The Decline and Fall of Masonic Ritual

The Decline and Fall of Masonic Ritual
by Brother William Melnyk, 32o, MPS

Brethren, I begin this article by asking your indulgence, for I am going to ruffle some feathers. Indeed, I plan to do so intentionally, and I claim no right to do so other than that of being one of your Brethren in the Craft. Perhaps what I will have to say is merely a personal pet peeve, but perhaps it is meaningful in the broad community of Freemasonry.

Brethren, it's no wonder the public rarely takes Freemasonry seriously. We have forgotten how to take ourselves seriously, and nowhere is this more painfully evident than in the decline and fall of Masonic Degree Ritual. Now I've never been to a raising in your lodge, so I can't possibly be talking about you. But you will know almost instantly whether my experience has meaning for your lodge as well as elsewhere.

Not long ago I attended the raising of a new Master Mason at a Blue Lodge in the mid-Atlantic area. I left wondering whether the newly raised Brother had been given any sense at all of the "solemn ritual" he had just experienced, "the most meaningful" obligation he had just undertaken, or the grand and profound heritage of the oldest and most honorable fraternity in which he had just been raised to the most "sublime" of degrees. Indeed, I came away with the feeling that I had just been to an initiation at a college fraternity. Suddenly the apron I was wearing seemed no match for the "Star and Garter" or the "Order of the Golden Fleece," to which it is so often favorably compared. Now the conferring Worshipful Master was masterful. His knowledge of the ritual was flawless, his delivery carried drama and dignity. The Wardens performed their roles with care. Indeed, attendance on the sidelines was far greater than for any degree conferral I had previously experienced, and among the fifty or so Freemasons present, there were a number of Worshipful Masters, Past Masters, and even a few Brethren whose aprons were fringed in purple. It should have been a profoundly solemn ceremony, one that would imprint in the newly raised Brother's mind and heart forever the importance of being raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. But it wasn't. Instead, the drama of the ritual was disturbed and then destroyed by jokes and laughter, catcalls, and even giggling. I'll exaggerate a bit here to make a point, but in many ways it was more like a scene from the old movie "Animal House" than the raising of a Master Mason in the Blue Lodge. One looked around for John Belusi, and half expected to actually see him.

Now this is not a new problem. It has been raised as an issue so many times that many Freemasons today sigh, roll their eyes, and wish the writer would "lighten up" a bit. "It's all in fun," they say, "why shouldn't we kid around?" But it's not all in fun. Dessert and coffee downstairs afterwards is "all in fun". A degree ritual is serious business.

Now this is not just the opinion of this aging Master Mason who is becoming curmudgeonly before his time! Shortly after I was raised, my Lodge presented me with a copy of "The Exemplar: A Guide to a Mason's Actions," written by Brother William A. Carpenter, Past Right Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and published by that Grand Lodge. I have rarely since seen such a presentation made. Perhaps it still is in some places. Now one reason for the decline of "The Exemplar" is that it has become outdated in some of its material, and has not been revised since 1985. As a result, it still suggests, for example, that Masons in Pennsylvania are not permitted to associate with the Order of the Eastern Star. Indeed, in a paper I once wrote about "The Exemplar," I suggested it would be better to create and require a more intensive educational program for new Masons than to compare them derisively to “the radical students, the hecklers and the hippies of recent years.”1 Carpenter's world-view may have been dated, but his concern for something he called "Masonic Manners" was spot-on.

In his chapter on Masonic Manners, Carpenter writes:2
There is no place in the open Lodge for loud talk, restless moving about, or
laughter and frivolity, most especially during the conferring of the degrees.
Nothing is more distressing than to hear idle chatter during moments of prayer,
or when an obligation is being given and taken.
[To this I add the obtrusive exiting and entering of the Lodge during these solemn moments, as though Brethren had more important places to be or things to do.] Never should there be any
degree of flippancy , irreverence, or disrespect shown to the Worshipful Master,
the other officers of the lodge, or to another brother.

You perhaps will not believe that at the raising I mentioned earlier, Brethren participating in the search for Hiram Abiff joked all through their circular journey. One even said, "You get to just lie there, while we have to walk around like this!" The candidate laughed at the jokes and the horseplay. But in his heart the solemnity of the tale of Hiram Abiff, and the sublimity of the degree being conferred, were lost.

Carpenter continues:
Should a brother be so honored [emphasis mine] as to take part in the
conferring of a degree, he is particularly reminded there is no place for
laughter and frivolity in that undertaking, either by those participating
or those witnessing the work.

