Erica
Erica Pike (EricaCrowley)
Contents
Introduction
Order of Ormus or the Frères de la Rose Croix d'Or, also known as the Society of Ormus or the Ordre d'Ormus , (cf [1]) [2]) is a Chivalric Order first formed in the Kingdom of Ormus in 1287; while, Ormus was still a city state. <ref> Speed, John “Collected Letters: 1589-1629” Vatican Secret Archive. Original Letters, Bound. Reference Number 456-543-389765-AL-342. Unit 457. Level 2. Draw 182 </ref> In 1523, the port city of Ormus was occupied by the Portuguese Empire by this time it had become a Kingdom. <ref>John Speed. “Collected Letters: 1589-1629” Vatican Secret Archive. Original Letters, Bound. Reference Number 456-543-389765-AL-342. Unit 457. Level 2. Draw 182</ref> The people of Ormus were considered St. John Christians by the Portuguese but apparently held a Gnostic belief system <ref>John Speed. “Collected Letters: 1589-1629” Vatican Secret Archive. Original Letters, Bound. Reference Number 456-543-389765-AL-342. Unit 457. Level 2. Draw 182</ref>. The heredity of its monastic Royal line was recognized by Pope Clement VII on October 30,1524.<ref>John Speed. “Collected Letters: 1589-1629” Vatican Secret Archive. Original Letters, Bound. Reference Number 456-543-389765-AL-342. Unit 457. Level 2. Draw 182</ref>
After the fall of the Kingdom of Ormus to the Ottoman Empire, a large portion of the population immigrated to Europe. <ref>Giambattista Vico. “Storia dell'Impero del Ottoman” Vatican Secret Archive. Original Letters, Bound. Reference Number 965-725-498253-GO-999. Unit 1982. Level 4. Draw 15</ref>
Modern History
In 1980, at the age of nine, Grand Duchess Erica Romanovsky-Ilyinsky D'Ormus, H.C.M. of Russia was named Grand Mistress of the Order upon the death of her grandmother Victoria Romanovsky-Ilyinsky D'Ormus by Pope John Paul II<ref>Erica Romanovsky-Ilyinsky D'Ormus named Grand Mistress of Ormus. (1980, October 29). L'Osservatore Romano (English Edition). P. A11</ref> Membership in the Order of Ormus is by birth or invitation and its membership list is not published.<ref>Erica Romanovsky-Ilyinsky D'Ormus named Grand Mistress of Ormus. (1980, October 29). L'Osservatore Romano (English Edition). P. A11</ref>
History
The city-state of Ormus dates back to the 13th century when it controlled the slave market from Africa and Arabia to Khorasan in the Persia. At its zenith in 13th to 14th century, Ormus (or Ormuz) was a powerful naval state with a large and active trading fleet and a powerful navy. Petrashevsky reports the size of the fleet to be up to 500 fighting ships. It should be noted that these ships were not armed with cannons. [3]
In September, 1507, the Portuguese Afonso de Albuquerque landed on the island. Portugal occupied Ormuz from 1515 to 1622. It was during the Portuguese occupation of the island that the Mandaeans first came to western attention. The Mandaeans were fleeing persecution in the vilayet of Baghdad (which, at the time, included Basra) and Khuzestan in Iran. When the Portuguese first encountered them, they mistakenly identified them as "St. John Christians," analogous to the St. Thomas Christians of India. The Mandaeans, for their part, were all too willing to take advantage of the confusion, offering to accept papal authority and Portuguese suzerainty if the Portuguese would invade the Ottoman Empire and liberate their coreligionists. The Portuguese were attracted by the prospect of what appeared to be a large Christian community under Muslim rule. It was not until after the Portuguese had committed themselves to the conquest of Basra that they came to realize that the Mandaeans were not what they claimed to be. [4]
After the Portuguese made several abortive attempts to seize control of Basra, the Safavid ruler Abbas I of Persia conquered the kingdom with the help of the British, and expelled the Portuguese from the rest of the Persian Gulf, with the exception of Muscat. The Portuguese returned to the Persian Gulf in the following year as allies of Afrasiyab, the Pasha of Basra, against the Persians. Afrasiyab was formerly an Ottoman vassal but had been effectively independent since 1612. They never returned to Ormus. [5]
In the mid-17th century it was captured by the Imam of Muscat, but was subsequently recaptured by Persians. Today, it is part of the Iranian province of Hormozgan. [6]
Freemasonry
- An historical person named Ormesius (aka Ormus) who may have lived during the times of St. Mark and is said to have inspired the inception of the Society of ORMUS. (cf Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry)
Alleged Relationship to Rosicrucianism
