Theta Delta Chi
Initiation  Ritual

 
No date


Αρχαδελφον - President
Καρυκον - Herald
Ταμερον - Treasurer
Γραφιστ - Recording Secretary
Επιγραφιστ - Corresponding Secretary
Σιμβυλιον − Executive Council
 
First Degree
 
The Karukon will conduct the initiate through the ceremony, as he is blindfolded.
All brothers are in black robes. The Archadelphon has a crown with A___v on it, and sash of white with the emblems and letters of the fraternity. The brothers form a semi-circle around the Altar.
K arrives at the charge door with the initiate and knocks 4 times
T: Who desires admission into our councils?
K: A Brother
T: By what authority demand you this? Not every one that sayeth ‘Brother Brother’ is received into our councils.
K: I demand it by the authority, which declares: ‘Ask and it shall be given, knock and it shall be opened unto you’
Tameron opens the door partially
T: Truly, advance and give the sign by which alone you can be admitted into our secret chambers.
Karukon gives the grip and the Tameron closes the door and locks it with chains after seeing the initiate
T: But who attends you?
K: A stranger
T: Wherefore does a stranger seek to enter our councils?
K: He is in search of friends in this lonely world
T: Most honored Archadelphon, a stranger in search of friends seeks admission into our Brotherhood.
A: Brethren, will ye have compassion on this stranger? Are ye willing that another come among you?
Charge: Ekomen
A: We are willing that he enters if our brother will be his surety
T: Brother wilt thou be surety for the stranger’s worth?
K: I will
The door is opened and the Karukon ushers the initiate to the altar. All brothers rise with a finger over their mouth in a token of silence.
The Altar is arranged with the cloth draped over it and a skull on top of two femurs behind a bible opened to Proverbs 18:24. Candles are placed to illuminate the altar and two brothers are designated to stand beside the altar with swords. The Graphist will stand beside the Archadelphon with the bell chime.
A: You have already signified you willingness and desire to become a member of our fraternity, You have now, therefore but to bind yourself by the same oath, which we have each taken to become a full participant in all the privileges which we enjoy. Kneel and receive the oath of secrecy.
Karukon directs the initiate to kneel and place his hand on the bible.
A: Do you John Doe in the presence of these witnesses and in the fear of God, solemnly swear and affirm that you will preserve inviolate the secrets of this fraternity from now and forever
Initiate: I do (chime *)
A: Believing then that you will thus faithfully act and relying upon your honor and integrity as a gentleman to preserve unbroken the oath which you have just taken, we cheerfully intrust to you the secret principles and welfare of our fraternity
It motto in which these principles are embodied is Θαρσουμεν Δαιμονι Χαριτης, which means “We Believe in the Divinity of Friendship”
The wisest of inspired writers has declared that ‘A man that hath friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother’. With the poet we can say ‘ the friendships of the world are often confederacies in vice or leagues of pleasure’
Ours has the severest virtue for its basis, and such a friendship ends but life. Will you swear allegiance to this motto and through it to our Fraternity? Do you swear to make its principles the guide of your interaction with your fellow brethren, and to prove a true and steadfast friend in sickness and in health, in good and evil rapport, in prosperity and in adversity?
Initiate: I do *
Every brother in turn places his hand on the head of the initiate and says “I bless this friendship; may it prove firm faithful and mutual” and returns to his place. While this is occurring, the swords are drawn and prepared. Prior to unmasking of the initiate, they are lit so the initiate sees a pair of crossed flaming swords and the Archadelphon.
The initiate is unmasked.
A: Of the emblems of our fraternity, the Stars are emblematical of Hope and Fidelity, whose cheering rays assure us that the Star of Hope will never be extinguished, while that of Fidelity shines for steadfast. Do you swear in truth to maintain and protect these emblems of Hope and Fidelity?
Initiate: I do *
A: The Arrows are the symbols of Wisdom and Truth. Their course is ever onward and upward. ‘Wisdom is better than rubies, and all that may be desired is not to be compared unto it’. Truth is, of itself, an immortality. Though ‘crushed to earth’ it ‘shall rise again’; though physical force and combined influences bury it in the grave of centuries, it shall have a resurrection, and become a principle changeless and coexistent with the authority of God. Do you swear to cherish and cultivate these in common with the members of this fraternity and in token, of you sincerity, invoke these brethren you witnesses?
Initiate: I do *
A: The Daggers are the symbols of Vigilance and Secrecy. One Argus-like holding perpetual and sleepless watch guards that sacred institution of our fraternity, the Constitution. The other averts all attacks made upon the same sacred object of its care. These are the protection of our constitution. Do you swear to wield these weapons with energy and faithfulness on the preservation of this constitution and this fraternity?
I do *
A: The volume on the badge is emblematical of the constitution--- that constitution which cements the social and moral strength of the fraternity and connects this brotherhood by obligation and by oath. It is the guide of our path and the direction of our counsels. As a faithful member of the Fraternity, do you swear to adhere to the objects of these symbols?
Initiate: I do *
A: The Badge is emblematical of the friendship which shields our fraternity from the insidious approach of envy and the attacks of mercenary hate. Let us but present an unbroken front, and, like the Aegis of Minerva, it will render us invincible and insure beyond a doubt the perpetuity of that friendship of which it is so emphatically an emblem. Do you swear to reserve that friendship and to regard its influences and objects as vitally important to the union and character of this fraternity?
Initiate: I do *
A: You have now sworn to the several obligations of our Fraternity. Do you now solemnly swear, before God and the witnesses here present and with the realizing sense of the baseness of a false oath ever to remain a fellow-member of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity; that you will unceasingly labor for her lasting interest and welfare that you will faithfully obey the requirements of her Constitution and that above all you will preserve her secrets most inviolable?
Initiate: I do *
A: In the witness whereof, you do now invoke the Supreme Being that in case you willfully neglect or refuse to keep this as well as all other future pledges to the Fraternity to call down upon your head the most dire punishments inflicted upon the faithless and the utter ruin of all your hopes of temporal happiness and prosperity?
Initiate: I do * * *
Karukon assists the initiate to rise
A: Having thus consecrated yourself to the best interest of our fraternity, and having thus pledge yourself by all the bonds of a sacred and responsible oath to remain faithful to her in every emergency, we cheerfully and with open arms welcome you as a brother in the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity
You are now recognized as an initiated member of our beloved fraternity and will henceforth receive that protection from all of its members of which our shield is so emblematical. In return, you are expected, as a faithful member, to contribute to its reputation by your firm an manly conduct, by your courtesy and gentlemanly behavior towards all with whom you associate, but most especially towards your Brother; and lastly, by preserving strictly secret all its transaction, whether of the least or greatest importance.”
By a regulation which prudence and a care eye to our own preservation have induced us to adopt, you will be, as each of us has been in turn, prohibited from perusing our Constitution, or being made acquainted with its contents, until the next meeting when you will become a participant in all the privileges, honors, and mysteries of our Fraternity. In the meantime, permit me to express the hope that you will henceforth be animated by the same zeal and anxiety for the welfare of our Fraternity as ourselves, in token of which we now greet you with the friendly gasp of Theta Delta Chi.
The Archadelphon replaces the candidate pin with the member badge and teaches the grip. The index finger is to be bent to form the line across the Theta. The middle and ring fingers are extended to the base of the other brother’s palm to form the sides of the Delta. The pinky is crossed to form the Chi. The Senior brother places his left hand on top of the grip in public while the Junior brother places his left hand on the bottom. The initiate now shakes hands with each brother in the Charge----
A: We look upon you now as consecrated to the services of our Fraternity, and we deem it as well our privilege as our duty to encourage you to a full performance of the pledges which you have made. May that Divine Being who alone enables us to perform our respective duties bless the friendship which we have this night rendered sacred; may the connection which this night you have formed prove a blessing indeed; and may ‘God grant that our beloved fraternity be perpetuated through all future generations’
The Karukon places the blindfold back on the initiate. As the initiate is lead out the brothers sing the Doxology:
“Father we raise our hymns to thee
We live in Theta Delta Chi
And on our hearts inscribed shall be
THETA CHI DELTA (all brothers stomp the ground once)
When….we….die”
 
