The Degree of Royal Arch Mason is founded upon the destruction of the first and the building of the second Temple. Without the Royal Arch, the Master’s Degree is like a song half sung, a tale partly told, or a promise unfulfilled.
The ceremonies of the Degree have an interesting and graphic historical setting, and a profound and reverential moral significance. The Royal Arch Degree is the complement of the Master’s Degree, the unfolding into a second volume of the history of that which was lost to its final recovery.
The preparatory Degrees conferred in the Chapter are those of Mark Master Mason, Past Master, and Most Excellent Master. All are beautiful, all are interesting, all teach valuable lessons, but the Most Sublime Degree of Royal Arch Mason is more august, sublime, and important than all that precede it. It brings to light many essentials of the Craft contained only in this Most Sublime Degree and explains many cryptic passages of the first three Degrees incomprehensible to the Master Mason. Without a knowledge of these, the Masonic character cannot be complete.
First Degree
Mark Master
The degree of Mark Master is believed to be the oldest degree in Freemasonry and to predate all others by many years. The legend of the degree is singularly instructive and is well founded on statements of Holy Writ, relating to the period in the building of King Solomon’s Temple, atop Mount Moriah in the Holy City of Jerusalem.
In keeping with the degree’s lesson plan of completing the Fellowcraft degree, it teaches valuable lessons, including: how to receive wages as a fellow of the craft; education is the reward of labor; a man is remembered by the mark he makes in his life; labor is itself noble; and time served does not create superiority. The symbol of the degree is a keystone on which are engraved certain mystic letters, the collective meaning of which is explained in the ceremony. Following the ceremony of this degree, each new Mark Master is obliged to choose a distinctive mark and to draw it in his Chapter’s register book of marks.
Second Degree
Past Master (Virtual)
The Past Master Degree teaches the candidate that he must first learn to obey before he can rule, to govern himself before he can govern others, and to govern in moderation and propriety.
The degree came into being because, originally, the degree of Holy Royal Arch Mason was conferred by the symbolic (“blue”) lodges only upon actual, installed Past Masters. The degree of Past Master was instituted to make it possible for all worthy brethren to receive the Holy Royal Arch Degree and to standardize the process for its eligibility. The conferring of this degree by a Chapter gives a brother no rights as a Past Master in a Symbolic Lodge unless he has actually served as Master of his Lodge.
Third Degree
Most Excellent Master
The Most Excellent Master Degree is, by far, one of the most impressive rituals in all of Freemasonry. It is the only degree that brings forcibly to our attention the completion and dedication of King Solomon’s Temple — the very idea upon which all Masonic symbolism has been based. Drawing upon the history recorded in 2 Chronicles 6 and 7, and 1 Kings 7 and 8, the degree depicts the celebration of the Temple, its final architectural step, and the installation of the sacred items within the Holy of Holies. It completes the story begun in the ritual of the Master Mason’s degree in a spectacular, participatory ritual. In this degree, the brother is taught that he has a responsibility to share with less informed brethren his wisdom and Masonic light.
Fourth Degree • The Supreme Degree
The Royal Arch
The supreme degree of the Holy Royal Arch, as the culmination of the Capitular Degrees, is the climax of Ancient Craft Freemasonry and Masonic symbolism. It is described as “the root and marrow of Freemasonry.”
The ritual presents the story of Jewish history beginning in some of its darkest hours. The City of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple built by Kings Solomon and Hiram, and Grand Master Hiram Abif, were destroyed in 586 B.C.E. The people of Israel are being held captive as slaves in Babylon. Forty-eight years later, the events of the Book of Ezra present a brighter, if no less challenging, outlook for the Jewish people. Here, the brother follows Zerubbabel, set free by the Edict of Restoration promulgated by King Cyrus II, to return home and engage in the noble and glorious work of rebuilding the Temple of God and the City of Jerusalem.
It is during this rebuilding that they make a discovery, bringing to light the greatest treasure of a Freemason: the long lost Master’s Word. The Holy Royal Arch is a natural progression to reveal the “genuine” secrets following the granting of certain substituted ones and, as such, it truly forms an integral part of Freemasonry.
A Chapter prepared for the Most Sublime Degree of Royal Arch Mason.
Take the Next Step
The Royal Arch is waiting for you, Brother.
Every Master Mason in good standing is invited to complete the story that began in the Lodge. Petition Columbia Chapter No. 1 and find the long-lost Master’s Word.