“For God, King & Brethren, honour, fidelity & benevolence”

 “A Further Step”

What is the Royal Arch ?

Pure ancient Freemasonry, which is composed of Craft masonry and Royal Arch masonry, presents the inquiring mind with an inspirational framework for life. Through the lessons presented in the Craft ceremonies, a Freemason is called upon to improve his relationship with his fellows, his mind and himself.

The Craft can be viewed as the sure foundation on which Freemasonry is based.

The Royal Arch takes matters further and can be seen to be the superstructure that makes all that is presented to the candidate complete and perfect. The ceremony in the Royal Arch is colourful, thought provoking and uplifting. It is based on the legend of the rebuilding of King Solomon’s Temple and invokes simultaneously sensations of humility and our dependence on our unseen Creator. Only by taking the fourth and ultimate step in Masonry by joining the Royal Arch can a Craft Freemason become complete.

For a Freemason to take only the three Craft degrees and not join the Royal Arch means his Masonry might be compared with the experience of the man who goes to watch the play of Agatha Christie's Mousetrap but leaves ten minutes before the end. In the latter instance he can say he has been to the Mousetrap but he doesn't know it was all about, in the former he can say he is a Freemason but he is missing that piece of the jigsaw that would render him complete.

The history and origin of the Royal Arch is, like several other aspects of Freemasonry, delightfully obscure. During the decades in the 18th century when there were two rival Grand Lodges, the Ancients were far more enthusiastic about and committed to promoting the Royal Arch than were the Moderns.

When the two Grand Lodges came together in 1813, there was a certain amount of

compromise and fudging from which emerged the Third Degree in the Craft. This in turn made interpretation of the meaning of the Royal Arch difficult.

Revisions made in 2004 have made the ceremony of the Royal Arch much more clear and meaningful.

The History:

In the three Craft Degrees, when we were initiated, passed and raised, we learn by stages the history of the building of the first Temple in Jerusalem. David, King of Judah, had charged his son Solomon to fulfil David’s promise to God that he would build a house to his glory in the City. These events took place almost 1000 years before the time of Jesus Christ and King Solomon oversaw the planning, organization and building of that first Temple in the bosom of the Holy Mount Moriah in Jerusalem.

We have learnt about the glory of that building: the materials of wood, stone and metal were largely provided by Hiram, King of Tyre; Hiram Abif was the chief architect and artist and the beauty of the Temple was due to his skill and planning of the task, in which a vast number of master masons and craftsmen were employed.

The Temple was to stand for almost 500 years when the Kingdom of Judah went through many vicissitudes and troubles.

As a Master Mason we learned much more of the misfortunes which attended the completion of the Temple: the disappearance of Hiram Abif, the discovery of his body in a simple grave, his burial in the Temple according to Jewish law and precept and the proclamation by the King that Hiram’s secrets had been lost with him and that they would recovered when time and circumstances would allow. As Master Masons, we learned to adopt certain substituted secrets and signs among our equals.

The Babylonian invaders destroyed that first Temple about 588 BC; King Nebuchadnezzar took the Jewish people and their King into exile in Babylon where they remained for 60 years. In the Royal Arch degree, the story is continued so that come to understand how, when the Jewish people in their thousands, led by Zerubbabel, were permitted to return to Jerusalem, a new and second Temple was built on the foundations of Solomon’s Temple.

The events of that rebuilding form the essence of the ritual of the Royal Arch and the extraordinary discovery that was made by three Master Masons who where given the task of preparing the ground for the new foundations. Their discovery fulfilled the promise of the proclamation of the King that those secrets lost with the death of Hiram Abif were regained to the joy of all Master Masons who were admitted to Royal Arch; this entry we call Exaltation.

Members, Leaders and Officers:

In Craft Masonry, we have learned what it means to be a Brother in our progression through the stages of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason.

We are the Brethren of the Lodge and we in time learn how the Lodge is led and governed and how it is organized.

