Templar Edification

As far as unsung holidays go, few seem to me more deserving of a modern revival than the Nativity of St John the Baptist, known to Shakespeare as Midsummer’s Day. John’s is one of only three birthdays commemorated on the Christian liturgical calendar—quite a coup, considering that the other two are Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. John the Baptist is a wonderfully wily, irascible figure, offering a truly unforgettable introduction to the New Testament. He’s famous for preaching brimstone in the badlands, baptizing various and sundry questionable characters, wearing coarse camelhair clothing, and sustaining himself on locusts and wild honey. What’s most important about John, however, is that he serves as Forerunner to the Christ, the prophesied voice crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord!” In other words, everything that Jesus does, John does first. John has a miraculous birth; he proclaims the coming Kingdom of God; he gathers a cadre of disciples; h...

In the early centuries of the Church, Christianity tended to be rather selective regarding whom we would or would not Baptize. It wasn’t a matter of proving one’s worth; the grace of Christ is freely given to sinners, superabundantly, profligately. But people had to know what they were getting into. Jesus promises His followers a cross, after all, and for nearly 300 years Christians had been persecuted by the Roman Empire. The baptismal symbolism of death and resurrection—joined to Christ’s own death, already died for us, that we need never fear death again, and to Christ’s own eternal life already begun—would have been far more than mere sentiment in those days. Christians courted death simply by professing our faith in Christ. Indeed, many were killed while awaiting their Baptism, thus held to have been “baptized in their blood.” In ancient Rome, catechumens could expect a three-year period of preparation, prayer, and formal instruction for at least an hour a week. Jerusalem sped thi...

     So what is a magus exactly? Strictly speaking, “magi” refers to the Zoroastrian priests of ancient Persia; renowned astrologers for whom sacred fires were the preëminent symbols of the presence of God. The thought of their founding prophet, Zoroaster, falls somewhere between dualism and monotheism, and the faith that he left behind both influenced and was influenced by biblical Judaism.      Persians generally come off pretty well in the Hebrew Bible. When the Chaldeans of the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered Judah and scattered the Jewish people into Exile, most settled in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) right next to Persia (modern day Iran). Zoroastrian ideas of angels, demons, and a coming Final Judgment found fertile ground in Judaism, while Jewish monotheism firmed up Zoroastrian concepts of God.      When Cyrus the Great soon thereafter arose as Emperor of the Persians and Medes, Jewish prophets hailed him as an anointed liberator se...

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unt...

For 300 years Christianity survived as an illegal religion, sporadically persecuted by the might of the Roman Empire. This meant that a life spent witnessing to the Good News of Jesus Christ often culminated in a brutal and very public death. It’s not that all Christians were killed, of course; but it happened regularly enough, and especially to the most prominent in the community, to affect the entire life of the Church. Indeed, our word for witness, “martyr,” has become synonymous with someone who dies for their faith. And we had to make sense of it, didn’t we? For 300 years the followers of Christ were crucified, beheaded, lit on fire, and thrown to wild beasts. What then did all this violence and suffering mean to the people of God? Where could we find Christ in this? Eucharistic celebrations went underground, literally, as Sunday worship took place in catacombs beneath major cities, atop the bones of the martyrs. To this day, many Christian altars look rather suspiciously like...

  A Royal Christian Shield E. John Erfourth, (from) 04 AUG 2019 Figure 1  Observation 1 – 18 th Century   Art taken from “Ovason’s Secret  Architecture”, late 18 th Century.  Citing Edward Kohout,  “Mundane Astrology”, 2002:  “The progression of the signs is  from left to right with the sign of  Cancer upon the keystone.  A reason that the signs appear to  be going in the wrong direction is  that we are looking into the  “temple” from the outside.  A heraldic shield that depicts an  ox , an eagle , a lion and a man are  direct references to the fixed signs  of the zodiac, namely Taurus,  Scorpio, Leo and Aquarius.”  What else might these mean? Anything else? Like what? 1   Figure 2  Observation 2 – Present Day   Citing the Grand Lodge of   Washington State online:  “Royal Arch Masonry tradition teaches us that the symbols on the shield are representative of the ...

September marks the beginning of the liturgical year for the Christians of the East, and the de facto kickoff of educational programming amongst Christians of the West. In either case, this fresh start coincides with an ancient feast: the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September, known in English as Holy Cross Day or simply Holyrood. I will tell you here the story as it was told to me in Jerusalem. Our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, was crucified atop the rock of Golgotha, also known as Calvary, which both mean “skull.” This site was in fact a rock quarry located just beyond the walls of Jerusalem, along a well-traveled road—an ideal location for the public execution of criminals. This much is well known. What we might not realize is that Jesus and the two thieves on either side of Him were the last people put to death at Golgotha. The earthquake reported in the Gospels split a crack in the rock from the quarry to the Temple, a crack which pilgrims can still reach down and to...