Our Expression

The Priesthood according to the Order of Melchizedek

Unlike the churches of the Roman Catholic tradition, The Independent Church of Australia lays no claim to apostolic succession. While we do not question that this succession can convey spiritual grace and authority for the ministry, we are also aware of the serious misuse which has attended the concept, where the priesthood is seen as an office independent of the worthiness of the priest. Whether a priest is in a "state of grace" or not, if he gives a blessing, performs a liturgy or serves a sacrament, by virtue of the power of his office that action is considered valid. In The Centre, the inner nature of the priest and his or her relationship to God are important in the efficacy of the ministry.

The Centre, The Independent Church of Australia, The Independent Church in New Zealand, Het Esoterisch Christelijk Centrum in The Netherlands, therefore recognises a priesthood of another order, a charismatic ministry in which inner consecration rather than external appointment constitutes the true priesthood. The rite of ordination is both an outward confirmation of that which has already been fulfilled within the individual and a recognition by the people of God of the working of the spirit within the ordinand.

The Order of Melchizedek

This priesthood is spoken of as "the Priesthood according to the Order of Melchizedek" and is not conferred by any earthly authority. The rite of ordination is a recognition and outward confirmation of the inner ordination by the spirit.

The Centre holds the belief that certain men and women have been called to this priesthood before the beginning of the world and are, by nature, true priests "according to the Order of Melchizedek", as scripture proclaims.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek."
Psalm 110:4

The references in holy scripture to Melchizedek are few and enigmatic: he appears and disappears suddenly and without explanation, with nothing revealed of his ancestry or descent, in a manner which suggests he represents a superior order of the priesthood which reaches its fulfilment in Christ.

He is first mentioned in the book of Genesis:

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him (Abram) and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!"
Genesis 14:18-20

In this passage Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, greets Abraham on his return from a victorious battle, presents him with bread and wine and blesses him. The giving of bread and wine as a sacrament later became the hallmark of the Christ and a symbol of the outpouring of his life into the world. In presenting the bread and wine to Abraham so long ago, Melchizedek infused Abraham with the Christ principle, pointing forward to things to come.

Essentially, Melchizedek was a very high initiate, known as the Sun Initiate, who mediated between Christ and humanity and propelled the earth's evolution forward until it was prepared for the incarnation of Christ. When Christ took on the form of a man and experienced the trials of a man he attained the status of high priest according to the Order of Melchizedek. Thus we read in Hebrews 5:7-10:

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The Christ therefore set the example of a life of sacrifice and surrender that the priest of the Order of Melchizedek must follow. At all times the priest's life is one of sacrifice and of reconciliation of people to God. Like Melchizedek himself, the priest of the Order is the intermediary between Christ and humanity.

Because of the constant acknowledgment of the pre-eminence of Christ and an intimate relationship with him, the priest is imbued with Christ's love and power; the priest is, therefore, the representative of the Christ and the channel through which the high priesthood of the Christ is poured into the world.

The Melchizedek Priesthood is eternal. Once a person has been ordained their priesthood cannot be revoked but continues from incarnation to incarnation.

In The Centre men and women who have received the call of Christ and who belong to the Order of Melchizedek on the soul level are able to be ordained into this sacred Priesthood after receiving the requisite training and discipline at the hands of the Meritus and his assistants.

To sum up what has been said so far:

The Centre does not claim the apostolic succession as a basis of its priesthood. The priest is a priest by virtue of what they are and what they have attained in this and past lifetimes through the disciplines laid upon them and through the greatest of all teachers, the experience of life itself.

A person is born with a priestly nature and no amount of training can form this nature unless it is innate. The ordination rite is the outward and visible confirmation of this inward and spiritual nature.

Ordination within The Centre is given as a confirmation of their priesthood to those who have shown the qualities and nature of a priest in their daily lives. Once bestowed, ordination cannot be taken away. The rite is a confirmation of that which is and always will be because of the nature of the ordinand.

The ordination ceremony gives the ordinand power and strength to fulfil the functions of a priest and reveals the qualities already inherent within him or her. It opens the spiritual centres sufficiently to enable the person to perform their priestly functions powerfully and effectively, giving a deeper insight into and experience of the mysteries and wisdom of God.

Through the ordination ceremony the candidate wilfully becomes part of the Priesthood of the Order of Melchizedek. That person is now a priest forever! From this life on, from incarnation to incarnation, they must fulfil their priestly nature, although not necessarily publicly or in the robe of the priest. Through ordination in The Centre, they join that company whose sole urge is to bring about the redemption of humanity. Their fulfilment inevitably lies in the service of humanity and the sacrifice of self to bring about the transformation of humanity as a whole. As Christ is the high priest of the Order of Melchizedek, the priest becomes an assistant in his redemptive work.

You may like to read an excerpt from "The Book of Hebrews" by Rev Mario Schoenmaker about the Order of Melchizedek.

