WK News Summer 2023 - Magazine - Page 32
ISSUE NO.10 SUMMER 2023 | WEST KENT NEWS
32
A new section has been added to our magazine.
‘Orders Beyond The Craft’ will feature one of the
Orders administered by Mark Masons Hall in each
of our upcoming editions, for information.
ORDERS BEYOND THE CRAFT:
ORDER OF THE SECRET MONITOR
The Order of the Secret Monitor revolves around the
Brotherhood of David and Jonathan and is, in its way, older
than Freemasonry itself having developed from a Dutch
secret society in the 1500s.
The story of David and Jonathan is one of great friendship.
David was the father of King Solomon, who we all know from
our Craft masonry. Originally a shepherd, he became an aide
at the court of Saul, Israel’s first king. David distinguished
himself as a warrior, and his encounter with Goliath is known
to all of us. Jonathan was the eldest son of King Saul and
forged a strong friendship with David. After Saul jealously
turned against David, Jonathan attempted to reconcile them,
but he was only briefly successful. Saul tried to enlist
Jonathan’s aid to kill David, but Jonathan remained David’s
friend and warned him of Saul’s anger so that David hid. The
shooting of arrows is part of this story as well as the various
refuges occupied by David where Jonathan visited him.
Jonathan knew of these hiding places by secret means of
recognition, hence the Order of the Secret Monitor.
The principles of the order are founded upon these grand
examples of friendship and also the social duties of
benevolence and charity.
As Craft masons we meet in Lodges, but an assembly of
Secret Monitors is held in a Conclave. There are three,
outwardly simple but profoundly moving degrees and it is
upon the principles exemplified therein that the system of
communicating friendship and caring among the members of
the Order is promoted in a practical way.
The First Degree recounts the great and abiding friendship of
David and Jonathan, and the lesson this degree imparts is the
intrinsic importance of true friendship. The Second Degree
emphasises the further lesson of fidelity to the brethren. The
Third Degree of the Order is unique in English Freemasonry in
that it is also the ceremony of installation, in which the elected
brother is installed as Supreme Ruler of his Conclave.
As part of the ceremony the newly installed Supreme Ruler
also receives his 'commission' (usually from the Provincial
Grand Supreme Ruler), which carries the rank of 'Supreme
Ruler within the Order'. The third degree prepares a brother
for the responsibilities of leadership and reinforces the new
relationship he has with his brethren as a Supreme Ruler
within the Order.
Unique to the Order of the Secret Monitor are the four
Visiting Deacons who have a special function within our
Conclaves, not dissimilar to that of Lodge Almoner. The
primary responsibility of a Visiting Deacon is to maintain
regular contact, between meetings of his Conclave, with the
members who have been assigned to him, and afford
assistance and support to a brother in time of sorrow and
distress. Reflecting the important nature of their caring role
they are seated at the corners of what is designated the Holy
Ground or Magen David in a Conclave.
The Order is non-denominational and open to every member
of a Regular Craft Constitution. Within Kent we have ten
Conclaves situated throughout the county. Our rituals and
ceremonies generate a deeper understanding of the Craft
principle of brotherly love. In the Order of the Secret Monitor
the Supreme Being is called ‘The Almighty Friend of all
friends’, the significance of which can only be fully
appreciated by members of the Order.
For more information, please contact:
Daniel Unthank PAGDC
Deputy Provincial Grand Supreme Ruler
Email: daniel@holbrookpropertyfinance.co.uk
Tel: 07984456570