The Investigator

Part 2 of 2

E. A. WAITE

But after nearly five hundred years – I am speaking still within the hypothesis of the symbolism – there rose up the Grand or Royal Lodge, which was in the day of restoration and the day when things are reborn, or made anew, when Zerubbabel, the prince of the people, with their prophet and priest, led back Israel out of exile. It came about that, having made a great discovery within the precincts of the First Temple, they held their Lodge at Jerusalem, and proclaimed the glad tidings, which are called the climax of Freemasonry – at least within the measures and under the obedience of the Old Law. And the original of that which we term the ROYAL ARCH is the Grand or Royal Lodge. In the sense of this symbolism, notwithstanding all disparities occasioned by things that are left at a loose end and all temporal lacunae, it may be said that the Holy Order does, within its own degree, complete the Masonic circle – though only within measures of the Craft – in virtue of that mystical recovery which made the glory of the Third Grand Lodge even as the glory of the first, and Jerusalem in the days of Zerubbabel as Horeb in those of Moses, who first promulgated the beneficent Law of Masonry.

The ROYAL ARCH may be defined briefly as the Grade of the Word attained; but while a certain expectation is intimated on the part of those who ruled, there is nothing to show that the Brethren who made the discovery were qualified by antecedent knowledge or were themselves dedicated to the work of quest. It was the providence of an accidental happening which brought about the event, and as such – on the surface – it does little honour to the important subject in hand. The discovery itself is unintelligible, as the story stands, since there is nothing leading up thereto – either in the Craft or Arch. But in Masonic Grades external to both the preliminary steps are found and the motive at work throughout. In view of this fact, as explained already, it would look as though the ROYAL ARCH had been lifted out of some Ritual series and utilized as an epilogue to the Craft, not a little to its own detriment, because it was never intended originally to stand alone.

In Masonic history we hear of the bare title and of some undescribed symbol belonging thereto being carried in a Masonic procession, tempus 1743, while a year later there is an allusion to the Grade itself, but under circumstances which suggest that more than one version was about. The preliminary sidesteps or intermediates to which I have alluded and which throw light on the subject are not in distinct evidence till a later period. If I may put forward a personal opinion, purely at its hypothetical value, it seems to me that as the ROYAL ARCH originated in these islands, certainly and beyond question, so also there were other Grades, side-steps or preliminaries connected therewith and essential thereunto. It is impossible to speculate about their original form, in the absence of all evidence, or on how far they have departed from it in the Degrees now extant: if we may judge by the vicious editing of the Arch Degree itself, they have suffered drastic change.

The Grades in question are called respectively ROYAL and SELECT MASTER. But before offering a brief description of their scope and motive I must refer to the year 1754, when several important items were grouped together under the auspices of a French Rite, as if they had been manufactured suddenly or suddenly collected together. I refer to the COUNCIL OF EMPERORS OF THE EAST AND WEST, otherwise the RITE OF HEREDOM or RITE OF PERFECTION, working twenty-two Grades superposed on those of the Craft. In virtue of certain sub-titles attached to some of them on the authority of rare MSS. now in my hands, it would appear that not all of them were of French Origin, though it is impossible to have any assurance on such a debateable point.

The examples include ENGLISH MASTER, as alter native to INTIMATE SECRETARY, and ILLUSTRIOUS IRISH MASTER, as substitute for PROVOST AND JUDGE. However this may be, we are concerned more especially with the thirteenth Grade of the Rite, called ROYAL ARCH OF ENOCH, or – in early examples – Knight of the ROYAL ARCH. As there are two titles, so also there are two forms and that which is the more important is, I think, perhaps the later: it is incorporated at the present day into the long series of the SCOTTISH RITE. It goes very near to the root-hypothesis of the Secret Tradition and delineates the circumstances under which the Sacred Word was placed in the hiddenness, long prior to the Three Prototypical Grand Lodges. In this form, I believe, it to be of foreign invention as well as redaction: its importance for our purpose is that it places a Masonic complexion on an early epoch of the Tradition.

In the alternative and possibly earlier form there is no question that it is of English origin as to its root-matter or that it derives from the ROYAL and SELECT MASTER GRADES, but from the former more especially, and at a time when both were in a state corresponding more nearly to the mode in which they were communicated, not so many years ago, under the auspices of the EARLY GRAND Scottish Rite, rather than that of the CRYPTIC. The latter bears marks of editing by persons who had no acquaintance with the Secret Tradition. As regards all recensions, the time is that of Solomon, the Temple is still uncompleted, but the mythical history in each case is subsequent to the Hiramic myth, which is still left at its original loose end. The Grades in their several forms throw light on the central point of the Royal Arch, because they shew how a place of concealment was planned for the Secret Mysteries and how these were hidden therein until time or circumstances should render their restoration essential. The implicit throughout is that in such case the providence protecting what is understood as Masonry would intervene in favour of the Art, as it did ex hypothesi at the epoch of the Second Temple.

