Surrey Lodge 416

Masonic Orders

The Mark Degree – Possibly the purest and most Antient form of Free Masonry

While the Fellowcraft degree teaches a Mason what the historical wages of a Fellowcraft Mason are, the Mark Master Mason degree teaches a Mason how to earn those wages, how to prove his work is his own, and what the penalty for fraud was during the building of the Temple.

To become Mark Master Mason you must be Master Mason in the English Constitution. The first meeting of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons was held on Monday, 23 June 1856.

The Holy Royal Arch – that which was lost is now found

Holy: pertaining to the Temple. In this case the second Temple.

Arch: the place of the deposition of the genuine secrets of a Master Mason.

Royal: alluding to the Princes or Elders of Grand Sanhedrin.

And Jerusalem, the Holy city of David, the site of all three Temples. After the destruction of Solomon’s Temple the entire city was laid to waste and fell into decay. It is quite understandable that the actual location of the secret vaults would have been lost to living memory. The discovery of the actual location by the Sojourners and the artifacts therein had to be verified by the rulers of the day.

The ceremony, which is the recovery of the lost secrets is somewhat dramatised. This is generally agreed to be the completion of the Master Mason Degree. To become a Companion you must be a Master Mason.

The Royal Ark Mariners

The Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariner, more commonly known as RAM, has been under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons since 1871 and governed by the Grand Master's Royal Ark Council. However, its early history is obscure. Statutes refer to Grand Lodge being reconstituted in 1772. It is recorded that the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons took possession of the rights to the Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariner on 10 June 1884 for just £25.

An Antediluvian Origin

What if our Masonic origins were much earlier? What if Noah was the original subject of the third degree? After all the story goes that he was ‘raised’ in some form by his sons, Shem and Japheth. And two great pillars were constructed to resist destruction by fire and water inside which were placed the Antediluvian knowledge so that they would not be lost forever by the cleansing of the earth by the great flood. These pillars one would be at the entry to a vault preceded by a series of arches. Sounds a familiar story? but with different characters and another time placement. To become a Royal Ark Mariner you need to be Mark Master Mason.

Royal & Select Masters

A Cryptic Degree

To become a Companion in this Order you have to be a Master Mason, Mark Master Mason and a Companion of the Holy Royal Arch. There are four steps in this order, Select Master, Royal Master, Most Excellent Master and Super Excellent Master. This fills the gap from the Mark to the Royal Arch, remember the secrets were lost for 500 years. So what of Cryptic? A set of clues leading to hidden treasure? The lost word?

The Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of England and Wales and its Districts and Councils Overseas was formally constituted on 29 July 1873 by four Councils chartered just two years earlier by the Grand Council of New York.

They organised themselves into a Sovereign body under the Patronage of the Rev. Canon G.R. Portal, a Past Grand Master of Mark Master Masons, who was Installed as the Grand Master of the Order. By the turn of the century there were twenty seven Councils and a similar number Consecrated by the end of the second world war. The Order then grew rapidly with the number on the Roll at the end of 2013 being over 250 Councils.

The Degrees in the Order - four in total - are often referred to as the 'Cryptic Degrees', and the Order sometimes as 'Cryptic'. The ceremonies complete the Solomonic legend as they prove the essential link between the Degrees of Mark Mason, the Raising in Craft, and The Royal Arch.

Rose Croix

Also known as The Ancient & Accepted Rite

The Ancient and Accepted Rite derives from the Rite of Perfection, which developed in France mainly in the quarter-century before September 1762. Its constitution, and the rituals for its twenty-five degrees, were formalised by Francken in a manuscript bearing that date, though probably written somewhat later. It was followed by The Grand Constitutions of 1786, dated May 1786, which describe the Ancient and Accepted Rite, consisting of thirty-three degrees, largely as it exists today.

This document was presented as the product of a Council meeting under the titular direction of Frederick the Great. The original has not been found, and the copies seem to date from nearer to 1800.

Knights Templar

The full title of this Order is – The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes & Malta, in England and Wales & Provinces overseas.

According to legend, the Knights Templar was founded in 1118 AD to protect pilgrims heading for Jerusalem and the Christian Holy places, where the small band of warrior monks established a headquarters. In the year 1118 AD King Baldwin II granted the Templars quarters on the Temple Mount and this forms the link to the Royal Arch.

Many men, of noble birth, joined the ranks of the Templar Order. Those who were unable to join often gifted the Templars with land and other valuables. Modern Masonic association with these medieval defenders of the Christian Holy places is linked by the ceremony of Installation in which the Candidate takes the part of a Pilgrim who, by symbolically embarking on a Crusade, is elevated to Knighthood.

