Holy Royal Arch

The Royal Arch is present in all main masonic systems, though in some it is worked as part of Craft ('mainstream') Freemasonry, and in others in an appendant ('additional') order.

In the British Isles, most of continental Europe (including the masonically expanding states of eastern Europe),[1] and most nations of the Commonwealth (with the notable exception of Canada), the teachings of Royal Arch Masonry are contained in the "Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch" – a stand-alone degree of Freemasonry which is open to those who have completed the three Craft degrees.

In the three degrees of the Craft, the candidate is presented with a series of practical principles of service to his fellow man and begins journey of self discovery.

In the Chapter, the teachings of the Royal Arch are conveyed using a ritualised allegory based on the Old Testament telling of the return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the City and Temple.

The degree is also mentioned disapprovingly in Dassigny's "A serious and impartial enquiry into the cause of the present decay of Free-masonry in the Kingdom of Ireland" published in Dublin in 1744.

[5][6] Separate notes in this work indicate that the rite was practised in Dublin, London and York, and described it as an "organis'd body of men who have passed the chair" (i.e. served as the Master of a Craft lodge).

[8] In 18th century England, the role and purpose of Royal Arch Masonry was the subject of a long debate between the two rival umbrella organisations of Freemasonry.

In 1746, Laurence Dermott, who would later become Grand Secretary of the "Antients", had been accepted into a Royal Arch Chapter in Dublin, which at that time was open only to those who had previously served as master of a Craft lodge.

The next year, they assisted in setting up a Royal Arch Chapter admitting masons from other Craft lodges which were attached to the "Moderns".

He was later appointed Grand Superintendent and promoted Royal Arch Masonry in the provincial lodges of the "Moderns" with considerable energy and success.

For the masons organised in the "Antients", the Royal Arch became recognised as the fourth degree, open to those who had served as a master of a Craft Lodge.

[11] At the beginning of the 19th century, when the "Antients" and the "Moderns" moved from rivalry towards union, the role and purpose of the Royal Arch became a sticking point.

It was effectively proscribed from the Union until the 1850s, until it became organised in an independent Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales.

In its Book of Constitutions, the United Grand Lodge of England therefore declared that "...pure Antient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more, viz.

those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason including the Supreme Order of the Royal Arch.".

That view was so widely held among freemasons in England and Wales that in the Royal Arch ritual the newly exalted candidate was informed that he must not think that he had taken a fourth degree but that he had in fact completed his third.

"[18]) While expressing a compromise position between the traditional views of the "Antients" and "Moderns", this interpretation put the Royal Arch in opposition to masonic practice in most countries outside England and Wales.

[19] In December 2003, the United Grand Lodge of England acknowledged and pronounced the status of the Supreme Order of the Royal Arch to be "an extension to, but neither a superior nor a subordinate part of, the degrees which precede it".

Words in the ritual which propounded the earlier compromise position and led to misinterpretations were removed by mandatory regulation.

"[22] According to Ray Denslow Until the end of the 18th century, Masonic Lodges in North America performed Royal Arch ceremonies, as well as some others that are now more familiarly part of Knights Templar and the Red Cross of Constantine.

[29] After the independence of the American Colonies in 1776, Freemasonry in the United States remained relatively little influenced by the rivalry between the "Antients" and "Moderns" in England.

[32] In England and Wales, a Royal Arch Chapter is required to be sponsored by a Craft lodge and bears the same number.

At the same time, the Royal Arch is the only appendant order that is actively endorsed by the United Grand Lodge of England among Craft freemasons.

English Royal Arch Masons will not be allowed into a Scottish chapter during a Mark working, unless they also hold that degree, which in England is administered by a separate body.

The Excellent Master degree does not exist in England, and members of the English Grand Chapter are not permitted to attend these workings.

The Royal Arch Degree under the Irish Constitution contains a legend based on the renovation of the First Temple under King Josiah, not the rebuilding of the second.

The three presiding officers of a Royal Arch Chapter in Ireland are called the Excellent King, High Priest and Chief Scribe (not First, Second and Third Principal as in England and Wales).

The Swedish rite Freemasonry which is practiced in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and partly in Finland, Germany, Estonia and Latvia is a truly progressive system, divided into three divisions.

In Canada, most jurisdictions do not formally practice or confer the degree of 'Virtual Past Master', although it is known to be made available as a group ceremony for members attending a Grand Chapter Convocation.