We may follow the Secret Tradition into strange places of Masonry, and if the intimations are often at variance they are in agreement on at least two points. The Tradition is always concerned with the power and grace of a Word, usually a Divine Name, and there is always an intention to show that a hidden Knowledge concerning it goes on from age to age. There is the Grade of KNIGHT OF THE EAST, which in one of its versions belongs to the Maccabean period, and the
Candidate is in search of the Sacred Treasure after the profanations of Andochus Epiphanus. There is the Grade of TRUE SCOTTISH MASTER, which belongs to Adonhiramite Masonry. It affirms that the Word of God was never lost in reality, and that after the sacking of Herod’s Temple, at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a mysterious inscribed plate was found beneath one of the Pillars. This fable is recited in a kind of historical discourse, and although on the surface we are still in the days of Solomon, we are already on the threshold of Christian Masonry, for the Lodge of the Grade is said to have been instituted by St. John the Evangelist in succession to one which was held on the banks of the Jordan by St. John the Baptist.

When we pass definitely into Christian Masonry the Tradition is still with us, although under several mutations. It owes something to Philostorgus and his ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, written at the beginning of the 5th Century. In connection with the baffled attempts to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem he tells us of certain workmen let down by means of ropes into a deep well, at the bottom of which – emerging above the water – there was found a small column, and on the column, a book wrapped in a linen cloth. When examined, it proved to be a copy of St. John’s Gospel. For the rest, according to Christian Masonry, the Keepers of the Secret Tradition are represented as Knights of the Morning, Knights of Palestine, Sons of the Valley, Thebaid Brethren, a secret Brotherhood perpetuated from generation to generation in the heart of Jewry, but unknown to Jewry at large. They looked for a Master who was to come, the Deliverer and Messiah. In the fullness of time they found the Word in Christ, which is the message of the Christian Grades.

I have been dealing with questions of fact in Ritual and with the tradition out of which they arise. I do not intend on the present occasion to dwell on the inferences to be drawn, however legitimate. I have followed the Secret Tradition in its development through several paths, within and outside of Masonry. That there is a meaning behind the Tradition I am entirely certain, for it is of symbolism or allegory after its own manner and within its own measures, even as Masonry is. The great BOOK OF THE ZOHAR contains the whole doctrine of the Lost Word and of the circumstances under which it shall be restored on the coming of Israel out of exile, in the day of Messiah. But the ZOHAR is the book of the Secret Tradition in Jewry under the Christian aegis. As regards the Lost Word, it depends from a question of fact, which of itself is of minor consequence, being the loss of the mode in which the High Priest pronounced the Divine Name when he entered the Holy of Holies once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people.

Over this the ZOHAR allegorizes and in their fervid hearts the doctors of the Greater Exile looked for magnalia Dei when it should be put again into their mouths. But that which it meant in their symbolism was the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth – to the chosen people above all, but apparently by derivation from these to all tongues and tribes and peoples and nations. The Secret Tradition was taken over by zealous scholars of Christendom during the 16th and 17th Centuries, and they sought to convince Jewry that all which was expected had come in Christ, that it was possessed by the Gentiles and might be enjoyed by them if they would turn their hearts to Him. This is the philosophy of the Tradition in brief and crude summary. But in another form and aspect, it is the philosophy of the Tradition in Masonry, which is another story of a Word in loss or hiddenness, and this fact, which might be one of coincidence, is linked up with the Secret Tradition because it is represented – in variably and only – by a Sacred Name, an omnific and ineffable message, and the plenary grace of a mystery abiding in a Name of God. Now the Tradition of the Name in Masonry was taken over by other Zelatores, who, after all intimations of the ROYAL ARCH OF ENOCH, Arch of Zerubbabel and Arch of Josiah the King, after all that was said to be inscribed on sacred plates of gold, came forward in their later day and founded the Christian Grades – the ORDER OF THE TEMPLE, the ROSE CROIX, the RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE and KNIGHT OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. Like other makers of legend, they testified that the Word is Christ. It follows that those rumours of a Secret Tradition which are conveyed in the Royal Arch are not confined thereto. In one or other form, they are in the body- general of Masonry.

