Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

68 ANTON
APOCALYPSE
the Middle Ages, but that its spirit is to be
traced to a far remoter period .
Anton, Dr . Carl Gottlob von . A German
Masonic writer of considerable reputation,
who died at Gorlitz on the 17th of
November, 1818 . He is the author of two
historical works on Templarism, both of which
are much esteemed . 1 . Versuch einer Geachichte
des Tempelherren ordens (i . e ., An Essay
on the Order of Knights Templars), Leipzig,
1779 . 2 . Untersuchuny lime des Gi,nsass
and die Gebrauche der Tempelherren
(i . e ., An Inquiry into the Mystery and Usages
of the Knights Templars), Dessau, 1782 . He
also published at Gorlitz, in 1805, and again
in 1819, A brief essay on the Culdees ( Ueber
die Culdeer) .
Anton Hieronymus . In the examination
of a German " steinmetz," or STONEMASON,
this is said to have been the name of the first
Mason . It is unquestionably a corruption
of Adon Hiram .
Anubis or Anepu . Egyptian deity, son
of Osiris and Nephthys . The Greek Hermes .
Having the head of a jackal, with pointed ears
and snout, which tile Greeks frequently
changed to those of a dog . At times represented
as wearing a double crown . His duty
was to accompany the souls of the deceased to
Hades (Amenthes), and assist Horns in weighing
their actions under the inspection of Osiris .
Ape and Lion, Knight of the . See
Knight of the Ape and Lion .
Apex, Rite of. See Sat B'hai, Order of .
Aphanism . In the Ancient Mysteries,
there was always a legend of the death or disappearance
of some hero god, and the subsequent
discovery of the body and its resurrection
. The concealment of this body by those
who had slain it was called the aphanism,
from the Greek, a¢av&Cw, to conceal . As
these Mysteries may be considered as a type
of Masonry, as some suppose, and as, according
to others, both the Mysteries and Masonry
are derived from one common and ancient
type, the aphanism, or concealing of the body,
is of course to be found in the Third Degree .
Indeed, the purest kind of Masonic aphanism
is the loss or concealment of the worn . (See
Mysteries, and Euresis .)
Apis . The sacred bull, held in high reverence
by the Egyptians as possessing Divine
powers, especially the gift of prophecy . As it
was deemed essential the animal should be
peculiarly marked by nature, much difficulty
was experienced in procuring it . The bull
was required to be black, with a white triangle
on its forehead, a white crescent on its side,
and a knotted growth, like a searabaeus, under
the tongue. Such an animal being found, it
was fed for four months in a building facing
the East . At new moon it was embarked on
a special vessel, prepared with exquisite care,
and with solemn ceremony conveyed to Heliopolis,
where for forty days it was fed by
priests and women . In its sanctified condition
it was taken to Memphis and housed in
a temple with two chapels and a court wherein
to exercise . The omen was good or evil in
accordance with which chapel it entered from
the court . At the age of 25 years it was led
to its death, amid great mourning and lamentations
. The bull or apis was an important
religious factor in the Isian worship, and was
continued as a creature of reverence during
the Roman domination of Egypt.
Apocalypse, Masonry of the . The adoption
of St . John the Evangelist as one of the
patrons of our Lodges, has given rise, among
the writers on Freemasonry, to a variety of
theories as to the original cause of his being
thus connected with the Institution . Several
traditions have been handed down from remote
periods, which claim him as a brother,
among which the Masonic student will be
familiar with that which represents him as
having assumed the government of the Craft,
as Grand Master, after the demise of John the
Baptist. I confess that I am not willing to
place implicit confidence in the correctness of
this legend, and I candidly subscribe to the
prudence of Dalcho's remark, that " it is unwise
to assert more than we can prove, and to
argue against probability." There must have
been, however, in some way, a connection
more or less direct between the Evangelist and
the institution of Freemasonry, or he would
not from the earliest times have been so
universally claimed as one of its patrons . If
it was simply a Christian feeling-a religious
veneration-which gave rise to this general
homage, I see no reason why St . Matthew
St . Mark, or St . Luke might not as readily ant
appropriately have been selected as one of the
" lines parallel." But the fact is that there is
something, both in the life and in the writings
of St . John the Evangelist, which closely connects
him with our mystic Institution. He
may not have been a Freemason in the sense
in which we now use the term ; but it will be
sufficient, if it can be shown that he was
familiar with other mystical institutions,
which are themselves generally a dmitted to
have been more or less intimately connected
with Freemasonry by deriving their existence
from a common origin .
Such a society was the Essenian Fraternity
-a mystical association of speculative philosophers
among the Jews, whose organization
very closely resembled that of the Freemasons,
and who are even supposed by some to
have derived their tenets and their discipline
from the builders of the Temple. As Oliver
observes, their institution " may be termed
Freemasonry, retaining the same form but
practised under another name." Now there
is little doubt that St . John was an Essene .
Calmet positively asserts it ; and the writings
and life of St . John seem to furnish sufficient
internal evidence that he was originally of
that brotherhood .
But it seems to me that St . John was more
particularly selected as a patron of Freemasonry
in consequence of the mysterious and
emblematic nature of the Apocalypse, which
evidently assimilated the mode of teaching
adopted by the Evangelist to that practise
by the Fraternity . If anyone who has in-