We well understand that in each year that the leadership of the Lodge rests with the Worshipful Master, who conducts the regular business and plays the most prominent role in our ceremonies; it is from him that we learn what it means to be a Mason and how our progression makes greater demands on us as our understanding increases.

We found that his Senior and Junior Wardens who share in the ceremonies assist him.

It was made clear at some point that these three Grand Masters represent the three Grand Masters

who presided over the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon, Hiram and Hiram Abif.

We were looked after by the Senior and Junior Deacons in our progress. The inner guard and Tyler looked after the door. Other officers were appointed as Secretary, Treasurer, Chaplain and Director of Ceremonies with important tasks to perform. A number of these offices are progressive and lead to the chair of the Worshipful Master of the Lodge.

In Royal Arch Chapter, there is an organization which is similar and some of the titles are the same, the Treasurer, and Director of Ceremonies are still there,

but now we are a Companion among Companions and address each other by that title.

The big difference is that the leadership of the Chapter resides with the three Principals, who we address as Excellent Companions, who have names: Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Joshua in that order of seniority and they sit together in the East of the Chapter and have an historical background.

Facing them in the West are three officers who wear a white robe or surplice that we address as Sojourners; it is they who like the Deacons, take charge of the candidate in the ceremony of exaltation – but more importantly than that they are the tellers of the story as it unfolds.

Two other titles which will be new; The Scribes have names Ezra and Nehemiah and while they may appear to be Secretary and Inner Guard  - which they are –

they have an important part to play in the story.

In both Lodge and Chapter, there are those seniors who are Past Masters or a Past Zerubbabel, many of whom achieve Provincial rank in Craft and the Royal Arch.

The Regalia:

In the Craft as we progress, we are invested with a badge or apron which signifies our rank or status. The significance of the badge, which in all cases is made of the skin of the lamb, is explained to us as we progress and the additions and embellishments have a meaning and importance.

Once a Master Mason whatever office we might hold, we wear the Master Masons badge and our appointments are signified by the collar with which we are invested with its distinctive jewel appended, be it Inner Guard  or Warden, only when we are installed as Worshipful Master do we receive a new and more distinctive apron or badge.

In time those Brethren appointed to Provincial or Grand Rank wear a further distinctive badge. 

But whatever the rank, we all remain Master Masons, the last of the three degrees in Craft Masonry.

In Royal Arch, we enter as a Master Mason with that badge and through the ceremony we remain a Master Mason in the Story as it unfolds.

At the end of the ceremony, we are rewarded, and decorated as a Royal Arch Companion and receive a new set of regalia. First we are invested with a new badge, it is still made of lambskin but it is more colourful, having a scarlet and purple border, which will be explained.

Then we have a shoulder sash placed over our left shoulder of the same two colours.  Finally, we are decorated with a jewel that we are told we may wear in the Lodge to show we are a Royal Arch Companion. Whilst as we progress in the Chapter, these badges will change in detail, but will remain substantially the same no matter what rank we receive.

As we are appointed to an office, as in Lodge, we are invested with a distinctive collar and jewel. There are, however, some interesting additions. When three of the Companions are appointed Sojourners, they wear a white robe or surplice over which their collar is placed. The two Scribes Ezra and Nehemiah also wear white robes or surplices.

The three Principals at their installation are invested with a colourful robe of office to signify their importance of rank and status; they each have a distinctive colour, purple, scarlet and light blue; they also bear a sceptre of office and we address each as Excellent Companion. When we achieve that rank we have arrived at the pinnacle of Ancient Freemasonry.    

The Lodge and the Chapter:

As we progress in Craft, we learn the meaning and allegorical significance of things which we see in the Temple.

We see the Worshipful Master at the pedestal in the East; before him is the volume of the Scared Law, open when the Lodge is open. His two Wardens occupy their chairs in the West and the South. The Deacons sit by the Master and the Senior Warden, the Inner Guard within the entrance. Other officers have their allotted place in the Lodge.

We learn from the ritual the allegorical significance of the columns, the meaning of the chequered pavement or carpet on the floor, the square, the compasses, the rough ashlar and other furniture, each part which has its part in Masonry.

