On a hot Saturday afternoon in July 2017, a dozen or so CC members attended the ‘Your Next Step – A seminar on the Holy Royal Arch’. Facta non Verba Chapter 3409, hosted us. Our President presented the history of the Holy Royal Arch steaming back to the great rivalry between the Ancients and Moderns.
The long and short of it is when the two lodges united to form what we now call the United Grand Lodge of England, they managed to find a compromise on the role and purpose of the Holy Royal Arch. The Royal Arch would be fully recognised as a separate order, which made both grand lodges happy.
This is why in the Book of Constitutions it explains “…pure Ancient 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 Holy Royal Arch. (the light blue book we are given when we are initiated)
We were also informed of the different roles of the officers in the lodge from Zerubbabel, Haggai and Joshua, to Scribe Ezra, Nehemiah and the Principals and their clothing (a very colourful affair) and the various different aprons and jewels.
The whole event was short, sharp and snappy. Giving us an insight into the Holy Royal Arch, it wetted many a chaps appetite for more!
We finished off with a smashing buffet and 1 or 2 or 3 beers in the Freemason’s Arms afterwards. (In true Connaught Club fashion…)
A big thank you to our President Ian Currans, the Metropolitan Grand lodge officers, Facta non Verba Chapter 3409 and especially all of the CC members for presenting and attending.
Ps…If you will be exalted into the Holy Royal Arch any time soon, make sure you post in the Facebook group, I and others will attend!
S&F – Godfrey