According to a lesser-known legend, described in the writings of the Masonic historian E.J. Marconis de Negre<ref>de Negre, E.J. Marconis (1849), Brief History of Masonry</ref>, who together with his father Gabriel M. Marconis is held to be the founder of the "Rite of Memphis-Misraim" of Freemasonry, based on earlier conjectures (1784) by a Rosicrucian scholar Baron de Westerode<ref>Nesta Webster's, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, London, 1924, p. 87 and note 37</ref> and also promulgated by the 18th century secret society called the "Golden and Rosy Cross", the Rosicrucian Order was created in the year 46 when an Alexandrian Gnostic sage named Ormus and his six followers were converted by one of Jesus' disciples, Mark; their symbol was said to be a red cross surmounted by a rose, thus the designation of Rosy Cross. From this conversion, Rosicrucianism was supposedly born, by purifying Egyptian mysteries with the new higher teachings of early Christianity.<ref>Further research in Legend and Mythology: Ormus by Sol, The Book of THoTH, 2004</ref>
Many recent researchers take as granted the Alexandrian Ormus as the founder of "hermetic Rosicrucianism", via the medieval agency of the Templars. Members of modern organized para-Masonic groups, which call themselves "Rosicrucian", inherited this legend and date the beginning of the Order to much more ancient times than proposed by historians. However, students of modern Rosicrucian Christian groups state that the Order of the Rose Cross was founded in the early 14th century by an highly evolved entity having the symbolic name of Christian Rosenkreuz; nevertheless, they too hold - in the same line as summed up by the Catholic encyclopedia about the roots of the western mystery tradition, which reads "Its beginnings have long been a matter of controversy and are still largely a subject of research. The more these origins are studied, the farther they seem to recede in the past"<ref>The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV: Esotericism and Gnosticism</ref> - that the roots of the Rosicrucian Order, immersed in the western mystery tradition, are almost impossible to be traced as "theirs is a work which aims to encourage the evolution of humanity, they have labored far back into antiquity--under one guise or another".<ref>Article The Brothers of the Rose Cross by The Rosicrucian Fellowship</ref>
According to Émile Dantinne (1884–1969), the origins of the Rosicrucians may have an Islamic connection. As described in Fama Fraternitatis in 1614, Rosenkreuz started his pilgrimage at the age of sixteen. This led him to Arabia, Egypt, and Morocco, where he came into contact with sages of the East who revealed to him the "universal harmonic science." After learning Arabic philosophy in Jerusalem, he was led to Damcar. This place remains a mystery—it did not become Damascus but is somewhere not too far from Jerusalem. Then he stopped briefly in Egypt. Soon afterwards, he embarked to Fes, a center of philosophical and occult studies, such as the alchemy of Abu-Abdallah, Gabir ben Hayan, and Imam Jafar al Sadiq, the astrology and magic of Ali-ash-Shabramallishi, and the esoteric science of Abdarrahman ben Abdallah al Iskari. However, Dantinne states that Rosenkreuz may have found his secrets amongst the Brethren of Purity, a society of philosophers that had formed in Basra (Iraq) sometime during the 900s. Their doctrine had its source in the study of the ancient Greek philosophers, but it became more neo-Pythagorean. They adopted the Pythagorean tradition of envisioning objects and ideas in terms of their numeric aspects. Their theurgy and esoteric knowledge is expounded in an epistolary style in the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity.
The Brethren of Purity and the Sufis were united in many points of doctrine. They both were mystical orders deriving from Qur'anic theology but supplanting dogma with a faith in the Divine Reality. There were many similarities between the Rosicrucian way as expressed in the manifestos and the way of life of the Brethren of Purity. Neither group wore special clothing, both practiced abstinence, they healed the sick, and they offered their teachings free of charge. Similarities also were evident in the doctrinal elements of their theurgy and the story of creation in terms of emanationism.
According to Maurice Magre (1877–1941) in his book Magicians, Seers, and Mystics, Rosenkreutz was the last descendant of the Germelshausen, a German family from the 13th century. Their castle stood in the Thuringian Forest on the border of Hesse, and they embraced Albigensian doctrines, combining pagan and Christian beliefs. The whole family was put to death by Landgrave Conrad of Thuringia, except for the youngest son, then five years old. He was carried away secretly by a monk, an Albigensian adept from Languedoc and placed in a monastery under the influence of the Albigenses, where he was educated and met the four Brothers later to be associated with him in the founding of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. Magre's account supposedly derives from oral tradition.
