14TH DEGREE Whom Virtue Unites...GRAND ELECT MASON

by M. Todd McIntosh, 33°, Chairman Committee on Ritualistic Matters

There is no degree in the pantheon of Scottish Rite Masonry like the degree of Grand Elect Mason. While the overall body of our labor comes in the form of moral allegory, the 14th degree is unique. Instead of learning how others confront the evils of the world, this is the lesson born of introspection and devotion—not in a public expression of devotion to our Core Values but as a silent, very personal discussion with ourselves in sole company with the Grand Architect of the Universe.

This personal evaluation within the rubric of the only non-allegorical degree has existed without significant modification since Illustrious Brother Francken, 33°, penned it in 1783. He based it on many of the ancient French rituals from decades past, and it is generally considered one of, if not the most, ancient and traditional of our degrees.

Over the years, our degrees have changed in order to remain relevant to the moral challenges of the day and in somewhat sad deference to the time we see fit to commit to communicating them. Yet, if we step back in time, we find that the 14th degree was a significant punctuation at the end of a sentence of degrees, beginning with the 4th and concluding with the 13th, presented in an intentional succession. At that time, we followed the challenges and successes that resulted in the personal development and professional rise of a young man who began as a guard and came to succeed the Grand Master Hiram Abiff at the completion of the Temple.

We also learned that in that day, each of the degrees in the Lodge of Perfection was adorned with a sacred word or name—each being a name or attribute of God. The first letter of the nine sacred words given in the 4th through the 12th degrees were symbolically emblazoned upon three interlaced triangles forming nine beams with a blazing red star in the center of an equilateral triangle. In the corners of the extant nine-pointed star were the letters: E.A.J.J.Y.A.O.A.H. In the 13th degree, the sacred Hebrew word, the tetragrammaton, was discovered. The four-letter word, which is not pronounced aloud, is historically interpreted by scholars as “God the speaker.”

Instead of learning how others confront the evils of the world, this is the lesson born of introspection and devotion.

Set in a secret vault somewhere in the Temple, the lodge’s officers, representing the members of King Solomon’s court, asseverate the series of sacred words that culminate in the revelation of the Ineffable. The lesson tells us that the ideal of the Mason on the journey to perfection was characterized as “He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that slandereth naught with his tongue nor doeth evil to his neighbor.” Perfection may be achieved by “he that hath clean hands who hath not lifted thy soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” Thus, we were admonished to “keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from guile. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and preserve it.”

The Covenant of a Grand Elect Mason taken by each of us is as impressive as it is meaningful, binding our hearts and souls at the very altar of Freemasonry where we profess our Ancient Aroba. Illustrious Brother Albert Mackey, 33°, in his revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry tells us that the word Aroba comes from Hebrew Arab which is the root of the word Arubbah. The root, Arab, one of the oldest in the Hebrew language, means to interweave but may be interpreted as the strongest bond that can be given, “pledging even life of one person to another or the strongest pledge that can be given.”

In years past and in some Valleys to this day, the Grand Elect Mason is presented, in evidence of the Ancient Aroba, a ring of gold. Aside from the ring of a 33° Sovereign Grand Inspector General, the ring of a Grand Elect Mason is the only official ring of the Rite attributable to any office or degree. A ring of gold or sterling silver having an engraved or enameled equilateral triangle on the outside thereof, and within the same the first letter of the Ineffable Name in Hebrew and engraved within the ring the motto of the degree, “Whom virtue unites death cannot separate” or the Latin, Virtus junxit mors non separabit (Art 1208). We learn the ring itself is the emblem of eternity, symbolizing the nature of our covenant to each other.

As well, there exists an interlocution for the Masonic funeral ritual (at least in Ohio) which those Grand Elect Masons who have gone to that Celestial Lodge receive. In it, the presenter opines:

The Covenant of a Grand Elect Mason taken by each of us is as impressive as it is meaningful.

“Our own labor of love and duty will soon be ended; for as the lightning writes its fiery path across the dark cloud and then expires, so the race of man, wandering through the surrounding shades of mortality, glitters for a moment with all the brilliancy of its achievement, and then vanishes from mortal sight forever. Death reigns supreme in all portions of our time. It meets us everywhere and all human science and skill combined cannot finally triumph over death of the mortal part of man. Death summons many a Brother in the midst of his day of usefulness and promise – when we behold his sun at meridian height, and rejoice in its splendor. But, alas, the sun soon sets beneath the horizon and the evening shades of mortal existence close about him forever. Such has been the fate of man throughout the ages, and, so far as we know, will continue to be his fate throughout all time to come. May we be granted the strength to say, ‘The will of God is accomplished, and the end is peace.’

“The inscription within the ring, ‘Whom Virtue Unites, Death Cannot Separate’, and the ring itself, are emblems of Eternity. They symbolize that eternal nature of truth and virtue with which our Brother was irrevocably allied.

“It was a profound occasion, during the solemn and impressive ceremonies of the Sublime Degree of Perfection, and while kneeling at the Altar of Freemasonry, that our Brother received this ring from the hands of our venerable Thrice Potent Master and then promised never to part with it while he had life nor at his death, except to leave it to his eldest son, his wife, or his dearest friend, not to be worn by such person except he be a Grand Elect Mason, but kept as a memorial. “It is in pursuance of that vow and of his wish that I now perform the last ceremony associated with this ring by presenting it to you [the eldest son, his wife, or his dearest friend].

“Prize and cherish this ring as a gift of inestimable value, for it comes to you, as it were, from the very gates of Eternity, hallowed by his love and sanctified by his blessing. May it ever remind you of his many good and noble qualities, and may it keep his memory ever green in your heart. May the sight of it in times of trial and difficulty give cheer and hope to your spirit; give you strength and presence of mind and courage. May it also remind you of the Fraternity of which he was an honored member; the Fraternity which deems it a sacred privilege to now tender to you and to yours their heartfelt sympathy in the loss of one whose death they deeply mourn and whose memory they will ever fondly cherish.”

Whom Virtue unites, death cannot separate.