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The system of
High Grade Masonry, from which our Antient and Primitive Rite derives
its origin, had birth in this country before the establishment of Grand
Lodges. In France it had developed, early last century, into several
Rites which were distinguished as Primitive–notably the Rites of
Primitive Philadelphes and Philalethes, which were the offspring of
those of Martinez Pashalis, and Marquis de St. Martin, and which, with
others, worked side by side with the Rites of Perfection and Knights of
the Orient. The army of Buonaparte carried these High Grade Rites Egypt
in 1798, and a Grand Lodge was then established at Cairo, when
Buonaparte and Kleber received investiture with a ring at the great
Pyramid of Cheops, at the hands of an Egyptian Sage, as a symbol of
their union with the ancient occult Masonry of Egypt. Under the Grand
Lodge of Cairo Brother Samuel Honis was initiated, and afterwards
removed to France. Mehemit Ali Pacha patronized Masonry in Egypt until
his death, and the Rite maintained a correspondence with its confreres
in Europe by means of our
well-known
cyphers.
The Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry, Disciples of Memphis, was
founded as a Grand Lodge at Montauban, France, n [sic] the year
1814, by the Illustrious Brothers Gabriel Mathieu Marconis de Negre;
Samuel Honis, of Cairo; Baron Dumas; Hypolite Labrunie; Marquis de
Laroque; J. Pettitt, and others. The basis of this system was the
Primitive Rites, in which the degrees were not absolutely defined, as
each principal grade had the power to confer others of like nature. The
seven classes into which our Order is divided are schools for the study
of Masonic knowledge, physics and philosophy; and embody rituals, the
production of more than a quarter of a century of assiduous labour and
research, concerning all Masonic Rites.
The Grand Lodge of Osiris, or Disciples of Memphis, after an interval
of sleep, recommenced work at Brussels, in 1838, and at Paris in 1839,
when it published its statutes; but in 1841, the Grand Master
Hierophant, the Illustrious and Enlightened Brother Jacques Etienne
Marconis, 33-97°, son and Initiate of the first Grand Hierophant, was
forced by civil politics to put all the Lodges in France asleep. In 1848
our Order revived its work at the Orient of Paris, and continued to
prosper; and in 1856 had established itself in Egypt, America, Roumania,
and other countries.
In 1862, the Illustrious Grand Master Hierophant united our Antient
and Primitive Rite with the Grand Orient of France, and the High Grades
continued to be conferred by the recognized Grand Council of Rites of
the Grand Orient. A formal Concordat was promulgated by the said Grand
Orient, and the Ill. Grand Hierophant, J.E. Marconis, 33-97°, which
arranged the relative values of the 33 leading degrees of our Rite with
those of the Ancient and Accepted, Mizraim, and other Rites recognized
by the said Grand Council of Rites; also giving power to the 33
principal degrees to confer the minor ones.
Upon this, in the year 1862, the Illustrious Grand Hierophant J.E.
Marconis, 33-97°, acting in concert with Marshal Magnan, 30°, the Grand
Master of the Grand Orient, frmally constituted the Sovereign Sanctuary
of America, 33-95°. Shortly after the degrees of the Rite were,
nominally and temporarily, reduced from 95 to 33 ceremonies by omitting
the rest of those conferred only by name. The Grand Orient of France
continued to exchange Representatives with the Sov. Sanc. of America,
and lists thereof will be found in the French Official Calendar, until
1869, when, in consequence of the invasion of the American territory by
the recognition of certain spurious Lodges of the Scottish Rite, the
Americans withdrew from representation.
France then abandoned the Rite, and the Ill. Gd. Hierophant, J.E.
Marconis, 33-97°, having died in 1868, Egypt took full possession. The
Craft Gd. Lodge, our Antient and Primitive Rite, and the Antient and
Accepted Rite, executed a Tripartite Treaty to render mutual aid, and
restored the Sov. Gd. Mystic Temple–Imp.Council Gen., 96°, presided over
by a Gd. Hierophant, 97°.
In the year 1872, several Illustrious Brethren who had priviously
received the 33-95°, obtained a Charter for the establishment of a
Sovereign Sanctuary in and for Great Britain and Ireland, with
Illustrious Brother
John Yarker as Grand Master General, 33-96°, and in the same year
received many Brethren, members of the Royal Grand Council of Antient
Rites, time immemorial, which had adopted the Rite of Perfection last
century, and had met under H.R.H. Duke of Sussex, Grand Master; and in
1874 the Jerusalem Chapter of Antiquety, H.R.M.–K.D.S.H., formally
amalgamated with the Palatine Chapter, No. 2, and Senate No. 2, of the
Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry, thus giving the Rite the prestige
of a time immemorial association in the United Kingdom.
