Curious about the Holy Royal Arch ?
         if you are, good...

BUT CURIOSITY ISN'T ENOUGH!

A sincere desire to work, enquire. and learn more is essential for you to complete the long and fruitful journey which you first commenced as an Entered Apprentice.

To be a satisfied and successful Royal Arch Mason is to be a keen and dedicated Master Mason, eager to learn, willing to participate..... and curious!  Exactly the same attributes of fervency, zeal, constancy and dedication needed for your Craft Masonry.

WHY SHOULD YOU CONSIDER TAKING ANOTHER STEP?

When you were initiated into the Craft you learnt the duties you owe to God, your neighbour, and yourself.  And when you passed to the Second Degree you were advised to study the mysteries of nature and science - to develop the intellectual faculty.

When you were ultimately raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason you were instructed how to meet death fearlessly and with confidence in the survival of human personality.

But something was missing.
The genuine secrets of a Master Mason were not given to you!

You were told they were lost and that it was necessary to wait until time and circumstance should restore the genuine secrets.

Therefor, the Master Mason's Degree is obviously not the summit of Freemasonry.  Especially as the Craft instructs us to make further progress, and exhorts us to seek for that which is lost.

Through the Royal Arch you can be successful in recovering the long lost secrets.  And when you receive them you will find that you learn more about that Supreme Being in whom you already believe.  The lessons about life and death taught in the three Craft Degrees will be complete.   Because it completes the Masonic search and imparts greater knowledge and wisdom, the Holy Royal Arch has quite rightly been called the copestone of the whole Masonic structure.

     

The lessons of morality, the scientific instruction, and the explanation of the symbols contained in the first three degrees of the Craft all hold a promise of greater development, and you should consider them only as the start of your Masonic career.

THE ROYAL ARCH IS THE KEY TO YOUR MASONIC FUTURE

       As well as the keys to that which was lost, and the keys to your masonic progress, the teachings of the Mark and Royal Arch Degrees will give you a whole new awareness and understanding of Craft Masonry. They will lead you along the path of greater Masonic and personal knowledge and understanding.

       Much more than just the completion of the Third degree, the Royal Arch is the natural progression in Freemasonry that provides "Genuine Secrets" instead of the "Substituted" ones granted in the Third Degree.

       An integral part of pure and Ancient Masonry, the Royal Arch is referred to in Regulation 1 of the Constitutions of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales as the "Supreme Order". As echoed by other Grand Lodges around the world, Regulation 1 declares and pronounces "that pure and Ancient Masonry consists of the following Degrees, and no more, viz.: Those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, together with the Honourable Degree of Mark Master Mason, and the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch".

WHAT THE ORDER IS LIKE

       The story of the events leading to the recovery of the secrets is quite different to that of the building of the Temple as told in the three Craft degrees.

       The Mark and Royal Arch ceremonies are very colourful and the candidate takes an active part. The furnishings of the Mark Lodge and the Royal Arch Chapter, and the regalia of the members are rich in symbols which will be explained to you.

       You can be confident that to be advanced in the Mark and exalted in the Royal Arch are enjoyable and unforgettable experiences.

       You will be warmly welcomed into this Order as your Brothers in the Craft become your Companions in the Royal Arch. As one sharing in something valuable with your Companions you will feel and enjoy a unique sense of unity and fellowship.

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO JOIN THE ROYAL ARCH?

* You should be serious and enthusiastic about your Freemasonry and wish to improve your Masonic knowledge.

* You should be interested in completing your degrees in 'Pure and Ancient' Freemasonry and wish to find that which was lost.

* You should realise that there is no short cut to Masonic knowledge.

* You must be a Master Mason, and you must maintain your Craft membership at all times.

A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Mark Masons

       Evidence indicates that there was a form of the Mark degree in existence as early as 1599. Its present form has evolved over the years from 1769, through the Union in 1813, and the Concordat of 1860 to the present day when Mark Masonry and the Royal Arch form the most popularly supported degrees in Freemasonry after the Craft.

       Mark Masonry chronologically follows the Fellow Craft degree and is one of the oldest grades of Freemasonry. The degree appears to have grown out of an ancient ceremony in which each craftsman selected for himself a private mark with which to designate his work and this mark was duly registered with the constituted authority.

       The legend of the degree is singularly instructive and is well founded on statements of Holy Writ relating to a period in the building of the Temple prior to the death of Hiram Abiff. It teaches the lesson that education is the reward of labour, and it contains a dramatic message that fraud can never succeed.

       The symbol of the degree is a keystone.

The Holy Royal Arch

       Dating from 1752, the Royal Arch was for a long time an appendage to the Third Degree, being regarded by the Antients as a fourth degree conferred in their Lodges.

       Over its long history from the earliest days of Masonry it has become the most talked of, and written about, degree in Freemasonry. And, for most Masons, it is still regarded as the ultimate of the Craft system having, on numerous occasions, been described as "the most sacred part of Masonry" and "the root, heart and marrow of Masonry".

       Described as the perfection and completion of all Freemasonry, the Royal Arch degree deals with a lengthy period following the ending of King Solomon's reign. The Temple of Jerusalem had been destroyed, the kingdom of Judea divided, and the tribes taken into captivity. Babylon eventually fell to Cyrus the Great and became part of the Persian Empire. Cyrus set free the Jewish captives and invited them to return to Jerusalem to commence rebuilding the temple.

       The legend sets out to restore the genuine secrets of a Master Mason and this is accomplished by workmen who make a momentous discovery during their labours and an interesting and illuminating explanation of the nature of God is conveyed.

       The symbol of the degree is the triple tau.

Displayed here on a background of a Royal Arch Installed Principal's shoulder sash are two Mark 'pennies,' the Royal Arch triple tau in the equilateral triangle, and Mark, Royal Arch, and Past First Principal breast jewels.

THE NEXT STEP

If you would like to know more about the Mark and Royal Arch Degrees, just ask a Brother who you know to be a Royal Arch Mason, or write, phone, or fax:

         The Liaison Officer,
         United Supreme Grand Chapter
         of Mark and Royal Arch Masons

         PO Box 134,
         Petersham, NSW 2049.

         Phone: (02) 9569 5699
         Fax: (02) 9569 6227

UNITED SUPREME GRAND CHAPTER
OF MARK AND ROYAL ARCH MASONS
Grand Chapter web site