Jules Doinel (1842-1903 e.v.) was a Freemason of the Grand Orient, an antiquarian and practised Spiritism. During his recurring visions of the "Divine Feminine" he was inspired to re-establish Her, in the patriarchal age he lived in, to Her proper place in Religion. Whilst working as an archivist for the Library of Orleans in 1888 e.v., Doinel discovered a Charter written by one Canon Stephan of Orleans, a Gnostic teacher and precursor of the Cathars. The Charter was dated 1022 e.v., the very year the Canon was burned for "heresy". This no doubt inspired Doinel to further his studies of the Cathars and Manichaeans, ultimately leading him to the conclusion that Gnosticism was the true origin of Freemasonry.
In the same year of this discovery, he had a Vision of Christ ("Eon Jesus") during which revelation he was instructed to establish a New Church. During a further vision a Being calling itself "The Eternal Androgyne" informed him; "Jesus is the Word of God…I am the Thought of God…Establish my Gnostic Church. The Demiurge will be powerless against it." These intense visions continued, for at another séance in September, 1889 e.v. he apparently contacted 40 deceased Cathar Bishops, of the "Very High Synod of Bishops of the Paraclete". When the names of these bishops were checked against the National Library Records, they all proved accurate. The discarnate Head of the Synod, one Guilhabert de Castres, again urged Doinel to found an "Assembly of the Paraclete" and to call it the "Gnostic Church". He was apparently to be assisted in this by, and indeed be "spiritually wed" to "The Eternal Androgyne" of his former vision. The Church would have both male and female Bishops (the female Episcopate are known as "Sophias"), it's Holy Book being the Gospel of St John.
In 1890 e.v. Jules Doinel finally founded The Gnostic Church, and assumed the role of Patriarch (there was no "apostolic succession" at this point, but then it's hardly unusual for a Church to be founded upon the visions of its instigator). He took the name Valentin II, after the Gnostic teacher Valentinus, and proclaimed the "Era of the Gnosis Restored". Consecrated Bishops within Doinel's Church preface their chosen name with the Greek letter "Tau", which corresponds to the Tau Cross or the Egyptian Ankh. One of these was Gerard Encausse (1865-1916 e.v.), better known under his name "Papus", who became Tau Vincent and Bishop of Toulouse.
In 1895 e.v. Doinel surprised everyone and abdicated as Patriarch of the Church, at the same time resigning from his Masonic Lodge. He converted to Roman Catholicism and attacked his former beliefs as "Satanism". To understand this one only has to try to imagine the possible strain of the visions Doinel had; it is not unusual in Magick for people to have trouble adjusting to the ordeals of their "visions", until they have assimilated the experience they've endured. Infact Papus commented at the time it was better for his former Patriarch to abdicate than succumb to madness.
During this period (1896 e.v.) Doinel was succeeded by Fabre des Essarts, who took the throne of Patriarch with the name Tau Synesius, and took a more magical, rather than religious view of his role. Doinel, perhaps coming out of his ordeal, began writing to the new Patriarch in 1899 e.v., with a view to returning to his Church. Tau Synesius, acting with much grace and honour towards the Founder of his Church, responded by making his first act of consecration the installation of Doinel as Bishop of Alet and Mirepoix in 1900 e.v.
In 1901 e.v. Tau Synesius consecrated one Jean Bricaud (1881-1934 e.v.) as Tau Johannes, Bishop of Lyons, at the young age of 20. Bricaud had studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood, but abandoned it at the age of 16 in favour of occultism. After joining various Churches, he joined the Martinist Order, and met its Head, Papus in 1899 e.v. Papus led Bricaud away from the Gnostic Church of Tau Synesius, Bricaud finally leaving in 1907 e.v. to form his own Gnostic Church. Bricaud, Papus and one Louis-Sophrone Fugairon named it The Gnostic Catholic Church, and the Synod met in 1908 e.v. to elect Bricaud as Patriarch, Tau Jean II. As re. the Gnostic Church of Doinel, at the time of Bricaud's defection in 1907 e.v., Tau Synesius renamed it The Gnostic Church of France. After his death in 1917 e.v., he was succeeded by Tau Theophane, who in turn was succeeded by Tau Basilide in 1921 e.v.
On 28th June, 1908 e.v. Papus organised the "International Masonic and Spiritual Conference", in Paris. It was at this Conference that Theodore Reuss (1855-1923 e.v.) gave Papus a Charter for the "Rites of Antient and Primitive Masonry for the Grand Orient of France". In return it is said that Papus consecrated Reuss a Bishop with primatial authority in the Gnostic Catholic Church. These sorts of "exchanges" were (and are) quite normal in Masonic and spiritual circles - a quaint older term for this activity being "Merchants of Light". This was the same year the Gnostic Catholic Church of Bricaud and Papus changed its name to the Universal Gnostic Church (l'Eglise Gnostique Universelle), eventually becoming the official Church of Martinism in 1911 e.v. This last is very important, as Reuss now held independent authority in the Gnostic Catholic Church, and later incorporated it (as he did with many of his Charters) into the O.T.O.
