Constantine, Masonry and Christianity

R. Stephen Doan, Past Grand Master of Masons in California, was the Grand Orator for the United Grand Imperial Council of the Red Cross of Constantine. He gave me permission to post his Oration on my Blog. I found it thought provoking and I am sure you will also.

Constantine, Masonry and Christianity
by R. Stephen Doan

Randy Phillips was a leading Methodist minister in Los Angeles. He was also a Mason and a member of my Red Cross Conclave. Shortly after I joined Constantine, Randy was the featured speaker at one of our assemblies. During his talk, he explained the three phases of church membership and related them to Masonic membership. In the case of religion, it was Randy’s view that we are attracted to religion by the pageantry, become active because of the fellowship and are ultimately fulfilled by the spirituality. We can say the same about Masonry: we are attracted by what we hear of the ceremonial, become active because of the brotherhood and are ultimately fulfilled as we explore the timeless truths of man’s existence and relationship to the Divine and our fellow creatures through the symbolism of geometry and the working tools and other techniques of stonemasons.

Unlike Masonry, however, Constantine does not use geometry or the working tools and other techniques of stonemasons to explore the timeless truths of man’s existence and relationship to the Divine. Our initiation as a Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine uses the legend of Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity as a symbol of the transition from the Pagan to the Christian Dispensation. As Knights of the Red Cross, we are taught to emulate the life of Constantine after his conversion: his faith in the Triune God, our Omnipotent Ruler, and unity and zeal for the work of our Christian faith, by the encouragement of learning, preservation of Scripture and relief of the poor. As Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, we find the Word of God by the exercise of faith, hope and charity, the pillars of the New Law, in patiently guarding the Sacred Vault wherein our Savior once laid.

Our Red Cross therefore teaches using Christianity, not geometry, or does it? Constantine is one of the few organizations in Masonry which teaches through Christian faith and works. Is there a deeper understanding to be gleaned from Constantine and Christianity on the moral advantages of the study of geometry? If geometry is the first and noblest of sciences and the basis upon which the superstructure of Freemasonry is erected, could it be that geometry is also at the foundation of Christianity?

The key to begin exploring this question is given in the Novice and Knight of Saint John the Evangelist when the Harbinger finds the carefully wrapped parchment with the following words written in bold characters: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We recognize these words as the opening passage of John’s Gospel, and we discern that this must be the True Word of God, although we may be at a loss to understand what significance has this word. We know from Christian theology that this Word was incarnate in Jesus and made man. So, just what is this True Word of God that lived among us?

To understand this passage from John, we must consider the context in which John’s Gospel was written. Being more Gnostic in its approach, John’s Gospel was written to appeal to the Greeks. To do this, the Gospel writer used symbols familiar to Greeks before the Christian era which could be reinterpreted to teach Christian truth. The use of “In the beginning was the Word” is just such a device. This Word in our English version of John’s Gospel was the word Logos in the original Greek text. The Greek understanding of the Logos traces back to the Sixth Century before the Christian era when the philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras, saw in the violent and sometimes conflicting forces of the universe a dynamic harmony which holds these forces together in unity. To the Greeks, the word Logos was understood to represent, among other concepts, this harmony among otherwise conflicting forces. When one force disturbs this harmony, a new equilibrium is created to bring everything back into balance, not the balance that existed before the disturbance, but a new equilibrium which takes this disturbance into account and counterbalances it, a new normal, if you will. If the Logos represented harmony and the Logos was made man in Jesus, then Jesus was the incarnation of that dynamic harmony which unites the universe.

This understanding of the Logos opens unto us a deeper appreciation of Christ’s role in our lives. As Christ is in part for us an exemplar of how we are to live as one with God and our neighbor, the Logos embodied in Christ helps us to understand our individual responsibilities in these relationships. When our peace and unity are disturbed, as often they are by human failing, the trespasser as well as those trespassed upon are bound to return to the harmony embodied in the Logos by forgiving and accepting forgiveness. This understanding of the Logos also helps us appreciate the significance of the Masonic Pillars, Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, or Wisdom, Power and Harmony, as harmony is often considered the root of beauty. The Christian Holy Trinity is indeed better understood in the context of our Masonic Pillars, when we appreciate Jesus as the incarnation of the harmony that keeps the universe one, the third pillar of our fraternity.

Now, with this understanding of the Word and what the Logos requires of us as Christians, reflect on how harmony is taught in Freemasonry. We say that Master Masons are judged by who best can work and best agree, but what symbol teaches how we are taught so to act? Where do we learn the right conduct necessary to work in harmony? It is in part represented by the point within the circle, but it is embodied in the symbol found in probably every American lodge. It is the letter G, the initial of geometry, the great moral science by which we understand how the proportions of the universe are connected, the regularity of planets and seasons, the movement of numberless worlds in the vast expanse of space conducted by one unerring law of nature. Geometry is the scientific explanation of that dynamic harmony which keeps the universe one. It is the science which explains the Logos, the Word in the opening of John’s Gospel. We learn from geometry our place in the preservation of that harmony. When acting in accordance with its dictates, seeking what unites and avoiding that which divides, we not only obey the requirements of geometry imposed on all Masons but we also follow the example of Christ explained by the same harmony or Logos we have now discovered through a deeper understanding of the opening of John’s Gospel.

Geometry is not only the first and noblest of sciences and the basis upon which the superstructure of Freemasonry is erected. Geometry is also an explanation of the Logos incarnate in Jesus which is at the foundation of Christianity. Masonry and Christianity are not contradictory as our religious critics sometimes claim, because both Masonry and Christianity are founded on the same harmony which pervades all nature. Both teach faith in God and love for our fellow creatures through the Logos or harmony animating the universe, represented both in the life of Jesus and in the laws of geometry.

Randy Phillips was of course right. We are fulfilled in Masonry as we proceed on a lifetime journey of spiritual growth through symbols inherited from the old stonemason guilds. Hopefully, today, we have taken a few more steps in that journey as we now speculate on the fundamental similarity of Masonic and Christian teachings. Randy would be pleased. Our journey today as Christian Knights of the Red Cross has not only sharpened our understanding of the Divine Plan as Masons but also as Christians. As leaders in Masonry, let this new understanding strengthen our commitment as Christian Knights to foster harmony by living it, with faith, unity and zeal.