What does this fact signify, and where may it lead the Mason who is willing to dwell on such things and, perhaps, pursue them further? The answer to this question is my last word and a kind of obiter dictum. It signifies that the Secret of Masonry, that Word too often lost, is the Secret of Christ realized in the heart of a Mason, and that from beginning to end our “peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols ” has never had another object than to direct us with eyes uplifted to the bright Morning Star, whose rising brings peace and salvation to those who sit in tribulation and in the shadow of death. Masonry is an art, useful and extensive, which comprehends within its circle every branch of useful knowledge and learning, and stamps an indelible mark of preeminence on its genuine professors, which neither chance, power, nor fortune can bestow.

PRESTON.

Part 1 of 2

E. A. WAITE

THE old distinction between Blue and Red has almost fallen into desuetude, so far as normal parlance is concerned, among members of the Craft in England; but we know that a memorial remains among us in the colour-symbolism found in the ROYAL ARCH.

The Blue also connotes Symbolical Masonry, and this is a valid qualification, because the Third Degree opens a door into a great figurative Mystery as into the blue distance.

It is not of our concern now but we might dwell for a moment on the significant fact that in Irish Craft workings the Candidate is told invariably that even the official and conventional penalties of the Three Degrees are to be regarded as a part integral of the symbolism which rules in all.

The ROYAL ARCH, or Red Masonry, has passed by its hypothesis out the symbolical domain: on the surface, at least, it is dealing no longer with allegory, but with an actual historical event. According to that version of the Holy Order which is at work in England and Wales, under the obedience of the Supreme Grand Chapter, it belongs – as we are all well aware – to the time of Zerubbabel and the building of the Second Temple.
With certain variations, which are not essential in character, it is the same, I believe, in Scotland and the United States & Canada

In Ireland the historical time of the Grade is much later, being that of Josiah the King, but of this I am unable to speak except by report, as there are no Rituals available.
There is a sense, however, in which all differences draw to the same end, for all are concerned with the central fact of a Secret Tradition, perpetuated by its hypothesis from an immemorial past, derived originally from sources behind Masonry and carried from Degrees leading up to the ROYAL ARCH, through the Holy Order itself and thence into Christian and some other High Grades.

It is a remarkable fact that on the surface of the Craft Degrees there is practically no intimation of this traditional inheritance. The presumable explanation is that those who constructed the Legend of the Third Degree, following any vestiges which may have come into hands of the 18th Century from the part of York or Scotland, had a mind to follow – a little roughly and crudely the lines of the Ancient Mysteries concerning figurative death and resurrection.

A signal confusion followed, for they slew the prototypical Master, whereas they raised the Candidate, creating a complete fissure in the logic of symbolism. So it has remained among us, but something like sixty years after the approximate date of construction, the Loge de la Bienfaisance at Lyons, which transmuted the RITE OF THE STRICT OBSERVANCE, intervened to save the situation, so far as French Masonry was concerned, and in the Grade of PERFECT MASTER of St. Andrew they raised Hiram as Christ.
If we pursue the subject of confusion from another point of departure, we know that – by the hypothesis of the Third Degree – the Temple of Solomon was left unfinished, like the legend itself, from which consideration of simple fact it follows that any completion of the Third Degree should take up the Hiramic myth at the point where its story broke off, and lead it to an end in symbolism.

Now we are familiar, and more than familiar, with the affirmation concerning the ROYAL ARCH, which is (1) that it is not to be regarded as in any sense a further Degree superposed upon the Craft, but (2) rather as a completion of the whole.

So far, however, from concluding the Hiramic myth it leaves unabridged in Ritual a gap of several centuries, understood as historical time, and jumps to an examination of certain legendary events connected with preliminaries to the building of the Second Temple in the days of Zerubbabel.

It follows that the Third Degree – historically speaking – is a story without an end, like Canova’s German romance, while the ROYAL ARCH is a prolegomenon to another story, which story is not to be found in Masonry.

The sense in which the one is supplementary to the other is a matter of the Secret Tradition, a formula of loss and recovery, according to which the Holy Order seeks to elevate the Craft out of a region of encinctured symbolism to the threshold of Divine Science. It could have been done in a logical manner, preserving all the unities, and it so happens that the necessary elements were ready to the hands of the symbolists, if we can suppose as I think, is possible – that certain so-called side grades, or steps, were already existing
in some primitive form.

In this case the ROYAL ARCH has been lifted out of a sequence to which it belongs essentially, and apart from which its real message is divided and confused, if it must not be called lost.

