THE JOURNAL OF THE MASONIC SOCIETY
ROYAL ARCH
English Royal Arch—An Historic Accident by Yasha Beresiner Introduction The Supreme Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of England, a title in use since April 1808, traces its origins to the Most Excellent Grand and Royal Chapter formed on 12 January 1766. At this time there were effectively three separate Masonic organisations active in England: a) the Premier Grand Lodge (1717), who recognised three Craft (blue) degrees only b) the Antients Grand Lodge (1751)who claimed the Royal Arch as the fourth degree c) the newly formed Supreme Grand Chapter of 1766 as an independent Order. Thus from July 1751, the two Grand Lodges mentioned ran at logger heads for more than 60 years, until the agreement from which, finally, the United Grand Lodge of England emerged on St John’s Day, 27 December 1813. It is the compromise to affect a successful Union that led to the very special and unique circumstances of the standing of the Holy Royal Arch under the English Masonic Constitutions. Premier Grand Lodge Organised freemasonry began with the establishment in London of the Grand Lodge of England, the premier and first Grand Lodge in the world, on 24 June 1717. The contemporary press ignored the event, where, nonetheless, the hints of antagonism toward the Craft began to appear as early as 1722. The attacks reached a peak with the publication of Samuel Prichard’s Masonry Dissected on 20 October 1730. All the while, following the adoption of the Hiramic legend in the third degree, emphatic insistence was persistently placed by the Premier Grand Lodge on the tri-gradal system of the Craft, to the implicit exclusion of any other degrees. By now, things were not going particularly well for Freemasonry in England. Clandestine making of masons became rife, unauthorised persons were benefiting from Masonic charity and caused serious concern in Grand Lodge. Sometime in the late 1730s, in order to protect legitimate Masons, the Premier Grand Lodge in its misguided wisdom decided to reverse the first and second degree signs and words. A regrettable decision as the action was seen to be an unauthorised interference with the landmarks of the order. Meanwhile the succession of Grand Secretaries proved inadequate, the appointed Grand Masters were equally inefficient. Grand Lodge ceased to meet regularly. As an extreme example, the five year Grand Mastership of Lord Byron, who had been appointed in April 1747, was totally ineffective. He spent the whole time of his tenure abroad and not once attended any Masonic meeting in England. This dissatisfaction with Masonic proceedings was one of the causes to the developments that now ensued.
The Antients Grand Lodge On 17 July 1751, five lodges in London, consisting entirely of Irish Masons, met as a General Assembly at the Turks Head tavern and founded the Grand Lodge of England According to the Old Institutions. They were formed as a rival body to the existing Premier Grand Lodge of 1717. The new Grand Lodge was soon under the control of its Grand Secretary, Laurence Dermott, an extraordinary and accomplished Freemason who dedicated his life to the cause of the Antients. The premier and earlier Grand Lodge was soon dubbed ‘The Moderns’. Terms that have remained in use to this day. The overt acceptance of the Royal Arch as a fourth degree by the Antients was Laurence Dermot’s way of distancing his Grand Lodge from the Moderns whilst accusing them of ignoring this sublime and significant Craft degree. Indeed, he emphasised its importance in the first edition of Ahiman Rezon, the curious name given to the Constitutions of the Antients first published in 1756, referring to the Royal Arch as the root, heart, and marrow of masonry. The Royal Arch as the fourth degree, together with other orders beyond the Craft, was practised in Lodges under the jurisdiction of the Antients Grand Lodge, by authority of the ordinary Craft Warrant. Grand Chapter The establishment of the Most Excellent Grand and Royal Chapter by members of the Moderns in 1766, took the initiative of the Royal Arch away from Dermot, who took further steps to emphasise the importance of the Order to the Antients Grand Lodge. Dermott initially enhanced Royal Arch activity among the Antients Lodges until that great anomaly in English Masonic history took place, namely the formation in 1771 of a separate Antients Grand Chapter. Such a body never existed nor could it have done. The Royal Arch as a fourth degree among the Antients was only implemented in Craft Lodges. There was no such concept as Chapters among the Antients, so how could there have been a Grand Chapter? In fact the Rules and Regulations of the Antients in their 1794 Constitutions, confirmed the Royal Arch as the 4th degree of Craft Freemasonry giving formal authority, albeit retroactively, to Craft lodges to hold Royal Arch Chapters. The Antients Grand Chapter during its brief history remained (Continued on page 29 AUTUMN 2008 • 15
Oct2008.indd 15
1/8/09 4:03:33 AM