The York Rite

First it is important to understand that any organization named ‘Rite’ in Free-Masonry contains by default, the first three degrees of initiation within its system, otherwise is would not be called a rite but a simple appendant body, also there is a primordial difference, between an appendant and a concordant body, an appendant body does not contain the first three degrees within its system (Grotto, Shriner) but a concordant body does while not necessarily conferring them within the said jurisdiction, in America the Rectified Scottish Rite (C.B.C.S.), York (American) Rite, French Rite and Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite are all designated as concordant body and not as appendant.

The York Rite is one of the principal "concordant bodies" of American Free-Masonry, representing a series of progressive degrees. Starting in the blue Lodge with the ‘Preston/Webb or American rite degrees’, then upper or side degrees available to a Master Mason after he has completed the foundational three degrees of the Symbolic (or "Blue") Lodge.

It is not, however, a single, monolithic organization. Rather, the term "York Rite" is a systemic convenience, particularly in the United States, for a collection of separate, autonomous Masonic bodies that would otherwise operate independently. Creating a conservatory of degrees that is very special to the York Rite while still maintaining a structure from the first (Entered Apprentice) to the last (Knight Templar).

The American York Rite bundles these disparate degree systems into a coherent, progressive story that composes an "integrated structure".

The three primary and indispensable bodies that constitute the York Rite system in the United States are:

• The Chapter of Royal Arch Masons (also known as Capitular Masonry)
• The Council of Royal & Select Masters (also known as Cryptic Masonry)
• The Commandery of Knights Templar (also known as Chivalric Masonry)

The organizational thread connecting these autonomous bodies is the requirement of prerequisite membership. Membership in the Royal Arch Chapter is always required and must be maintained to join the other two bodies. In many U.S. jurisdictions, a candidate may proceed from the Chapter directly to the Commandery, as membership in the Council (Cryptic Masonry) can be skipped.

This structural nuance has significant implications for the narrative philosophy of the Rite, as the Cryptic degrees provide crucial, though optional, context.

This specific system—the bundling, structure, and ritualistic content—is not found as a single system worldwide. Outside the United States, the degrees often exist but are organized differently, with significant variations in ritual and governance.

The "American Rite" or The "York Rite"

The term "York Rite" is, in many respects, a historical misnomer. Numerous Masonic scholars and jurisdictions state that it is "more correctly, the American Rite". This argument is based on definitive historical and organizational facts.

While some of the individual degrees and orders that compose the Rite originated in England, Scotland, or Ireland, the system itself—the specific arrangement and synthesis of the Chapter, Council, and Commandery into a single progressive structure—was "developed in America and is largely confined to this country". The Rite's democratic governance and national-level bodies are "American in structure".

The international diffusion of the Rite provides further evidence for its American identity. The York Rite, as a system, did not arrive in Europe until the 20th century, when it was introduced by American troops stationed there during the two World Wars. It was a clear American cultural export, not a return to its place of origin.

The selection of the name "York" was a masterful act of post-Revolutionary Masonic diplomacy. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the newly independent American Grand Lodges needed to establish a sovereign identity. Their lodges had been chartered from English, Irish, and Scottish sources.

• To call their new, synthesized system the "English Rite" was politically untenable after the Revolution.
• To call it the "Scottish Rite" or "Irish Rite" would have been inaccurate and would have introduced the "particularisms" and rivalries of the United Kingdom's Masonic bodies into the new American Republic.

The "York Legend" (explored below) provided the perfect solution. It allowed American Free-Masonry to bypass the modern Grand Lodge of England in London (founded 1717) and claim a symbolic link to a mythical, "immemorial" source of Masonry that was "older and purer".

By adopting the "York" name, American Masons could "symbolically maintain contact with ancient English Free-Masonry, while having historically and politically turned its back on England". It was a claim to ancient legitimacy, not a statement of geographical origin.

The Legend of York and The Mythical Origin of the Name

The Rite's name is derived from the city of York in Yorkshire, England. This is not because the Rite, or even Free-Masonry itself, originated there, but because of a foundational Masonic myth known as the "York Legend" or "Edwin Legend".

This legend, first recorded in the oldest known Masonic documents—the Regius Manuscript (also called the Halliwell Manuscript, circa 1390) and the Cook Manuscript (circa 1490)—claims that the first "general assembly" of Masons in England was convened in York in 926 A.D..

According to this tradition, King Athelstan (a British king converted to Christianity in York) granted a charter to his nephew (or brother), Prince Edwin, to hold this assembly.

While modern critical historians have "torn the old story to shreds," regarding it as a myth rather than a historical fact, its truthfulness is irrelevant to its symbolic function. It was "seized upon by early and uncritical historians" and became a central part of Masonic tradition. For the founders of the American Rite, the legend provided a powerful symbolic connection to "Ancient York Masonry", establishing an origin story of "immemorial" antiquity.

The Foundation of the Preston-Webb and the American Blue Lodge

The Symbolic Lodge Prerequisite

The "Preston-Webb" work is inextricably linked to the American York Rite. In the American system, the Symbolic Lodge is often viewed as the first body of the York Rite.

One source explicitly states that "the symbolic degrees... as conferred in the United States, are degrees of the York Rite". This is because the American ritual for these first three degrees is a distinct evolution from the rituals used in England (such as "Emulation"). American Masons "changed the First three degrees," drastically and is considered the first three a part of the York Work".

Therefore, "Preston-Webb" is the proper name for the family of rituals used to confer the first three Blue Lodge degrees in most American jurisdictions. It is the "American variant of the York Ritual", and its development was essential to the creation of the Rite.

In other countries where the York Rite was imported as a full rite, the first three degrees used are the Preston/Webb or American rite blue Lodge degrees.

The English "Premiers" Lectures

The first half of the "Preston-Webb" name refers to William Preston (1742-1818), a Scottish author and editor who moved to London and became known as "the greatest of all ritualists" of his time. Initiated in 1762, Preston began an extensive program of Masonic research, seeking instruction "everywhere" to understand the lectures of the Craft but is also criticized to have given his own interpretations to these lectures sometimes changing original meanings.

Preston's great contribution was not invention, but reformation. He "collected the fragments of the old rituals" and "brought order out of chaos". In 1772, he published his seminal work, Illustrations of Masonry. This book was a commentary on his new, elaborated system of lectures, which were presented in a "catechetical" (question and answer) format and were known for their beautiful, though lengthy, character. His system was officially adopted by the "Premiers" Grand Lodge of England and "forced the W∴s and practices" of the 18th century to a "much higher quality".

The "Founding Father" and The Free-Mason's Monitor

The second half of the name, and the man responsible for the American synthesis, is Thomas Smith Webb (1771-1819). Webb is widely known as the "Founding Father of the York or American Rite". Born in Boston, he was initiated in 1792 in New Hampshire and immediately began an intensive study of the ritual.

In 1797, Webb published The Free-Mason's Monitor, or Illustrations of Masonry. This book "became the basis of all American ritual". In his preface, Webb explicitly acknowledged his "indebtedness to Preston for the observations on the first three Degrees". Webb, however, did not simply copy Preston; he adapted, edited, and "differently arranged Preston's distributions of the sections" to suit an American context.

Creating the Standard American Ritual

Webb's goal was "National Ritual Unity", at that time in America, blue Lodge degrees were vastly different, with many variations, known as “the great melting pot”. His Monitor was the perfect tool to being a standardization. It was not a "ritual" in the modern sense (a verbatim script of the secret ceremonies) but rather a manual containing the "charges, general regulations, emblems, and an account of public ceremonies".

This monitorial system was a wildly accepted innovation. It provided a public, printed text that standardized the lectures and explanations of the degrees, but was also criticized for innovating. This, in turn, allowed the (unwritten) secret work of the rituals to be disseminated consistently by Masonic lecturers across the expanding United States.

Webb's Monitor "exerted a wide influence in standardizing the work". This "Preston-Webb" work was adopted by "almost every jurisdiction, except Pennsylvania," which retains its own distinct, older ritual system derived from the "Antients".

The Preston-Webb work is not a single, uniform ritual; it is a "general outline". Each American Grand Lodge has its own undisputed ritual, resulting in "many differences" between states. A Mason from one Preston-Webb jurisdiction visiting another will find the work "very similar" but not identical. It is a family of rituals, all descended from Webb's standardization of Preston's lectures.

History and Development

The "Antients," the "Premiers," and the Royal Arch Schism

The creation of the American York Rite is a direct consequence of a great schism in 18th-century English Free-Masonry.

• The "Premiers" (derogatorily called ‘Moderns’): The first Grand Lodge of England was formed in 1717. This body, later known pejoratively as the ‘Moderns’ and today known as the "Premiers," specified that lodges were to confer only the three degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason. All other degrees were considered "spurious". The premieres insisted that the first three degrees “completed the full initiatic journey of the seeker and that nothing more was needed.”
• The "Antients": For the self named Antients, this 1717 declaration was seen as an innovation. They argued that many lodges had been conferring other degrees they considered integral to the Masonic legend. Chief among these was the Royal Arch degree. In 1751, a rival "Antient Grand Lodge" was formed. The "Antients" championed the Royal Arch, considering it the "fourth degree" and the essential completion of the Master Mason's degree, which they claimed the "Premiers" had improperly truncated.
• Other Degrees: During this same period, other degrees emerged, such as the Knights Templar, which "filtered into the lodges of the Antients from Ireland about 1780".
• The Union of 1813: When the "Antients" and "Premiers" finally reconciled in 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), a "solemn act of union" was declared as a compromise. However this compromise was seen as ambiguous as it stated that "Pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more, viz: those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow-Craft, and the Master Mason, INCLUDING THE SUPREME ORDER OF THE HOLY ROYAL ARCH".

The American York Rite is the direct institutional and philosophical heir of the "Antients." The "Antient" philosophy—that the Blue Lodge is incomplete and the Royal Arch is the necessary completion—was not just adopted by the American Rite; it became its entire philosophical foundation. While this philosophy was diluted into a compromise in England, it was codified in its "purer" form in America thus the York Rite was adapted for Antitent Free And Accepted Jurisdictions (except for Pennsylvania).