My purpose is to collect the links of the broken chain and then join them up.

If the question be why does the Craft Candidate pass through a figurative experience which connotes the idea of death, and then through a shadow of resurrection, the answer is that the god died and rose in the Ancient
Mysteries, as in the great proto typical example which is that of Osiris. He was of the Divine Pantheon, and he returned thereto, as to former companions at once of toil and attainment. So also Iacchos was torn to pieces, but again he was restored to life; Tammuz died and rose; the dead Adonis was given back to the arms of Venus, even as Persephone to Demeter. If it be asked, on the other hand, why in the ROYAL ARCH there is a quest followed ad interiora terra and a discovery consequent thereon, the answer is that this is precisely the thesis concerning the preservation of a Secret Tradition, which descended from Adam, of which Enoch was a notable custodian, which came down to the time of Solomon and is carried thereafter through several eloquent memorials of Masonic Rite. It was not invented by Masonry, and if I speak here only of the mythos in Israel it is not peculiar thereto, though it appears under other aspects in other regions of traditional lore. Before linking up briefly the chain of Ritual, it is necessary to make a proviso with respect to the sources.

They are texts of what I am accustomed to call the Greater Exile of Israel, being that of the Christian centuries, and they are three in number: (1) The TALMUD BABLI; (2) The TALMUD HIEROSOLYMAE, and (3) The SEPHER HA ZOHAR. The last is the latest of all in respect of time, its final reduction being referred by scholarship to the 13th Century, though it contains old elements. It is the great text of the Secret Tradition in Israel, and this – according to the ZOHAR – began with Adam, for Latin theology and that which is termed Cabalism meet unawares, and seem to clasp hands over things appertaining to the hypothetical state of unfallen
man in Paradise. It was in a state of supernal know ledge, of the science which – by the theosophical hypothesis has its root in the Tree of Life, in the unity of Divine things, not in the duality and sophistication which is referable to the Tree of Knowledge. It is said that when the Holy One, blessed be He, created Adam, He exhorted him to advance in the path of goodness and revealed to him the Mystery of Wisdom. Adam contemplated, indeed, all wisdom and all highest mysteries. He was “encompassed by the glory from on high, “and was intended in the scheme of divine things to be united for ever with God, in Whose Image he had been made. But from the path of the Good and the One – all this notwithstanding – Adam fell into ways of separation and abandoned the Tree of Life, meaning the supreme theosophy of the inward Secret Doctrine. The penalty of this separation is described under the term death in the text of Genesis.

By the hypothesis of the ZOHAR, the Secret Doctrine, the Supreme Wisdom, in a word, that Hidden Treasure which was transmitted in perpetuity thereafter as a tradition through the ages, was communicated to the First Man by means of a book, which came down from heaven in the hands of the angel Raziel, and was delivered to Adam, the messenger in question being denominated Chief of Supreme Mysteries. It remained in the possession of Adam till he was driven out of the Garden, when it was ravished out of his hands. But as it is obvious that there could have been no Secret Tradition -such as was conceived by the mind of Israel – unless its depository were restored, so we hear in due course that in answer to his tears and entreaties it was given back in the end to our progenitor by the angel Raphael. Adam transmitted it to Seth, from whom it passed to Enoch, who, after he was taken by God became the great angel Metatron, the Angel of the Presence and Chief of the Celestial school.
It is said that the School of Metatron is the School of the Holy One, and that in his hands are the Keys of heaven. It came about for these reasons that the Secret Book is called the BOOK OF ENOCH, though it passed down ultimately to Abraham. Thereafter the ZOHAR is silent regarding its travels and whereabouts, but the Secret Tradition of which it is the source was communicated to the elders by Moses and thence, in the myth concerning it, through succeeding generations to the doctors of the Zoharic school, the chief repository at the time of the fall of Jerusalem being Rabbi Simeon Ben Yochai.

From Zoharic Cabalism the tradition descended to the follies and iniquities of Jewish Ceremonial Magic, and so it comes about that in these dregs and lees there is a BOOK OF RAZIEL, which is a book of Divine Names and Conjurations based thereon. It is a favourable specimen of its class, in comparison with Keys of Solomon, texts of Goetia, Sworn Books of Honorius and things under the generic title of Grimoires; but it presents a corrupted form of the tradition concerning Enoch. Antecedent to the ZOHAR, as I have intimated, are certain Talmudic fables, which exceed the scope of this notice. Antecedent to both are Josephus and a comparatively ancient apocrypha of the apocalyptic class under the name of the BOOK OF ENOCH. To Josephus we owe the well-known myth concerning the Pillars of Stone and Brick, on which Enoch inscribed the Mysteries of Knowledge belonging to the age before the Flood: there are many variations of the legend, which concerns broadly the perpetuation of the Secret Tradition. It is not otherwise to our purpose. But the BOOK OF ENOCH, which is a series of visions beheld by the prophet when he was in the spirit, like the seer of Patmos, is a prototype of Masonic tradition and that especially which is reflected into the ROYAL ARCH. It is said that GOD shewed Enoch nine vaults in a vision, and that with the assistance of Methuselah his son, he proceeded to erect in the bosom of the mountain of Canaan a secret sanctuary, on the plan of what he had beheld, being
vaults beneath one another.

