ANSYREEH

A sect found in the mountains of Libanon, of Northern Syria. the name is also given as Nusairiyeh. Like the Druses, toward whom, however, they entertain a violent hostility, and the Assassins, they have a secret mode of recognition and a secret religion, which does not appear to be well understood by them. However, says Rev. Mr. Lyde, who visited them in 1852, “there is one in which they all seem agreed, and which acts as a kind of Freemasonry in binding together the scattered members of their body, namely,, secret prayers which are taught to every male child of a certain age, and are repeated at stated times, in stated places, and accompanied with religious rites.”

The Ansyreeh arose about the same time with the Assassins, and, like them, their religion appears to be an ill-digested mixture of Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism. To the Masonic scholars these secret sects of Syria present an interesting study, because of their supposed connection with the Templars during the Crusades. Brother Bernard H. Springett discusses at length the subject of secret organizations of that neighborhood in his Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon.