Veils in Royal Arch Masonry

By CABELL F. COBBS

      The ceremony of “passing the veils” or the use of the veils in Royal Arch Ceremonies is as old as the Degree itself, and its origins are, with the degree, lost in the oral traditions of the past.  Some say it symbolizes the difficulties encountered by the Jews on their returning journey from Babylon with the holy vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar; others that it involves the veils of the tabernacle of Moses or those of the Temple of Solomon.  Other commentators note it as a reference to the rending of the veil of the last Temple upon the death of Jesus on the Cross.

     The use of veils originated, with the Royal Arch in English Freemasonry and was well known, with some distinctions, in Ireland and Scotland.  Originally, the work was with three veils, with the fourth being used in Ireland and, of course, here.  In Scotland, the ceremony in fact forms the Excellent Master Degree.

    Much of the confusion in the symbolism comes from the Jewish historian Josephus, who declares:

    When Moses distinguished the tabernacle into three parts, and allowed two of them to the priests, as a place accessible and common, he denoted the land and see, these being of general access to all; but he set apart the third division for God, because heaven is inaccessible to men….

    The veils, too, which are composed of four things, they are declared the four elements; for the fine linen was proper to signify the earth, because the flax grows out of the earth; the purple signified the sea, because the color is dyed by the blood of the sea shell fish; the blue is fit to signify the air; and the scarlet will naturally be an indication of fire.


   As some commentators have noted, Josephus imported into his description of the original Tabernacle a feature which it did not possess, i.e.,  division into three parts.  The Temple of Herod which existed in Josephus’ time indeed had a third part, the Porch, and he erroneously concluded that the Mosaic Tabernacle was likewise so separated.  In fact, Scripture tells us it was not.

    The original Tabernacle of Moses as created by divine instruction consisted of a tent covered in ram skins with a wooden frame and divided into two parts by ten curtains of fine linen, colored blue, purple, and scarlet.  The curtains were coupled in units of five, and served to separate the Holy of Holies from the ordinary people.

   The curtains served to surround the Ark of the Covenant and bar its view from the people.  It was in fact deemed to be the dwelling place of the Lord.

   It was these curtains surrounding the Ark which later gave rise to the use of veils in the construction of Solomon’s Temple, the Second Temple of Zerubabbel, and the Herod’s Temple, which enlarged on Prince Z’s work and instituted the Porch and exterior courts.  Only the High Priest could enter into the Holy of Holies’ portion through the veil or curtain which separated God’s dwelling place from those of the priesthood and the people, i.e., symbolically Heaven and Earth.  And he could enter only as a representative of the people once a year on the Day of Atonement.

   As we examiner sacred history, therefore, it would seem that originally there was only one veil or curtain in the Tabernacle, although it may well be that more were added in the building of the final Herodian Temple.  But, again, Scripture only mentions the one separating the Holy of Holies from the balance of the Temple, when it records the death of Jesus.  Thus, Matthew relates:

   And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent….

    From the days of the Tabernacle, there is no doubt, however, that the veil of curtains symbolized the separation between God and man, and it is significant that the veils ceremony disappeared from English Royal Arch Masonry when its Ritual was dechristianized in 1835.  It has nonetheless continued in American, which seems to have followed the Irish ceremonies more than the English or Scottish practice.

    Thus, we have continued to use the ceremony of the veils to symbolize to the candidate for the Royal Arch, i.e., he who seeks successfully to find our lost connection with the Almighty, the various difficulties which are strewn in his path, and which can be overcome only by a knowledge of passwords symbolizing a former connection with God.  Thus, at last, he reaches the Fourth Veil, which divides the Sanctuary from the balance of the Arch.  There, to gain admittance, he uses the Signet, which represents divine Truth.

    Indeed, as we overcome the veils of ignorance, hatred, unbelief, and gain Truth in our Lord, we find that which we have lost and for which we have sought symbolically.

 (Adapted from an article from The Royal Arch Mason, Volume 17, Number 10, Summer 1993, pages 309 - 310)