In the ninth, or undermost vault, Enoch placed a triangle of purest gold, on which he had inscribed that which was presumably the heart, essence and centre of the Secret Tradition, the True Name of God, comprehending all grace, all power and the providence of Divine Mercy. It is the development of this legend which can be followed through several Grades and various Rites of Masonry, the root of all therein being referable to the Traditional History in the Third Craft Degree. We know that which it was attempted to wrest by violence from the keeping of the Master Builder: we know what he died to preserve inviolable, and though in reality it did not perish with him – because there were other Keepers -we know that Masonry suffered a loss through the centuries, and is represented as in the quest of its discovery in the Opening and Closing of the Lodge in the Master Grade. We know in fine what substitutes were accepted as distinctive tests, to prevail everywhere, until in some manner as yet unknown the term of quest should be reached and the pearl of great price restored. When Moses, Aholiab and Bezaleel sat in the Holy Lodge, at the foot of Mount Horeb, during the long wanderings of Israel in the desert of Sinai, by the great hypothesis of the tradition, they were in plenary possession of all the Masonic treasures. When Solomon and others of the triad, who ruled the Sacred Lodge, sat on Mount Moriah,
it was still as if the sun were at its meridian, a noon-tide glory of Masonry. But a change came over, by which the triad was broken and the light of the Art was obscured. It seems to me that in the deeper understanding our Craft Lodges are a memorial of this original loss: it is a logical inference from all that we are told in the story and from that which we claim to seek; for it is with us as it was with those Brethren of old, who, after the passing of the Master-Builder, agreed – till they could do better – to be content with things casual, though they desired things essential, and with accidents in place of the noumenal. It is as if, having heard and followed a great call, and been long on the quest of God, it came about that – for want of a term – we had to rest satisfied with His image, or with unconsecrated Bread and Wine in place of the Higher Eucharist and the Holy Grail.
Freemasonry is founded on the immutable laws of Truth and Justice and its grand object is to promote the happiness of the human race. WASHINGTON.

Part Two will be posted in the next 2 weeks, Stay tuned.

By Albert Mackey 1873

Much difficulty has been experienced by ritualists in reference to the true colors and proper arrangements of the banners used in an American Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. It is admitted that they are four in number, and that their colors are blue, purple, scarlet, and white; and it is known, too, that the devices on these banners are a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle; but the doubt is constantly arising as to the relation between these devices and these colors, and as to which of the former is to be appropriated to each of the latter. The question, it is true, is one of mere ritualism, but it is important that the ritual should be always uniform, and hence the object of the present article is to attempt the solution of this question.

The banners used in a Royal Arch Chapter are derived from those which are supposed to have been borne by the twelve tribes of Israel during their encampment in the wilderness, to which reference is made in the second chapter of the Book of Numbers, and the second verse: “Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard.” But as to what were the devices on the banners, or what were their various colors, the Bible is absolutely silent. To the inventive genius of the Talmudists are we indebted for all that we know or profess to know on this subject. These mystical philosophers have given to us with wonderful precision the various devices which they have borrowed from the death-bed prophesy of Jacob, and have sought, probably in their own fertile imaginations, for the appropriate colors.

The English Royal Arch Masons, whose system differs very much from that of their American Companions, display in their Chapters the twelve banners of the tribes in accordance with the Talmudic devices and colors. These have been very elaborately described by Dr. Oliver, in his “Historical Landmarks,” and beautifully exemplified by Companion Harris, in his “Royal Arch Tracing Boards.”

But our American Royal Arch Masons, as we have seen, use only four banners, being those attributed by the Talmudists to the four principal tribes-Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan. The devices on these banners are respectively a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. As to this there is no question; all authorities, such as they are, agreeing on this point. But, as has been before said, there is some diversity of opinion as to the colors of each, and necessarily as to the officers by whom they should be borne.

Some of the Targumists, or Jewish biblical commentators, say that the color of the banner of each tribe was analogous to that of the stone which represented that tribe in the breast-plate of the high priest. If this were correct, then the colors of the banners of the four leading tribes would be red and green-namely: red for Judah, Ephraim, and Reuben; and green for Dan; these being the colors of the precious stones sardonyx, ligure, carbuncle, and chrysolite, by which these tribes were represented in the high priest’s breast-plate. Such an arrangement would not, of course, at all suit the symbolism of the American Royal Arch banners. Equally unsatisfactory is the disposition of the colors derived from the arms of speculative Masonry, as first displayed by Dermot, in his “Ahiman Rezon,” which is familiar to all American Masons, from the copy published by Cross, in his -Hieroglyphic Chart.” In this piece of blazonry, the two fields occupied by Judah and Dan are azure, or blue, and those of Ephriam and Reuben are or, or golden yellow; an appropriation of colors altogether uncongenial with Royal Arch symbolism.

We must, then, depend on the Talmudic writers solely, for the disposition and arrangement of the colors and devices of these banners. From their works, we learn that the color of the banner of Judah was white; that of Ephraim scarlet; that of Reuben purple; and that of Dan blue; and that the devices of the same tribes were respectively the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle.

Hence, under this arrangement-and it is the only one upon which we can depend-the four banners in a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, working in the American Rite, must be distributed as follows among the banner-bearing officers:

1st. An eagle, on a blue banner. This represents the tribe of Dan, and is borne by the Grand Master of the first veil.
2nd. A man, on a purple banner. This represents the tribe of Reuben, and is borne by the Grand Master of the second veil.
3rd. An ox, on a scarlet banner. This represents the tribe of Ephraim, and is borne by the Grand Master of the third veil.
4th. A lion, on a white banner. This represents the tribe of Judah, and is borne by the Royal Arch Captain.

Author: W. Bro. T.T Kuruvilla          Presented by M.E.C. Norman McEvoy Volume 4 No 1 January 2012 

At the half yearly meeting of the Regional Grand Lodge of Southern India, on the 4th September 2004, the author W.Bro. T.T.Kuruvilla Past Assistant Regional Grand Master delivered a brilliant lecture which held the audience spellbound. It was a well researched lecture, which won the appreciation of every brother present.

The Relevance of The Mark and Royal Arch Degrees to The Craft

Let me at the outset thank the RWRGM for giving me an opportunity to address this august gathering. Indeed, I consider it a great privilege and a unique honour. The task
given to me is to explain the relevance of the Mark and Royal Arch Degrees to the Craft.  Therefore my talk will be mainly directed to those MM’s who have not yet progressed to the, so called, higher degrees and would request the senior brethren to bear with me.

The preamble to the Constitution of the GL of England says,

“Pure Ancient Masonry consists of the three degrees and no more, namely those of the EA, FC and MM including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch”.

So, in England, at least, the RA is considered an integral part of Craft Masonry being the completion of the MM Degree. The situation is slightly different in Scotland. The Constitution of the GL of Scotland defines the three degrees of Masonry as those of the EA, Fellow-of-Craft (including the Mark) and the MM. In Scotland it is the Mark Degree that is considered as an essential part of Craft Masonry, it being the second part of the FC Degree.

This reflects the actual position that existed in Freemasonry in England during the 18th century. The Ancients GL recognized the Mark & RA as integral parts of Ancient Freemasonry and their Warrants authorized the daughter lodges to work the Mark and RA Degrees in Craft Lodges.  The position was similar in Scotland and Ireland where Craft Lodges regularly worked the Mark and RA although these degrees were not formally recognized by the GLs. It was only the Moderns GL that had reservations about the RA and the other side degrees, but the records show that Moderns Lodges unofficially worked them and many Moderns Masons were exalted into the RA and advanced to the Mark Degree.

The significance of this is that at an important phase in the history of Freemasonry when operative Masonry was undergoing transformation to speculative masonry; when the Hiramic Degrees like the MM Degree, the Installation Ceremony, the Royal Arch and the Mark Degrees,

were developed and incorporated into the body of Freemasonry; when our symbols and philosophy were being embedded into the rituals; when the transition from a mainly lecture type of working to the modern ritual type working was taking place, the Mark and the Royal Arch were an integral part of the Craft  System. These degrees evolved and developed together and there arose narrative, thematic and symbolic links between them and the Craft Degrees.