 
Second Degree
 
This is the meeting following the First Degree. After the minutes have been read and seconded the meeting is suspended. The Karukon brings in the initiates.
A: Hitherto you have been debarred from some of the privileges which we have enjoyed, but we now welcome you as a full member of our beloved Fraternity. You have stood well the test which each of us has borne in turn, and we now hail you as a Brother who has shown himself worthy of full confidence.
There are certain regulations which we have adopted to guard against imposition, in the practice of which it is necessary that you should become perfect. When you meet a person that you are not certain is a member of Theta Delta Chi, you must test him by the following signs:
Place the index finger of your right hand aside your nose and say “Chi”.
He should do likewise and reply “ Rho ”. Moving the same finger to the left side of your nose you should say “Epsilon”. He should do the same and say “Iota”.
When you wish to enter a meeting, you must approach the door of the antechamber alone, giving one knock, whisper into the ear of the Karukon opening it, and say “Thuron” meaning ‘threshold’. Proceeding to the door of the inner chamber, you must give two low raps and one louder and the door being opened by the Tameron, whisper in his ear “Chiar” meaning ‘grip’ and give the grip uncovered. You must be careful in the observance of these ceremonies, since secrecy, with which our transactions are conducted greatly depends upon these, as guards against imposition.
In conclusion, let your zeal for the welfare of our Brotherhood be ever on the increase; let your vigilance in averting whatever may detract form its reputation or that of any of its members, be unsleeping; let your preservation of its mysteries and transactions from the rude gaze of the world be constant and like the vestal fires of old, ever
renewed and burning, our Fraternity will shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.
 
 
Manner of Opening a Meeting
 
The Karukon knocks twice low, once high says: Brethren in the Theta Delta Chi, this meeting of our beloved Fraternity is hereby opened. Let good will and harmony reign throughout our deliberations.
Charge: “So mote it be”, sings the Invocation
“Oh Thou eternal one
Light of the midday sun
Our source and end
With thine untiring eye
Guard Theta Delta Chi
With wisdom from on high
Her councils lend.”
Archadelphon reads the Preamble: We believing in that the most binding duty of man is the improvement of his intellectual, moral, and, above all, social being; and that the bond of mutual and unreserved Friendship will promote and preserve their cultivation in the highest degree; and also believing that Secrecy is the only shield to protect us from the scrutinizing curiosity of the world; and that Friendship, to be lasting must be limited in the number of its participants, -- do hereby ordain and resolve ourselves into a Fraternity, having for its purpose the cultivation of these principles and capacities of our nature. The chief characteristics of this Fraternity shall be an honorable and confiding friendship; a Friendship founded on mutual esteem and dependence, -defended by that charity which, while it pardons the faults of each, endeavors to improve and reform; -which Friendship we will perpetuate by the veil of eternal secrecy.
 
 
Manner of Closing a Meeting
 
The Karukon knocks twice low, once high says: Brethren, this meeting of our Fraternity is hereby dissolved; return to your respective duties till called again to renew in union our social joys.
Charge “So Mote It Be”, sings doxology
“Father we raise our hymns to thee
We live in Theta Delta Chi
And on our hearts inscribed shall be
THETA CHI DELTA (stomp)
When…we…die.”


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