The Degree Rituals The Supreme Council, 33 ... - Scottish Rite, NMJ

The Degree Rituals
A Long Journey — The Fourth Degree
Despite its prominent position as the first of the Lodge of Perfection, or
so-called “Ineffable,” degrees, the ritual of the 4°, until very recently, has had
a relatively languid, uneventful, and uninspiring development.
As recorded in Henry Francken’s 1783 manuscript, the 4° ritual was simple
in content as well as in form. It represented a lodge of Secret Masters
convened to fill a vacancy among the guardians of the Holy of Holies of the
unfinished Temple. The lessons, obviously enough, were secrecy and silence.
Seventy-odd years later, Albert Pike’s ritual greatly elaborated upon
Francken, adding an antiphonal invocation of duty as the lesson of the degree
and introducing a catechism on the various names of God. The Pike ritual
was the primary source for the 4° Ritual of 1871, the first version to be approved
by the Supreme Council after the Union of 1867. Several additions
and deletions were made in the succeeding rituals of 1894 and 1917. Except
for the addition of a ceremonial cleansing of the candidate, however, there
was no significant change in content.
The prevailing attitude toward the ritual was best expressed in few words
by McIlyar Lichliter in 1943, “Dead. Dull. Overloaded with symbolism.”
Many agreed that what was needed was a more dramatic ritual. Nevertheless,
no effective steps were taken to address the need.
The changes introduced with the ritual of 1955 were more of form than
substance. A new ceremonial section included a formal opening of the Lodge
of Perfection, a cover obligation for all the Lodge of Perfection degrees, and
an introductory legend and prologue. The so-called “drama” was not dramatic
at all, but simply a modernized version of the traditional initiation ritual, i.e.,
reception, obligation, investiture, and lesson (lecture), together with the ceremonial
cleansing and antiphonal on duty.
The ritual of 1955 was indeed distinct from previous rituals, but there was
no real difference. Nevertheless, it remained the authorized ritual of the 4° for
half a century. In 1984 the Supreme Council approved a requirement that the
4° must be exemplified by every Valley at least once a year. It was an attempt
to establish the importance of the degree as a bridge from the symbolic lodge
17