 However at the beginning of the 19th century, for various political and historic reasons, which I do not want to go into, the three Grand Lodges in England decided to restrict Craft Masonry to the three Degrees. The Mark and the Royal Arch were removed to separate Grand Bodies.  In Scotland and Ireland the Mark and the Royal Arch came under the jurisdiction of Supreme Grand Chapters. In England at the time of Union, although the Royal Arch was accommodated in Grand Chapter, the Mark was ignored and it was only in 1856 that the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons was formed to control this degree. This resulted in the Mark and Royal Arch being viewed as separate and distinct degrees. The Mark was now deemed the 4th degree in Masonry and was conferred only on MMs. Even when the Grand Lodge of Scotland resumed jurisdiction over the Mark Degree in 1860, there was an agreement with the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland, that the Mark Degree will only be conferred on MMs. However since the Mark and the Royal Arch were part of the Craft system during the formative period, the many narrative, symbolic and thematic links between them survived the separation. There are parts of the Craft Degrees that can only be understood if one has knowledge of the Mark and the Royal Arch Degrees. It is this aspect that I now wish to elaborate.

Let us first of all take the link between the Craft and the Royal Arch Degree. The narrative link between them is the secrets lost in the Third Degree were recovered in the Royal Arch. Therefore the Royal Arch is, in a sense, the completion of the MM Degree. However there are other thematic or symbolic links between the third degree and the RA. Let us take an example. When the WM raises the Candidate from the grave he tells him,

“it is thus all MMs are raised from a figurative death to a reunion with the former Companions of their toils.”

 If the raising is as per the narrative given in the Traditional History the WM should be raising the dead body of our Master Hiram from the temporary grave to be re-interred near the sanctum sanctorum. If this is the case then the words of the WM has no meaning or significance. Therefore the raising must be symbolic. To understand the symbolic significance of the raising one must look at the larger symbolism of the Third Degree. The theme of the degree is old age and death.  The first degree deals with infancy and youth, the second with growing into adulthood and acquiring skills and knowledge and the third degree deals with old age and death. That is the reason when the candidate enters the Lodge in the third degree it is in darkness and this darkness represents the darkness of death. In the darkened lodge he is instructed to take seven steps, “the first three as if stepping over a grave and the other four ordinary walking steps”. These steps are symbolic. The first part represents the passing through the death experience, going from this world to the next. After passing through the death experience the candidate is told to take four normal walking steps. The only time that the candidate takes normal walking steps in any of the degrees in the Craft is after going through the death experience. This is to teach him that one attains one’s true self, one’s real self not in this world but in the next. After taking the steps, the Candidate is shown the Three Great Lights and he finds that both points of the C’s that represents the soul or the spirit are now liberated from the S—which represents the body. This symbolizes the liberation of the soul from the body on death and gives us a clue to the symbolical meaning of the WM’s action when he raises the Candidate from the grave – he is raising the eternal soul from the dead body. When we perceive the raising in this light, the words that the WM speaks assume significance. The first part – ‘it is thus all MM’s are raised from a figurative death’, indicates that death is ‘figurative’:  only the physical body has perished but the “vital and immortal principle”, the eternal soul or spirit is now liberated from the body on death.  The second part – “to a reunion with the former companions of their toils”. The use of the word ‘companion’ here is very significant.

It is a nomenclature used in the Royal Arch for members and its use in the Craft indicates that the soul on liberation from the body will now start on a journey into the Royal Arch where it will reunite with other souls of predeceased brethren.  It is significant to note that the Candidate on admission to the Royal Arch continues to take normal walking steps that he first took in the Third Degree.  These steps link the Craft and the Royal Arch.  The Royal Arch depicts the journey of the soul liberated from the body on death as narrated in the Third Degree Therefore the Royal Arch can be seen as the completion of the Master Masons’ experience.