Fiction
The Acrowleyorder film series is an independent production set in a parallel universe to the official lonelygirl15 series. There was early speculation by some fans that these films were a product of the the Creators. The Creators have never commented on the relationship of these videos to the canon series. However, one of the Creators of the Acrowleyorder, Bill, has issued a statement making it clear that all Acrowleyorder films are completely separate from the official LG15 world and are not an ARG. Despite this announcement, speculation has continued that these films may still play an official role in the lonelygirl15 series.
Such speculation is generally the product of new fans of lonelygirl5 that have begun to watch the official videos after already watching the Acrowleyorder videos on YouTube. As the Acrowleyorder Series receives thousands of "hits" on YouTube, it has become an independent medium which has resulted in new fans coming to the lonelygirl15 series and new participants in the official forum. This is a marketing technique developed by the Creators for a video series in which fans can interact by creating what is known as fan fiction.
Depiction in literature
The following text was written by John Speed in 1626:
The Kingdome of Ormus hath his owne King tributarte vnto the King of Lu∫itania. it containeth the whole shore of Arabia from the paßage of the riuer Euphrates vntil C. Raz. alga ti, likewi∫e part of the Kingdome of Per∫ia w. adioyneth to the Sea Ba∫ora and almo∫t al the Ilands of the per∫ian Gulfe. whose mothe r?itie is Ormus in the Iland Geru a famous mart
Note that some of this text is missing due to printing faults; the ∫ is the letter for s or sh (see esh (letter)). The words "mothe r?itie" in the text can also be deciphered as "mother Litie", although there is a distinctive space between mothe and r, and the L (marked by ? above) looks most like a (. Lu∫itania refers to the Roman province of Lusitania, i.e. Portugal.
This text is likely derived from a caption on Ortelius' 1567 map of Asia, which was derived from Gastaldi's map of six years prior:
ORMVS Regnum, peculiarem habet Regem Lusitaniæ Regi tributarium: continetque totam Arabiam littoralem ab Euphratis fl. ostio vsque ad C. Razalqati, nec nom partem Regni Persidis quæ adiacet freto Basoræ, atque insulas fere omnes sinus Persici. Cuius metropolis est vrbs Ormus in insula Geru sita, emporium celebre. [The Kingdom of Ormus has as a distinctive feature a king who is a tributary to the king of Lusitania. It comprises all the Arab coasts from the mouth of the Euphrates to Cape Razalqati, the part of the Persian Empire bordering on the Bazora straights and almost all islands in the Persian Gulf. Its capital is the city of Ormus on the isle of Gerus, a famous market town.]
Line 20 of Andrew Marvel's poem 'Bermudas' reads:
Jewels more rich than Ormus shows
Ormus is also mentioned in a famous passage from John Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost:
High on a throne of royal state, which far outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, from Book II, lines 1-5
Music
Template:Salieri operasAxur, re d'Ormus ("Axur, king of Ormus") is an operatic dramma tragicomico in five acts by Antonio Salieri. The libretto was by Lorenzo da Ponte.
Axur is the Italian version of Salieri's 1787 French-language work Tarare which had a libretto by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais.
Performance history
Axur premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 8 January 1788.
Discography
The Overture has been recorded by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) conducted by Michael Dittrich, on Naxos Records.
References
- John Speed. “Collected Letters: 1589-1629” Vatican Secret Archive. Original Letters, Bound. Reference Number 456-543-389765-AL-342. Unit 457. Level 2. Draw 182
- Giambattista Vico. “Storia dell'Impero del Ottoman” Vatican Secret Archive. Original Letters, Bound. Reference Number 965-725-498253-GO-999. Unit 1982. Level 4. Draw 15
- Erica Romanovsky-Ilyinsky D'Ormus named Grand Mistress of Ormus. (1980, October 29). L'Osservatore Romano (English Edition). P. A11
- de Negre, E.J. Marconis (1849), Brief History of Masonry
- Ormus opens new orphanage for Bosnian Croatians. (2006, Janyary 16). L'Osservatore Romano (English Edition). P. B2
Literature
- C.W. Scoot-Giles, O.B.E, F.H.S., J.P. Brooke-Little, F.S.a., F.H.S., "Boutell's Heraldry, London and New York: Boydell Press, Frederick Warne and Co. LTD. Library of Congress Card NO. 63-19183. Copyright 1950. Revised 1966. Printed in Great Britain. Property of the United States Army.
- (On the religion of Ormus) Foltz, R.C. 2004, "Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions", Oneworld Publications, Oxford, England. ISBN 1-85168-336-4