One of the earlist resolutions passed by the new Sovereign Sanctuary
was for the establishment of an Order of Merit, of three classes, 1st,
for Saving Life; 2nd, Literary Merit; 3rd General Merit. Besides this,
the Rite possesses five Decorations; ist, the Grand Star of Sirius, or
Wisdom; 2nd, the Cross of Alidee, or Truth; 3rd, the Alidee of the Third
Series, or Justice; 4th, the Lybic Chain, or Hope; 5th, the Golden
Branch of Eleusis, or Charity. These decorations are exclusively the
reward of Merit, and are conferred in a Grand Chancery, one in
consecutive order every year.
At a Sovereign Sanctuary held on the 20th June, 1885, a Benevolent
Fund was established by appropriating one-third of all sums paid for
Certificates and Charters, in perpetuity, as its foundation.
A full history of the Rite may be obtained from the Grand Secretary
General, and is well worth perusal. Few could rise from its study
without the conviction that our Rite has a legitimate Masonic standing,
second to none in the world, and also the far higher claim to universal
recognition and the zealous support of the Craft.
To strengthen its position, and carry out its principals–the
toleration of all Rites, the Sov. Sanc. has since obtained Charters for
the practice of the Mizraim and Scottish Rites, and is enabled to afford
opportunity for its members to obtain certificates of corresponding
degrees, which carry their due weight in all countries. The Grand Master
General being a member of the 96° in Egypt, the system is assimilated to
the Memphis Rite in Egypt.
The principals of the Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry we may
summarize as follows:–
It is universal, and open to every Master Mason who is in good standing
under some constitutional Grand Losge, it teaches the Fatherhood of God
and the Brotherhood of Man.
The qualification of a Neophyte is probity and honour, it esteems
Masonic worth and learning above social and personal distinctions,
seeking by means of its comprehensive ceremonials to extend Masonic
Knowledge, Morality and Justice, and enforce all those great principals
which have distinguished true Masons in all time.
Its Rituals embrace all Masonry, and are based on those of the Craft
universal ; they explain its symbols, develope [sic] its mystic
philosophy, exemplify its morality, examine its legends, tracing them to
their primitive source, and dealing fairly and truthfully with the
historical features of Symbolical Masonry. They contain nothing in their
teaching but what Mahommedan, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Brahmin, or
Parsee may alike acknowledge.
The government of the Rite is elective, and it extends the hand of
brotherhood to all legitimate Rites. It is in cordial union with a
number of grand bodies of its own or similar Rites, with whom it has
Representatives established, and its influence is silently extending
over the face of the whole globe.
The Degrees of the Rite are divided into three Series, and the
Masters of each section receive the 31-91° and the 32-93°, and
constitute the Judicial Tribunal, 31-91°, and the Mystic Temple, 32-93°,
of which the President or Gd. Master of Light, receives the 33-95°, to
represent his Province in the Sovereign Sanctuary, 33-95°.
It has been ordered by the Sovereign Sanctuary;–
1. That Dispensation may be given to individual Members of the Rite in
any town, where no subordinate body exists, to receive a sufficient
number of Brethren to form a Chapter, Senate, or Council.
2. That CHAPTERS of the Rose Croix (11-18°); SENATES of Hermetic
Philosophers (20-33°) ; COUNCILS of Sublime Masters of the Great Work
(30-90°) ; Mystic Temples–Grand Consistories (32-93°), may be chartered
throughout our jurisdiction, in accordance with the General Statutes.
3. That Grand Mystic Temples–Councils General, (32-94°), may be
constituted in any of the Colonies and possesssions of the United
Kingdom, subject to the General Statutes of the Order, with privileges
similar to the Grand Mystic Temples–Councils General of England, Ireland
and Scotland.
4. Application may be made to the Grand Secretary General, Grand
Chancellor General, or Grand Master General, who will furnish all
information as to fees and the mode of proceeding.
Reprinted from:
The Kneph.
Official Journal of the Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry. John
Yarker, ed. Vol. VIII, No. 1, September, 1888. [page size 7' x 9 3/8"]
Bound in red hardcover. Published for the Sovereign Sanctuary of the
Antient and Primitive Rite of Masonry for Great Britain and Ireland.
First published in
The Kneph. Official Journal of the Antient and Primitive Rite
of Masonry. Kenneth R.H. MacKenzie, ed. Vol. I, No. 7, July, 1881 on
page 63. [page size 7' x 9 3/8"] Bound in red hardcover, printed by the
Crown Printing Company, Crown Court, Milton Street, London, E.C..
Published for the Sovereign Sanctuary of the Antient and Primitive Rite
of Masonry for Great Britain and Ireland, by Bro. James Hill, at 6,
Little Britain, E.C..
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![[Kneph]](http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/kneph/winged_kneph.gif)