Let us now consider the links between the Craft and the Mark Degrees. The Mark Degree was once considered as a second part of the Fellow Craft and therefore, was a qualifying degree for the MM. To understand many parts of the MM’s Degree requires some knowledge of the Mark Degree. Let us take an example. It is commonly believed
that it was FCs, who conspired to extort the secrets from HA. This is not correct. It was not the FCs, but a different category. Our ritual states –
“Fifteen FC’s of that superior class appointed to preside over the rest, finding that the work was nearly completed but that they were not in possession of the secrets of the third degree, conspired etc. etc…” So it is ‘fifteen FC’s of that superior class appointed to preside over the rest’ who conspired to extort the secrets. Therefore, we see that a new class of supervisors is being created to preside over the FCs. The ritual goes on to give their names,  “the Menatschins or Prefects or more familiarly speaking the Overseers” This category of supervisors were called Menatschins or Overseers. Besides this, no further information is available in the Craft about the role or function of this category of supervisors. To know about the different category of workers employed at the building of KS Temple, one must look to the Mark Degree that deals in great detail of how the work was organized. Let me now quote from the Mark Lecture. “At the building of KS’s Temple … there were 80,000 operatives employed, part of whom were hewers in the quarries of Zaradatha, and part builders of the Temple besides these there was a levy of 30,000 in the forests of Lebanon” There were 110000 workers employed every day at the building of the Temple.  It was an immense undertaking. In order to ensure an efficient administration and to prevent confusion and waste, HA divided this immense number into 1100 lodges of EA’s and FC’s. The FC’s were the skilled artisans and EA’s the helpers. Over each Lodge he appointed three supervisors called Menatschins, Overseers or Mark Masters. So there were 3300 of these Menatschins, Overseers or Mark Masters. They had their own organization. They were divided 100 lodges with 33 in each. It was this category of Supervisors – Menatschins, Overseers or Mark Masters that interacted with the top Management – with KS and HA, the Chief architect. The Mark Lectures states,

“once every sixth working day it was the custom for the Mark Masters to wait on the acting GM HA to receive the working plans, as well as the instructions for carrying on the work.”

This indicates that there were weekly meetings between the chief architect and the supervisors, where the progress of the project would be reviewed and the necessary instructions and plans for the next weeks’ work given out. The supervisors would pass on these instructions and plans to the workmen under their charge in the Lodges and set them to work. They would supervise the work and check the quality of the job. It should be noted that it was from this category of Menatschins, Overseers or Mark Masters that promotion to the rank of Master or MM was given.  And it was some disgruntled elements of this category that conspired to extort the secrets from HA, which resulted in his death.

It is significant to note that when the absence of Hiram is reported to KS, he “selected fifteen trusty FC’s and ordered them to make a diligent search after the person of our Master”. He ‘selected fifteen trusty FC’s’.
He did not select any one from the category of supervisors because he not sure how many of them were involved in the conspiracy to extort of secrets; to what extent the conspiracy had pervaded the category of superiors. He therefore selected a different category of workers, the FC’s to search for the body of our Master and apprehend the culprits.

Let us take a final example. When the three ruffians demanded the secrets of a MM from HA, he told them “ those secrets were known but to three in the world and without the consent and co-operation of the other two, he neither could nor would divulge them.”

When the death of HA is reported to KS he says, “by his untimely death the genuine secrets of a MM were lost.” A question now arises; if the secrets were known to three how does the death of one cause the loss of the secrets. I am sure this is a doubt that would have crossed the minds of many brethren at one time or the other. No answer to this is found in the MM degree or in the Craft. One must look to the Mark Degree for an answer.

The Mark Degree deals with the building of an underground secret vault and the Key Stone of the Arch of the vault. In this secret vault HA secreted or concealed the genuine secrets. Only the three GMs knew the access to this secret vault. They individually did not have the access but had to act jointly or ‘co-operate’ with each other, as the ritual says, in order to find the access. It was like the safe in some banks that have two keys – one with the Manager and the other with the cashier. Both will have to use their individual keys before the safe can be opened. Similarly the three GMs had to coordinate and co-operate with each other to get the access to the secret vault. So the death of one will cause the loss of access to the secret vault and thereby the secrets.

It is significant that when the substituted secrets are given we are told
“they should designate all MMs throughout the universe until time or circumstances should restore the genuine”
This implies that the genuine secrets are not permanently or irrevocably lost. They are only temporarily lost. They exist in the secret vault but the access to it is lost. If, in future, someone by chance or luck is able to find the secret vault, then the secrets will be recovered. This is precisely what happens in the Royal Arch Degree. Three Sojourners or workmen employed to dig the foundations of the second temple accidentally find the secret vault. They break into the vault by removing the keystone, which plays such an important role in the Mark Degree, and recover the secrets.

The secret vault and the Key Stone link the Mark to the Royal Arch Degree. Thus the Craft, Mark and Royal Arch are all linked together to form one comprehensive whole. Unless one has knowledge of all these degrees one can neither fully understand the principles, philosophy or the teachings of masonry nor perceive the effulgent beauty that resides in Freemasonry.

Thank you.

W.Bro. T.T. Kuruvilla P.G.I.G., P.A.R.G.M is a Past Master of Lodge Kottayam No 245. Grand Lodge of India.
This lecture was delivered at the half year meeting of The Regional Grand Lodge held in Salem on the 4th of September 2004.