Lebanon Chapter #3 Royal Arch Masons

The Royal Arch Degree represents the culmination of the Master Mason’s journey, symbolically rooted in the destruction of the First Temple and the building of the Second. The Royal Arch Degree is the complement of the Master’s Degree, the unfolding into a second volume of the history of that which was lost to its final recovery. Its ceremonies reveal and resolve what was left incomplete in the Master Mason Degree, bringing clarity to its symbolism and fulfilling its narrative.

Within the Royal Arch Chapter, candidates progress through a series of preparatory degrees - Mark Master Mason, Past Master, and Most Excellent Master - each imparting lessons of integrity, harmony, and reverence. These degrees collectively build toward the Most Sublime Degree of Royal Arch Mason, where essential elements of Masonic tradition are fully revealed. As the summit of the Capitular Degrees, the Royal Arch not only completes the symbolic arc of the Blue Lodge, but also provides a more profound understanding of the Masonic journey.

Council #2 Cryptic Masons

The Cryptic Degrees are a set of three degrees controlled by the Select Masters Council. The degrees get their name from the reference to a hidden or secret vault in the degrees, hence the term Cryptic. Only the first two degrees are regularly worked, the third degree, that of Super Excellent Master, is worked as an honorary degree, not being required as a requisite for membership in the Council.  In the United States, all business is conducted in the Select Masters Council, the other two bodies only being opened for the conferral of degrees. 

The Royal Master Degree emphasizes the lessons of patience and fortitude, centered around the Fellowcraft Masons who were artificers fabricating the fittings and furniture of the Temple. The Select Master Degree highlights devotion and zeal, portraying the construction and furnishing of a Secret Vault beneath the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple, and the deposition of those secrets pertaining to the Craft by the three ancient Grand Masters of the Craft. The Super Excellent Master Degree centers on loyalty and faithfulness, focusing on events leading to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple at the hands of the Chaldeans. This Degree is narrated by small interludes of biblical prophecy that highlight the end of the first Temple and the rise of the second Temple. 

Immanuel Commandery #3 Knights Templar

The Order of Knights Templar today exists as the top ranking Masonic organization in the York Rite of Freemasonry. The Order today requires membership in a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and in some jurisdictions, membership in a Council of Royal and Select Masters.

The Knights Templar is a Christian-oriented fraternal organization based on the ancient organization that was founded in the 11th century. Today, the Knights Templar display their courage and goodwill in different ways than the ancient Templars. Members of the Order today organize fund-raising activities such as breakfasts, dinners, dances and flea markets for the support of Masonic-related youth groups, in addition to raising millions of dollars for charitable purposes. 

The Commandery confers Orders, not Degrees. The orders represent a new line of Masonic thought and experience, in that they no longer refer to Ancient Craft Masonry, but to ideals and practices of ancient chivalry and Christianity. The first Commandery order, The Order of The Red Cross, presents the story of the Jewish Prince, Zerubbabel, and his efforts to secure permission of the Persian King Darius to rebuild King Soloman’s Temple. The next order, Knight of Malta, is a departure from Masonry based on the Old Testament and is the first Christian Order. Here, the candidate represents a knightly warrior of the Crusades and is preparing for a trip to the Holy Land. The last order is that of Order of The Temple or Knight Templar, the crowning glory of York Rite Masonry.