Order of the Masters of Masons tags

As in symbolic ( Craft ) Freemasonry, the degree of the master of the label conveys moral and ethical lessons, using in rituals an allegory based on the construction of the Temple of King Solomon . Events of initiation into a degree require the candidate to recall the apprenticeship degree lessons. Thus, the mark master’s degree is seen as an extension of the apprentice’s degree, and the philosophical lessons passed on during this initiation are approaching a new stage in the Masonic development of a freemason ^[2] . The legend reconciles the Anglo-American version of the legend of Hiram with the 3300 masters of the Freemasons specified in the constitution of James Anderson , who from the masters of the Freemasons become overseers of construction. The candidate is helped to choose the label of the master freemason and is a continuation of another version of the Hiram legend regarding the manufacture, loss and re-finding of the cornerstone in the degree of the Royal Arch ^[3] .

The first mention of the mark master’s degree dates back to 1769, when Thomas Dunkerly, as the provincial great superintendent, introduced the mark master’s degree at the Royal Arch in Portsmouth ^[4] .

After the signing of the alliance between the great lodges of the ancient and modern , and the creation of the United Great Lodge of England in 1813, it was stated that there are only three symbolic ( Craft ) degrees, including the Royal Arch, with the exception of the master mark degree. For this reason, while in the rest of the world the mark master degree was tied to the Royal Arch, in England it was not forbidden until the 1850s. A similar practice was carried out by a group of Scottish Freemasons who used the illegal Bon Accord patent in Aberdeen and created a box in London for this patent. An attempt to add to the symbolic Freemasonry the mark of the master mark was defeated in 1856, and in response to this defeat, the Grand Lodge of the mark masons was created ^[5] .

Just as Freemasonry was spread all over the world in the 18th – 19th centuries, the mark master degree became well organized and now has a worldwide presence and is represented by six grand grand lodges, and the degree itself is practiced in alternative administrative structures. In England, the current great master of the Order of the Masters of the Masons label is Prince Michael of Kent , who is the younger brother of the great master of the United Great Lodge of England, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent .

Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas tried to speculate on the topic of the master mark in their 1996 book “The Key of Hiram”, expressing a controversial version of the construction of the Roslyn Chapel in Scotland (1440-1490), thereby trying to state the connection between the Templars and Freemasonry. According to this version, the first degree of the master of the mark was introduced by William Sinclair, who, according to Knight and Lomas, was the first great master and founder of Freemasonry ^[6] .

England, India and parts of Europe and Australasia - the degree of the mark is assigned in a separate established box of Masons - mark masters. Candidate for improvement must be a master freemason. The next degree, the sailor of the royal ark, is assigned in the box label, which does not apply to the York Charter. In the USA, this degree is among the adjacent Masonic degrees . In Canada, the degree of the seafarer of the royal ark is assigned by the Council of Royal and Elected Masters.

Scotland - degrees of the label pass in the symbolic box as the logical completion of the degree of an apprentice, but to assign this degree requires that the candidate be a master freemason. As an alternative, as an exception, a label can be assigned in the Capitulum of the Holy Royal Arch as a prerequisite for elevation in degrees SKA (Holy Royal Arch, English - HRA, Holy Royal Arch). If the candidate has been ordained in degrees of the mark in the symbolic box, his dedication in the chapter is carried out according to a short ritual of affiliation in the box of the label that belongs to this chapter (they say - “moored” , or “moored” to the chapter; English - “moored”) ^{[ 7]} .

• Royal arch
• Crypt (Freemasonry)
• Ritual Emulation
• York charter
• Order of the Red Cross Konstantin
• Order of the Knights of Masons
• Order of the Secret Mentor
• Organization of additional degrees