The Book of Hebrews

An extract of the book by Rev Mario Schoenmaker

 

Christ and Melchizedek

Abraham's mission was to guide the Aryan people, in the early Post-Atlantean times, during their formative years. He was instructed into the mysteries pertaining to the work of Melchizedek. Let me for a moment make a division, placing Melchizedek on one side and Christ on the other. We find Melchizedek blessing Abraham and Christ blessing the apostles saying, 'Go forth into the world', as Abraham had to. Abraham received the deepest level of teaching that can ever be had: the touch of Melchizedek, the touch of the master. The twelve received the deepest teaching in the upper room where they were spiritually exalted in the elements of bread and wine. This, of course, took place in the city of Salem, for Jeru-salem means city of Salem.

The two events, one at the beginning of the Bible and one virtually at the end, are linked together with tremendous spiritual importance. Not only because of the form of the rite itself, but where and how it occurred.

As our sixth epoch is approaching, the present fifth moving slowly towards its close, we will find that an increasing number of souls will enter like the disciples of old into the same mystical upper room in Jerusalem (spiritually speaking). There they will realise within themselves the sublime state of mind necessary, married or bonded to the heart through the power of the spirit within them. It could be stated I suppose that whenever the sun ushers in a new dispensation, the leaders who are on the earth at that particular time somehow make a new covenant with the Gods in the form of bread and wine. According to occult teaching, we say that they partake of the bread of eternal life and drink of the chalice of immortality.

With the beginning of the cycle of Aries or Abraham, this leader of the Aryan race received this sacramental gift from the priest-king Melchizedek. The master introduced the deepest teachings for the cycle of Pisces when celebrating the Last Supper with his disciples. (The cycle of Pisces commenced in the fifteenth century.) So it was inner instruction concerning powers of the spirit that the disciples received when eating the bread and drinking the wine dispensed by the Christ.

In offering up the sacrifice of bread and wine, instead of the slaughtered animals previously offered, the Melchizedek's sacrifice or sacrament differed from that of the old days in that Melchizedek prefigured the sacrifice which Christ was to institute in the new covenant from the same elements. It is therefore with awe and reverence that we, in our organisation, speak of the Priesthood according to the Order of Melchizedek.

If you want to understand Hebrews chapters six and seven, then you need to enter into a higher phase of consciousness, what is called 'Adeptship' in the mystery schools. When chapter 5 of Hebrews refers to the strong meat and not to live by milk alone any more, Paul is speaking about adeptship. Only the adept can take the strong meat. The adept is the priest according to the Order of Melchizedek ...

Characteristics of the Priesthood

The Order of Melchizedek has within itself certain connotations:

Those belonging to this Order will always manifest themselves with bread and wine. While I was away with Max we had a lovely agape with the Psychodrama group. I have a faint idea that it was the first time that they really did psychodrama when we had bread and wine! Do you know that I did not mention the word 'Christ' once that night as I did that rite? The response was overwhelming. People's souls of necessity, always recognise the power of bread and wine. That is why a Priest of the Order of Melchizedek has never to fear, people will always respond ... either negatively or positively. We were quite fortunate; 99% gave a positive response.

The priest must be the embodiment of the bread of life. They must issue life from their very being, continuously.

However, you can never become a priest of the Order of Melchizedek unless your originate from the sun. If you have dwelt on Mercury or Venus then you cannot be a priest according to the Order of Melchizedek. In fact you would not want to be. It is as simple as that. You are still very spiritual; it doesn't mean to say that you are any lower or higher. Understand that I am not saying that. All I am saying is that the Order of Melchizedek can only be fulfilled by sun beings because Christ is a sun being. Christ then becomes the beginning and the end of that person's life. If you look at our cross you see the symbols of the alpha and omega with the lamb in the middle. The lamb is the soul; the alpha and the omega say: From beginning to end, I belong to Christ, I am a sun being.

Being initiated into the Order of Melchizedek gives a connection with the oldest Sun Initiate of the Atlantean Period which is Melchizedek himself.

As of old the Sun Initiate brought the knowledge of the Christ to the world, so now through us the Christ will be revealed to the minds and the hearts of man, in an intellectual and feeling way.Through this, different gifts will be manifested as they are needed.

The Task of the Priesthood

The task of the priesthood is therefore to portray the Christ. So those who are admitted into the Order of Melchizedek of necessity already have a priestly nature because they come from the sun. Their previous incarnations would show that they are priests and have most likely been priests in the past. But in order to be accepted into the priesthood you also have to dare to accept the challenge of this peculiar priesthood: the vow to be a priest forever, not only in this lifetime but until the world ends. Once a priest, always a priest. The Catholics agree with that by saying that it is for eternity not just this lifetime. Sure, when we come back next lifetime we may not have a glorious altar in front of us. We may be hard-headed businesswomen. However we execute that priestly office, Christ will show through us if we are faithful to him. Our lives as priests have to be lives of sacrifice, reconciling people back to God. And at all times our symbols will be bread and wine.

'The Book of Hebrews' are transcripts of fifty one lectures presented in a loose-leaf binder.
See our online bookshop, Centre Books, for more details and purchasing.