Saint John's Day in Winter 2019

Houston York Rite Masonry wishes all Brothers and Companions a joyous and peaceful holiday season.

The Stone of Foundation

By R. R. Anderson, Sr.*

Past Grand Secretary - Grand Chapter of Minnesota

      The Stone of Foundation constitutes one of the most important and abstruse symbols of Freemasonry.  It is referred to in numerous legends and traditions, not only of Masonry, but also of the Talmudic writers.  Masonically, it first appears in the Royal Arch, although it is not anywhere alluded to by that name.  The Stone of Foundation, according to legends, is supposed to have been a stone placed at one time within the foundation of the Temple of Solomon.

    The legend begins with the time of Enoch, who in obedience to instructions which he had received in a vision, built a Temple underground on Mount Moriah and dedicated it to God.  His son, Methuselah, constructed the building, although he was not acquainted with his father’s motive for its erection.  This temple consisted of nine vaults, situated perpendicularly beneath each other and communicated by apertures left in each vault.

   Enoch then made a triangular plate of gold, one cubit length on each side, enriched with precious stones, and encrusted the place upon a stone of agate of the same form.  On the plate he engraved the true name of God, the Tetragrammaton, and placed it on a cubical stone, known thereafter as the Stone of Foundation.  He deposited the whole within the lowest arch, the vault then being closed by a door of stone to which was attached a ring of iron, by which it could be opened.    Upon the death of Enoch and the destruction of the world by the deluge, the knowledge of the vault or subterranean temple and of the Stone of Foundation, with the sacred name upon it, was lost for ages to the world.  At the building of the Temple of Solomon this stone, bearing the ineffable name of God, was found while digging the foundations of the Temple, and as removed and place in the Holy of Holies.

Stated Meeting Notice

The next Stated Meeting of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on December 9, 2019.  Members of the Council are encouraged to attend.  All Royal and Select Masters are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Stated Meeting Notice

The next Stated Meeting of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, November 11, 2019.  Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend.  All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Stated Meeting

The next Stated Meeting of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on October 14, 2019.  Members of the Council are encouraged to attend.  All Royal and Select Masters are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Past Masters - Actual and Virtual

By Ward K. St. Clair

Past Master, Lodge of United Services No. 1118, New York, and a Past High Priest of his Chapter.

Major, United States Signal Corps

    In the United States and parts of Canada there are two types of Past Masters.  They are the actual and virtual Past Masters.

    An actual Past Master is one who has been elected and installed as Master of a symbolic lodge.  Most grand lodges define a Past Master according to these terms.  Since this article is intended to deal with the degree of “Past Master” as controlled by chapters of Royal Arch Masons, we will not discuss further the Past Masters of the lodge except to state that the two are separate and distinct.

    A virtual Past Master is one who has received the degree of “Past Master” in a chapter of Royal Arch Masons as a preliminary or qualifying step to the Royal Arch Degree.  It entitles the recipient to no distinctive rights outside a Royal Arch Chapter.

    We are told that the Past Master degree has no historical connection with the other capitular degrees, and that it sheds no light upon itself, but is used only to satisfy an ancient requirement that none but Past Masters could be exalted to the degree of Royal Arch Mason.  How true is this?  Also, how binding is it?

Stated Meeting Notice

The next Stated Meeting of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, September 9, 2019.  Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend.  All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Stated Meeting Notice

The next Stated Meeting of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on August 12, 2019.  Members of the Council are encouraged to attend.  All Royal and Select Masters are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Rabboni

by 

N. TRACY WALKER

      The word “rabboni” occupies a unique position in our Masonic vocabulary, yet the literature relating to the word, and to the Most Excellent Master degree wherein it comes to our attention, is extremely thin.  A great need exists for scholarly additions to that literature – particularly in the areas of historical development and philosophical definition.  However, this paper will limit itself to a consideration of certain ramifications implicit in several of the unique aspects of the word.

    Every degree now under the control of a recognized rite in the United States contains one or more words which are central to the communication of that degree.  Such words are usually characterized as principal and/or passwords, and are always indispensable elements of the degree – in some instances being the only really essential element.  Generally they allude to phenomena central to the theme of the degree, to physical objects associated with the degree or its setting, to places or personalities celebrated in connection with the events of the degree, to moral virtues promulgated in the degree, and the like.  In many instances the association of word and degree are remote, but an effort is always made to establish a relationship between them.

Stated Meeting Notice

The next Stated Meeting of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, May 13, 2019.  Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend.  All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.

Stated Meeting Notice

The next Stated Meeting of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on February 11, 2019.  Members of the Council are encouraged to attend.  All Royal and Select Masters are welcome.

Proper attire is recommended.