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

20 The Degree Rituals
Sacred Fire — The Fifth Degree
The ritual of the 5°, “Perfect Master,” as it appeared in the Francken Manuscript,
followed the traditional pattern of the earlier French rituals from
which it was derived. A candidate was received and obligated, then given a
long explanatory lecture and catechism that included a description of the funeral
and tomb of Hiram Abif.
Seventy years later, the Carson/Van Rensselaer ritual3 presented similar
themes in the form of a funeral service at the tomb of Hiram Abif, inculcating
respect for the memory of a deceased brother as the lesson of the degree.
With various changes and embellishments, these themes continued to evolve
through several rituals until they emerged in the ritual of 1960 as a dramatization
of a Lodge of Sorrow for Hiram Abif.
Although the Lodge of Sorrow was a logical culmination of the ritualistic
development of the 5° since the Francken ritual, it provoked adverse criticism.
Many viewed the 1960 ritual as a gratuitous and essentially meaningless extension
of the Hiramic legend exemplified in the symbolic lodge which served
no purpose in the degree system of the Scottish Rite.
Increasing disenchantment with the Hiramic legend as a degree theme coincided
with plans of the Committee on Rituals to replace several of the
Lodge of Perfection degree rituals with Old Testament-based rituals from the
Consistory. The so-called degree realignment policy was approved by the
Supreme Council in 1985, and three years later, after having survived in
evolving forms for more than 200 years, the 5° ritual became the second
Lodge of Perfection degree ritual to be withdrawn and replaced under this
policy.
The new 5° Tentative Ritual of 1988 was the 23° ritual of 1930. It was
based on the Old Testament story of the sons of Aaron, who, by their self-absorbed
inattention and neglect of duty, allowed the sacred fire in the Tabernacle
to be extinguished. The prime author of the ritual was English-born Ill.
John Lloyd Thomas, 33°, later an Active Member for New York and a mem-
3 Enoch Terry Carson’s 1853 ritual apparently was based on the 1845 manuscript of Killian
Van Rensselaer. Hence, that work is referenced throughout as the Carson/Van Rensselaer
Ritual.