and Its Connection With Christianity
Submitted By The Secretary
Mas
ons, historians and theological critics alike have wrestled with the question how masonry as we know it today came into being. Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, describes a group called "Culdees", Christian priests distinguished for their pure and simple apostolic religion. The Culdees trace their traditions originating when Joseph of Arimathea, the Virgin Mary's uncle, traveled to Glastonbury Britain from Israel around 63A.D., and there introduced Christianity to the Gaelic speaking people. Joseph of Arimathea passed from this earth at Glastonbury on July 27th A.D. 82. On his tombstone reads "After I had buried The Christ, I came to the Isles of the West, I taught; I entered into my rest".
The word Culdee is an Anglicization of the word "Ceili De" meaning, client/companion of God. To the Ceili De, the Christ path is rooted largely in a contemplative search for the Divine Reality with deep reverence for the creations of God leading toward Christ Consciousness fulfilling itself in unconditional love. Mackey's report states that the chief seat of the Culdees at the Island of Iona in Ireland was St. Columba, who came with 12 Brethren in the 5th century establishing a Christian monastery in Scotland. The monastery exists to this day. The Royal Order of Scotland (ROS), a Masonic order from Iona is its descendant and Freemasonry as we know it today through the Grand Lodge of England, is descended from the Royal Order of Scotland.
The two patron saints of the Culdees are Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Divine. Saint John the Baptist was primarily known as the person who conducted the initiation ceremony of Baptism to new Christians. Saint John the Divine was the person who declared Jesus The Christ, the "Logos" or "Word" which is found in the Holy Bible New Testament Book of John:
(KJV) John 1: 1-9, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
An early account of Hiram Abiff and the building of King Solomon's Temple, the archetype for building the Spiritual Temple of man, is found in the writing of 4th century Christian Mystic, John Cassian. In his 11th book "The Conferences" he writes in detail about symbolism in the 3 Degrees of monks. Throughout the Ages, Masonry has professed two sciences, one being Speculative or Symbolic and the other being Operative. The path here described in this very short preface being Speculative, fore it would not be possible to write at any reasonable length a description of them together although both Operative and Speculative being intertwined throughout history in the "Old Charges" of Operative Freemasonry.Mas
ons, historians and theological critics alike have wrestled with the question how masonry as we know it today came into being. Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, describes a group called "Culdees", Christian priests distinguished for their pure and simple apostolic religion. The Culdees trace their traditions originating when Joseph of Arimathea, the Virgin Mary's uncle, traveled to Glastonbury Britain from Israel around 63A.D., and there introduced Christianity to the Gaelic speaking people. Joseph of Arimathea passed from this earth at Glastonbury on July 27th A.D. 82. On his tombstone reads "After I had buried The Christ, I came to the Isles of the West, I taught; I entered into my rest".
The word Culdee is an Anglicization of the word "Ceili De" meaning, client/companion of God. To the Ceili De, the Christ path is rooted largely in a contemplative search for the Divine Reality with deep reverence for the creations of God leading toward Christ Consciousness fulfilling itself in unconditional love. Mackey's report states that the chief seat of the Culdees at the Island of Iona in Ireland was St. Columba, who came with 12 Brethren in the 5th century establishing a Christian monastery in Scotland. The monastery exists to this day. The Royal Order of Scotland (ROS), a Masonic order from Iona is its descendant and Freemasonry as we know it today through the Grand Lodge of England, is descended from the Royal Order of Scotland.The two patron saints of the Culdees are Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Divine. Saint John the Baptist was primarily known as the person who conducted the initiation ceremony of Baptism to new Christians. Saint John the Divine was the person who declared Jesus The Christ, the "Logos" or "Word" which is found in the Holy Bible New Testament Book of John:
(KJV) John 1: 1-9, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 4In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."Reference to Operative guilds in antiquity are found in the Holy Bible. In Mark 6:3 we find, "Is not this the [Tekton], the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?" The English word "carpenter" in Hebrew is Tekton meaning construction worker or stone cutter. Justin Martyr, A.D.165, wrote that Jesus made yokes and ploughs. This verse also clearly refers to the family of Jesus. In 2 Samuel:5-11, "Hiram king of Tyre sends Masons to King David to build him a house." Also Amos:7-7. "Thus he shewed me. And the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand...".
The histories of the old and new charges of Masonry evolve through the teachings that include King Solomon and Prophets of the Old Testament, The Christ Jesus, his family and Disciples, Euclid and Pythagoras, and the ancient philosophies of Egypt, Persia and India. Indeed Masonry spans the entire evolution of human culture. But with the Industrial Age, Operative Masonry fell into decline, and officially came to a close by edict during the construction of St. Paul's Cathedral at London in A.D. 1703 when Christopher Wren, then Grand Master resolved, "That the privileges of Masonry shall no longer be confined to Operative Masons, but be free to men of all professions, provided they are regularly approved and initiated into the Fraternity." The Edict was instituted four years later in 1721. Manuscripts of Operative Masonic Fraternities are mentioned throughout antiquity. Surviving documents resembling what we recognize today as Speculative Craft Masonry in Britain include among others the Regius Manuscript dating to not before A.D. 1390 and the Matthew Cooke M.S. dating not later than the fifteenth century current era. Both the Regius and Matthew Cooke Manuscripts are prototypes of Masonic Ritual recognized today. Written in poetic form, they are Codes of Moral Duties, using Pythagoras, Euclid and Geometry in symbol, presenting the Points and Articles for the well governed Rule of a Heavenly School in the guise of a Philosophic Trade Guild on Earth.
It Is The Internal And Not The External Qualities Of A Man That Freemasonry Regards
It is important to note that Operative Masonry developed over the globe throughout the millennia of time, separating Itself from religion and politics. The New Charges making Freemasonry more accessible to the masses however brought new challenges to the fraternity. As with any human endeavor to exemplify the supreme perfection of our Creator, there also is the corruption of humanity's failing when individuals or groups develop oligarchies to elevate their egos or control humanity under the cover of politics and religion. May we ever remember that Freemasonry's Moral Tenets have always been Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. "It may be said that Truth is the Column of Wisdom, whose rays penetrate and enlighten the inmost recesses of the Lodge of society; Brotherly Love, the column of strength, which binds us as one family in fraternal affection in the world; and Relief, the column of Beauty, whose ornaments, more precious than the lilies or pomegranates that adorn the pillars of the porch, are the widows tear of joy and the orphan's prayer of gratitude." It is the interior and not the exterior quality that is important to Freemasons.
