Note 597 — Lecture X. THE INFLUENCE OF THE MYSTERIES UPON CHRISTIAN USAGES.
Reading edition
The successive stages or acts of initiation are variously described and enumerated, but there were at least four: κάθαρσις—the preparatory purification; σύστασις—the initiatory rites and sacrifices; τελετὴ or μύησις—the prior initiation; and ἐποπτεία, the higher or greater initiation, which admitted to the παράδοσις τῶν ἱερῶν, or holiest act of the ritual. Cf. Lobeck, Aglaoph. pp. 39 ff.