Secret Statutes of the Templars Translated to English Published Posthumously by Mystagogue Publications "I am pleased to present the world's first English translation of The Secret Statutes of the Templars, discovered by Theodor Merzdorf in a Masonic library, having been copied from a document found in the Vatican Archives, and then translated by him into German, and published 1877, shortly after Merzdorf's sudden and early demise at age 29. The authenticity of these statutes has been a matter of controversy for almost 150 years, but due to the language barrier, few in the English-speaking world are familiar with them. My own investigation into the matter of the Templars... indicates that these statutes may very well be authentic, for the practices detailed therein- spitting on the cross, exposure of the "male member" during initiation, the repetition of Islamic prayers, and fraternizing with the Saracen enemy, along with Druzes, Cathars, Bogomils, and other heretics, as well as the worship of the idol Baphomet-are all consistent with the continuum of tradition that connects the Templars with their Gnostic predecessors, and their Freemasonic descendants, according to... research. The content here is also consistent with the revelations contained in the Chinon Parchment, detailing the confessions that Templars made to Pope Clement V, which were discovered in the Vatican Archives... Part of what connects all the seemingly disparate sects within the continuum of tradition previously mentioned is a belief that those who have received the "Baptism of Wisdom"-called here the Baptism of Fire-are literally above the law: not just man's law, but the law of Moses-so that nothing they choose to do may be counted against them. We find this attitude in sects as far-flung as the Ismailis of the Middle Ages and modern Aleister Crowley-following "Thelemites." It is, most likely, what was meant when it was said that the Cathars (a.k.a. the Albigensians) could "no longer sin" after they went through the sacred consolamentum rite, or the "Rite of Perfection," alleged in these documents to have been practiced by the Knights Templar as well." Tracy Twyman Content ❖ Introduction ❖ Monumenta ad disciplinam arcanum fratrum militia Templi descripta in archive Vaticano (Monuments to the Secret Doctrine of the Brothers of the Knighthood of the Temple, Written in the Vatican Archives) ❖ Regula pauperum commilitonum Christi templique Salomonis (Rule of the poor comrades of Christ and Solomon's temple). The already known Trecensian rule. ❖ Prologus (Preface) ❖ The Trecensian Rule (Latin and German) ❖ New additions to the rule (Latin and German) ❖ Statuta secreta (the Secret Statutes) (Latin and German) ❖ Liber consoIamenti (the book of baptism of fire) (Latin and German) ❖ Rotulus signorum arcanorum (directory of secret characters) (Latin and German) ❖ Postscript