Thursday, January 12, 2006
MARTINIST ORDER OF THE NETHERLANDS
From the website of kingsgarden.org, a Martinist website, comes another indication that the majority of the French Martinists were Catholic:
After working closely with the French Martinist Order, it became apparent that the Dutch members objected to the close relationship of the French Organization with the "Gnostic Apostolic Church" and of the Roman Catholic Church, most of them being of Protestant origin. They were strongly attracted by the Martinist teachings, but wanted to keep complete freedom of religion and worship. Philippe Encausse understood very well the religious traditions of the Netherlands and he suggested for a second time to create a separate branch of the Martinist tree, namely the "Ordre Martiniste des Pays-Bas".
Additionally the website reveals that "The first Dutch Martinist Group was called "Jacob Boehme, No. 65, College d'Amsterdam", and that today there are "more than forty Martinist Order of the Netherlands Chapters in five countries and three continents." The website indicates that the Netherlands Martinists separated from the French Martinist Order in 1975.