The charge to a new Master Mason, presented by Carpenter on page 15 of "The Exemplar," states in part: "On no account are you to injure a Brother, or to see him injured, but you are to appraise him of all approaching dangers and consider his interests as inseparable from your own."

Brethren, I appraise you of approaching danger: Treating the Sublime Third Degree with the levity of a fraternity initiation does harm to a Brother in that it deprives him of what should be a serious, solemn, and deeply moving experience. I suggest to you that a Brother's future commitment to Freemasonry rests in large part upon the degree of meaningfulness of his initiation, passing, and raising. If Masonic ritual is no longer anything but a cause for amusement for yourself, do at least keep in mind the harm that is done to a new Brother thereby.

Am I ruffling any Masonic feathers yet? I hope so, or I am not doing my job!

So why is it, we may ask, that all this is to be taken so seriously anyway? What is there in the origin, history, and life of the Craft that calls us to approach degree work with reverence, integrity, solemnity, and honor? The conclusion seems inescapable that Brethren would indeed do so, if they were aware of the mythology, traditions, history, and purpose of Freemasonry. And I know of no one who has more dramatically approached such concerns as Brother John J. Robinson, most especially in his great work, "Born in Blood."

Robinson presents some of the most compelling arguments that Freemasonry evolved, at least in part, from the experience of fugitive Knights Templar on the run from both Pope and King in the 14th century. Robinson bases his arguments not upon connections between Templar and Masonic esotericisms, but upon the very serious experience of "men on the run" because of their consciences. In his chapter bearing that title3 Robinson says:

The possible relationship between the Templars and Freemasons was
coming up more and more. Any fugitive Templar taken would be
subjected to imprisonment and torture to extract confessions of heresy,
and any person assisting him even with advice and counsel could be
punished an excommunicated, risking the loss of any property he might
have. Under those circumstances, the matter of who could be
trusted was literally a matter of life and death. If to let a man know
your name might put your life an property at stake, what kind of
oath, or threat, would be sufficient to give a feeling of comfort?
The fugitive Templar would have needed a rule such as that
ancient Old Charge of Freemasonry, that a Mason tell no secret
of any brother that might cause that brother to lose his life and
property.

The possible connection between the Knight's Templar and Freemasonry is justifiably debated. But the graphic oaths taken in the degrees, described as ancient in nature and symbolic only, are exactly the punishments that Pope and King meted out to captured heretics. To call such violence down upon oneself was to express willingness to suffer the same fate as a Brother betrayed. Today, in the United States, we face no such dangers. Indeed most Freemasons are considered to be among the orthodox rather than the heretics. But freedom of thought is ever threatened by the changing whims of those in charge, and we accept such serious obligations today as a way of honoring Brethren in previous centuries who actually faced such dangers.

It is often pointed out there is no real need for Masonic "secrecy." No, today there is not. It is not important to keep obligations, grips, or passwords secret. All of it can be found published in limitless forms in many books and on many websites. No, it is not important that the matter be kept secret - but it is of utmost import that it be kept secret by me. It is important for me to honor the lives of past Masons (perhaps even Knights Templar) by proving myself to be honorable and trustworthy. The world may learn a secret Masonic grip from hundreds of sources, but not from me. For I honor the ancient need to keep a Brother's secrets inviolate, to protect against loss of life, liberty, and property.

This is what is going on in a degree ritual. This is the integrity, honor, and seriousness of Freemasonry, which at any time in any society might once again become of life-protecting relevance. This is the guardianship of the search for truth, and the preservation of freedom of thought. This is why we take ritual seriously, and do not joke about goats, or dancing girls, or hot oil. Because being a Freemason is an intensely important and solemn thing. This is what we bring a man into when we raise him tom the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason.

Brethren, if Freemasonry is anything less than this to you, consider the loss to yourself, and the harm done to a new Brother as a result. I have argued elsewhere4 for a renewal of effective Masonic education in the lodge. Not simply for the rote memorization of more rites and rituals, but for the enrichment of our self-understanding as a Band of Brothers, committed to the preservation of freedom and the search for truth. This knowledge and commitment are what is need to restore the solemnity of Masonic ritual, and to save it from its decline and fall. So mote it be.
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Notes

1. Carpenter, William A., The Exemplar, Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, 1985, page 19

2. Ibid, pages 10ff

3. Robinson, John J., Born in Blood, M. Evans Press, NY, 1989, page 166

4. Melnyk, William, "A Modest Proposal for Effective Masonic Education in the Lodge and Chapter," Philalethes, Volume LX, Number 6, December 2007, page 142.