It becomes familiar to Brethren and the appearance of the Lodge Temple as we sit in it we come to understand, with the help from our Brethren.

A Chapter Temple looks very different and much more colourful with a great deal more to be seen and understood.

The symbolism of each part is related to the story of Royal Arch and as we learn quickly what it all means, though it takes time for its full meaning to be grasped, again with much help from the experienced Companions.

What would we as Master Masons recognise easily? There is an arrangement of candlelight’s – rather more than in Lodge. There is an open volume of the Sacred Law on the stool in the west, the three Principals and the three robed Sojourners sit at either end, East and West, other Officers have their allotted places, and there is an order about it, as in Lodge.

But there are things which are new which the Master Mason has not seen before; there is an array of banners, some behind the Principles, others on either side of the Temple; there is in the centre, on a floor covering of a different shape, a stand which resembles a block of stone that we learn is the most important item in the whole Chapter.

The Companions of the Chapter when open are said to represent the ancient court or Sanhedrin in the history of the Jewish peoples which continues the story of the rebuilding of the Great Temple in Jerusalem and many artefacts and their arrangement in our Royal Arch Chapter reflect parts of that story; for example, where do the sword and trowel which lie together have an important part to play which is quite different from their meaning in Craft Masonry.

Beliefs and Tenets:

We learn very quickly in the Craft that Masonry is founded on brotherly love, relief and truth – the tenets of the order; we were taught that Masonry is a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.

It is based on a belief in the True and Living God Most High and those we hold will lead us through life on our earthly pilgrimage.

In the Ceremony of our raising to that rank of a Master Mason, it is made clear that there is more to learn if we remember to lift our eyes and heed the divine word that brings peace and salvation. In the Traditional History we find that which was lost by the death of Hiram Abif, the genuine secrets of a Master Mason, can be restored to us when the time and circumstances are right, this is possible not by seeking a degree beyond the Third but by recognising that, in the Supreme Order of the Royal Arch, that which was lost will be found. 

All that is needed is another step in that direction.

What will Exaltation into Royal Arch Masonry give us that will build on what we have already learned?

You will come into it the same way that you came into the Craft, in a state of darkness and confused and perhaps apprehensive.

That darkness symbolises your ignorance, not knowing. Do you remember when you were restored to light at you initiation ? 

Suddenly your ignorance was whittled away. The entry into Royal Arch will once more restore you to the light of new understanding; you will learn more about the purpose of our earthly life in the Companionship of the Order: the divine concepts are extended, so that we can thank and praise God for knowledge he has given us and which he will continue to give.

That future understanding will be founded on the continuing story from the Old Testament sources of the Temple in Jerusalem and the discovery of that which was lost when we were raised. That rediscovery will be the key to real understanding that virtue is our aim, that the object is the glory of God and that the welfare of our fellow men is our external purpose.

These thoughts may sound grand – even difficult; suffice it to say that the effort to get to grips with them with Companions to help will be worthwhile and satisfying – even fun.

This is the highest point of Freemasonry and well worth the climb.   

The Triple Tau

The Triple Tau is one of the most important symbols of Royal Arch Masonry – but where did it come from, and what does it mean?

The tau (T) is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet.

It has been said that three Taus come together to form the Triple Tau. Others say the Triple Tau is originally the coming together of a T and a H, meaning Templum Hierosolyma, or the Temple of Jerusalem. Christians interpreted the symbol as “Holiness supporting Trinity”.

Royal Arch records dating from 1767 show this symbol. In addition to meaning Templum Hierosolyma (The Temple of Jerusalem), it is also said to mean Clavis ad Thesaurum -

"A key to the treasure" - and Theca ubi res pretiosa - "A place where the precious thing is concealed."

The Tau is a very old form of the cross, and is also known as St. Anthony’s Cross, after the Saint that was martyred on a cross of that shape.

In ancient times it was regarded as the symbol of life, whereas the 8th letter of the Greek alphabet, theta, was considered the symbol of death.

Many say that these two symbols created today’s plus (+) and minus (-) symbols.