The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 7 - Rituals 435
With regard to technical terms, one has to be careful - "Royal Arch Masonry"
does not simply mean the Royal Arch Degree but includes, besides this one, the
Mark Master, Past Master, and Most Excellent Master degrees. 1338 Undoubtedly,
the Royal Arch is the oldest degree of this group. According to CME, it is
distinctly of the French Cryptic or Secret Vault or Ineffable type, and was
invented together with the other high degrees, which all had the same purpose:
"One of the principal functions of these Hauts Grades was to supply the
deficiency of the Third Degree, to disclose the true Word and ultimate secret of
Freemasonry!" 1339 The Royal Arch Degree is first mentioned in a Dublin journal
of 1743, then in a book published at Dublin in 1744, and Laurence Dermott,
Secretary of the Ancient Grand Lodge of England, asserted that he received the
Royal Arch Degree in Ireland in 1746. 1340
A further peculiarity is the term for admission into this degree. As the ritual
of the first three degrees has shown, an Apprentice is entered, a Fellow Craft
passed, and a Master Mason raised into the respective degrees. Into the Royal
Arch, one is exalted, and this for a special reason: "A candidate is said to be
EXALTED, when he receives the Degree of Holy Royal Arch, the Seventh in
York Masonry. Exalted means elevated or lifted up, and is applicable both to a
peculiar ceremony of the Degree, and to the fact that this Degree, in the rite in
which it is practised, constitutes the summit of ancient Masonry." 1341
The candidates of the Royal Arch Degree are called "Sojourners" until they
are "exalted;" from then on, they are called "Companions." 1342 For initiation,
three candidates are necessary, and if there are less, one or two companions act
as candidates in order to reach the requisite number. 1343
In the following, a rather up-to-date Royal Arch ritual from California has
been employed, printed in 1993, which has only a few parts written in cipher. In
order to draw parallels, insert illustrations, and decipher certain passages,
Duncan's Masonic Ritual and Monitor (presumably from end of the 19 th century)
and The Ritual of the Holy Royal Arch as Taught in the Aldersgate Chapter of
Improvement, No. 1657, from London, 1957, have been used.
Starting with the legend 1344 of the ritual, which the candidates are told in a
preview lecture, the Royal Arch degree is founded on the building of the second
temple after the destruction of King Solomon's temple by Nebuchadnezzar, King
of the Chaldeans, 420 years after its erection. The second temple was erected by
Zerubbabel, however, the massive and durable foundations built by Solomon
remained unmoved. When the first temple was destroyed, the people of
1338
Cf. CME, p. 575.
1339
Cf. ibid, p. 201.
1340
Cf. ibid, p. 575/576.
1341
Quoted from Lexicon in Duncan, p. 241/242. With "peculiar ceremony" is meant that one of the
candidates has to descend down a vault to bring to the light the secrets hidden in an arch beneath
the ruins of King Solomon's temple. He is lifted up by his companions with a cabletow tied seven
times around his body.
1342
Cf. p. 176.
1343
Cf. Duncan, p. 217.
1344
Cf. p. 123 ff.