The roof of the hall was carried by
rows of columns which were more than once renewed. The Hall itself
did not accommodate more than 4,000 people. The building was,
perhaps, more accurately designed by Aristophanes as "The house
that welcomed the mystae." Strabo's phrase for it was "The holy
enclosure of the mystae" and he carefully distinguishes it from the
temple of Demeter. It was not the dwelling place of any god and,
therefore, contained no holy image. It was built for the
celebration of a definite ritual and the Eleusinian Hall of
Initiation was therefore the only known church of antiquity if by
that term we understand the meeting place of the congregation.