In 1913 e.v., Louise Giraud, a Bishop tracing his lineage back to Joseph Rene Villatte (Mar Timotheos, 1854-1929 e.v.), consecrated Bricaud on July 21st. This was important in that it gave Bricaud valid apostolic episcopal succession - this is recognised by the Vatican as valid but "illicit". (This wonderful phrase means Bricaud's authority as a Bishop is recognised as spiritually efficacious by Rome, but that they will not "sanction" it. In effect, the Roman Catholic Church has to admit such episcopal authority to be as valid as theirs, but they claim to somehow have the right to veto it. Of course, outside the walls of the Vatican, this is absurd. The Roman Papacy is built upon the doctrine of successors to the "first" Bishop of Rome, Peter. Yet there are no Records of Peter as Bishop of Rome - or anywhere. In fact there is not even any evidence, from the "New Testament" or historical sources, for Peter even having been in Rome. None of the early Christian fathers gives any support for Peter being a Bishop in Rome until Jerome in the 5th Century e.v., by which time political Priestcraft was in full sway. Before this, some early lists have, for example, Linus listed as the first Bishop of Rome. The reason for this confusion is simple; in the first vulgar century no one cared much who was the Bishop of Rome; and some still don't today! It must be remembered that the term "Pope" was not the exclusive name for the Bishop of Rome until 1073 e.v., when Gregory VII claimed it for himself. The primacy given to the Bishop of Rome was due to the political and financial status of Rome as the centre of the Roman Empire, and not the other way round. The point is simple; if Rome claims apostolic episcopal authority it cannot have it both ways and then deny that same transmission, by the same means, to others. This, of course, also includes the Eastern and Orthodox Catholic Churches.)
In 1916 e.v. Papus died, and passed on his authority as Head of the Martinist Order, and in M.M. (Memphis Misraim) and O.T.O. in France, to Charles Henri Detre. The new Head only lived for 2 more years, and was succeeded by Bricaud in 1918 e.v. On 18th September, 1919 e.v. Bricaud reconsecrated Theodor Reuss sub conditione. This reconsecration worked to remedy any "previous defects" of former consecration. This meant that Reuss now held himself apostolic episcopal authority, and had been endowed with the "Antioch succession". (The Church of Antioch was founded in 38 e.v. by the Christian disciples Peter, Thomas and James. It was here followers of Christ were first called Christians (Acts; 11:26). Antioch, in Asia Minor, subsequently became one of the five major Christian centres - the others being Rome, Athens, Alexandria and Jerusalem. Members of the Antioch Church have the distinction of walking out on the notorious Council of Nicea in 325 e.v., where modern "Christianity" was forged. The Antioch Church, like others, was ruthlessly persecuted, as far away as Malabar in India. It was to the Patriarch in Malabar that emissaries from Henry VIII came looking, successfully, for valid orders when Henry broke from Rome - bringing their consecrations back to the King to help the formation of the Church of England.) Reuss had already assumed the title "Sovereign Patriarch and Primate" of the E.G.C., and now Bricaud also made Reuss "Gnostic Legate" for the Universal Gnostic Church (E.G.U.) in Switzerland. Reuss responded in kind by delegating authority in O.T.O. to Bricaud.
There were soon arguments in the Martinist Order between Bricaud and one Victor Blanchard (whom Bricaud had consecrated "Tau Targelius" on May 15, 1918 e.v.). The result was that Blanchard left and formed "The Martinist and Synarchic Order" (the later "A.M.O.R.C." of Spencer Lewis derived much of it's supposed authority from a derivation of this source). On February 21, 1934 e.v. Bricaud died. His Successor as Patriarch of E.G.U. and Head of the Martinist Order was Constant Chevillon (Tau Harmonius). It was Chevillon who in 1938 e.v. consecrated Swinburne Clymer (1878-1966 e.v.), who in 1922 e.v. had succeeded to the "Fraternitas Rosae Crucis" of P.B. Randolph, himself a major influence upon the O.T.O. tradition. It was also Chevillon who consecrated in 1939 e.v. Arnoldo Krumm-Heller (1876-1949 e.v.), X° of Reuss O.T.O. for South America and Founder of the F.R.A. (Fraternitas Rosicrucian Antiqua). The E.G.U., as with so many other Orders, was banned during WWII - Chevillon himself was murdered by the National Socialists in 1944 e.v. When the conflict ended in 1945 e.v. T. Renatus was elected Patriarch. The Succession continued to Tau Charles-Henry in 1948 e.v. and then to Tau Jean III in 1960 e.v., who dissolved the E.G.U. in favour of his own "Eglise Gnostique Apostolique (E.G.A.).
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947 e.v.) joined the O.T.O. in 1910 e.v., Reuss allowing him in directly at VII° as was then the right of someone like Crowley who held the 33° in Masonry (Scottish Rite). Crowley professes that at this time he saw nothing beyond a convenient summary of Masonry in the O.T.O. But on 21st April,1912 e.v. Reuss made Crowley IX° O.T.O., due to Reuss alleging that Crowley had published the secret of that degree in his "Book of Lies" (for an amusing account of this story see Crowley's "Confessions"). Reuss also at this time made Crowley the X° for the British Isles and the English speaking world, under the title of the "Supreme and Holy King of Ireland, Iona and all the Britains that are in the Sanctuary of the Gnosis". This Section of O.T.O. was and is known as M.'. M.'. M.'. (Mysteria Mystica Maxima). In the same year of 1912 e.v. Crowley published the "Manifesto of O.T.O." and in 1913 e.v. wrote "The Gnostic Mass" (11) where he first used the name "Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica". This Mass was published in "The International", New York, March 1918 e.v. and in The Equinox, vol III, no 1. In 1919 e.v. Reuss edited and translated the Mass into German and published it "under the auspices of the O.T.O." and in this Bricaud is named "Sovereign Patriarch of E.G.U." and Reuss names himself E.G.U. Legate to Switzerland and "Sovereign Patriarch and Primate of E.G.C." (or in German, G.K.K. "Gnostische Katholische Kirche"). This publication can be said to mark the independence of E.G.C. from E.G.U. and the formal acceptance of Thelema by the Gnostic Catholic Church. By the time of Reuss's death in 1923 e.v., Crowley had assumed the mantle of O.H.O. of O.T.O. and Patriarch of E.G.C. and restored his Gnostic Mass to its original format. (For a fuller account of Crowley's involvement see "The History of the O.T.O.")