The earliest reference to modern Masonic Knight Templar activity in England can be found in the minutes of the Chapter of Friendship (Royal Arch) in Portsmouth, dated 1778, where it was worked as an Appendant Degree. In 1791 a Grand Conclave was formed comprising seven ‘Encampments’ with Thomas Dunckerley as Grand Master. By 1873 ‘Grand Conclave’ was now known as ‘Great Priory’, and ‘Encampments’ were now known as ‘Preceptories’.

Prospective Candidates must be a Master Mason, a Royal Arch Mason and Christian. References to the history of these remains are to be found in the ritual associated with this order.

To this day there are many remains of the fortifications and buildings erected by the knights on the islands of Cyprus, Rhodes and Malta.

Order of the Secret Monitor

also known as The Brotherhood of David and Jonathan\

The Order of the Secret Monitor, which developed from a still more ancient Degree, is the Brotherhood of David and Jonathan and is in its way older than Freemasonry itself. Its principles and its watchwords being founded upon those grand examples set by two worthy Hebrew Princes around 1000 BC as recorded in the Jewish history of the Bible.

History tells us that the “Order of David & Jonathan” was taken to the New World in or about 1658 by Dutch settlers. The inauguration meeting of Grand Conclave, under the banner of Alfred Meadows Conclave No. 1 was held at the Hotel Victoria, London, SW on 15 July 1887.

This is a Society framed upon the principles of self sacrifice; of mutual trust, watchful Brotherly care; of warning in time of danger; solace in time of sorrow; and skillful and effective friendly advice in every circumstance of life: A Society that meets a great and crying need in human affairs and is calculated to benefit those who act up to its tenets.

There are three Degrees in the Order; Induction ceremony, Princes or admission Degree and the Third Degree which is when a Brother is Installed as a Supreme Ruler of his Conclave. At this point he is also commissioned as a Supreme Ruler within the Order. This entitles him to conduct ceremonies in any Conclave.

This is one of the fastest growing Masonic Orders in the United Kingdom. The ceremonies typically surround the story of the remarkable Friendship which existed between David and Jonathan. (I Samuel XX). There are three distinct degrees to the Order of the Secret Monitor:

1° – Secret Monitor. The story unfolds recalling the Friendship that developed between David and Jonathan and the wonderful lessons to be learned in friendship, support and fidelity.

2° – Prince. Admission into an Assembly of Princes is also derived from the Book of Samuel and recalls how Saul sought to destroy David and relates the interesting legend of the methods contrived to foil the pursuits of the jealous King.

3° – Supreme Ruler. This last degree concerns the Installation to the headship of a Conclave and surrounds David’s Kingship. Within the ritual of this degree there is a ceremony of Commissioning, which permits rank and status throughout the Order as a whole and furthermore, a certificate is issued to confirm the Officer is commissioned, both of which are quite unique in Freemasonry.

The qualifications required to be proposed into a Conclave of the Order are that of being a Master Mason.

Red Cross of Constantine

The full name of this order is The Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and St John The Evangelist

Constantine, a Roman, was destined for the college of Emperors but following the death of his father, he was hailed by the Legions in York as Augustus and became the Governor of Britain and Gaul. After several successful battles across the Alps and Italy he eventually established himself as the lawful Emperor of both the East and West and transferred the capital of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, later to be named after him.

It is said that his conversion to Christianity began one evening after a long day’s march with his army. He believed he saw a sign from heaven; a pillar of light in the form of a special cross. A standard bearing a cross was ordered to be carried before him in the wars. Several Christians in his army came forward and avowed their faith, following which Constantine directed that they should wear on their armour a red cross. Having been successful in battle it is said that Constantine with the help of his chief bishop, Eusebius, opened a Conclave of the Knights of the Order whose members became the bodyguard of their Sovereign.

It seems likely that the Order of the Red Cross of Constantine was being worked in England by 1780. After a number of changes to the organisation, the earliest documented date of the Order in its present form is 1865.

Its outstanding feature is that it is the only Order open to English masons which avowedly sets out to give a Christian interpretation of the Craft and Royal Arch. The degrees which constitute this Order are:-

The Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine
The Knights of St. John and the Holy Sepulchre

The Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine teach us the well-known story of how Constantine came to be converted to Christianity, but the Lecture contains a most interesting reference to the Roman College of Architects, who are regarded by some Masonic Scholars as the direct ancestors of the Comacine Masons. This degree is a stepping stone to the degree of the Knights of St. John and the Holy Sepulchre.

The ceremonies are solemn, dramatic and of deep mystical significance, but their most striking feature is an attempt to explain the Craft and Royal Arch Ceremonies in a Christian sense.