The American Innovation: Webb's Synthesis of Disparate Degrees

Early American lodges, operating mostly under "Antient" warrants, practiced these "higher" degrees in a disorganized fashion. Thomas Smith Webb's great innovation was to synthesize these disparate parts into a single, coherent Rite.

Webb took the "Antient" Craft degrees (as reformed by Preston), the popular Royal Arch, the obscure Cryptic degrees (which had been "side degrees" in other systems), and the Chivalric Orders and organized them. This bundling of degrees into a progressive narrative is the core American innovation. The degrees were largely English in origin, but the Rite was wholly American in conception.

To make the narrative flow, the American system also innovated and inserted new degrees:

• The Most Excellent Master Degree: This degree described as a "product of American innovation" and "peculiarly American". It is often attributed to Webb and was inserted into the Chapter to bridge the narrative gap between the death of the Temple's architect in the Master Mason degree and the building of the second Temple in the Royal Arch degree.
• The Illustrious Order of the Red Cross: The American Commandery includes this degree, which is not found in the corresponding English system. It was placed at the beginning of the Commandery to serve as a narrative bridge from the Jewish setting of the Royal Arch to the Chivalric setting of the Templar orders.

Formation of the National Governing Bodies

Webb and his contemporaries cemented this new "Rite" not just through ritual, but through a unique organizational structure. They created federal, national-level governing bodies, an idea foreign to the independent, localized bodies in England.

• General Grand Chapter (Royal Arch Masons): Driven by Webb, a convention in Hartford in 1797 established the "Grand Chapter of the Northern States". This body evolved into the General Grand Chapter, which today is the "largest Masonic Body in the world".
• General Grand Council (Cryptic Masons): This body was organized later. For a period, the Cryptic degrees were governed by state Grand Chapters. The General Grand Council was eventually formed in the 1870s.
• Grand Encampment (Knights Templar): This was Webb's greatest organizational achievement. He presented a constitution for a national Grand Encampment in 1799, and it was formally established in 1816 as the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America. This national-level authority described as "unique among Masonic bodies".

This federal, national, and scalable structure is the true genius of the "American Rite." It provided the organizational coherence necessary for the Rite to expand uniformly across the continent.

Philosophy of the York Rite

Completing the Story: From Loss to Recovery

The overarching philosophy of the York Rite is the completion of the story begun in the Blue Lodge. It is built on the "Antient" premise that the Master Mason degree is incomplete. In that degree, the candidate is informed that the "true secrets" of a Master Mason.

The entire purpose of the upper degrees of the York Rite is to conduct the candidate on an allegorical journey to complete de quest of the Master Mason. This degree explores themes such as profound truth, specifically "man's search for life's purpose and the nature of God".

The Rite develops rich Biblical themes, drawing from the Old Testament for its Chapter and Council degrees and the New Testament for its Chivalric Orders. It teaches a progression of moral and spiritual lessons, including honesty, charity, harmony, justice, spirituality, and fortitude.

Lodge, Council, and Chapter

The central allegory is fragmented and presented in a non-linear fashion across the autonomous bodies.

• The Symbolic Lodge (The Loss).
• The Capitular Chapter (The Recovery).
• The Cryptic Council (The Preservation).

This pedagogical structure is deliberate. The candidate's experiential order is: (1) Loss, (2) Recovery, (3) Preservation although the chronological order of the story is: (1) Preservation, (2) Loss, (3) Recovery.

The Mason first learns the problem (Loss) and then the solution (Recovery). Only after he knows the full story does he (optionally) join the Council to receive the "prequel" (Preservation), which provides a profound "Aha!" moment, explaining how the recovery was possible and re-contextualizing his entire Masonic journey.

The Commandery of Knights Templar is philosophically distinct. It does not continue the arc of Loss and recovery allegory, which is completed in the Royal Arch. It is a "new line of Masonic thought" that shifts the focus from the First and Second Temples to the defense of Christian chivalry. It is a capstone of moral application rather than a continuation of the same narrative.

The Capitular Rite

Overview of the "Capstone" Rite

The Chapter of Royal Arch Masons is the foundational body of the York Rite. It is governed internationally by the General Grand Chapter. It is known as "Capitular Masonry" because its final degree, the Royal Arch, is considered the "capstone" or crowning stone of the "entire structure" of Ancient Craft Masonry. The local body is a "Chapter," and its presiding officer is the "Excellent High Priest". The Chapter confers four distinct degrees.

The Degree of Mark Master Mason

The first degree conferred in the Chapter is, philosophically, an extension or "expansion" of the Blue Lodge's Fellow Craft (second) degree. The legend centers on the Fellow-Crafts working in the quarries during the building of King Solomon's Temple and the system of "marks" used to identify their work and receive their wages.

The degree teaches the lessons of "regularity, discipline, and integrity", "the advantages of discipline and education", and the nobility of labor. It also significantly expands on the Blue Lodge lesson of charity, illustrating the duty to assist a distressed brother. Its working tools, the Chisel and Mallet, symbolize the process of refining one's character. This degree is of significant antiquity, with records of "marks" being used by speculative Masons dating to 1600, and a form of the degree existing as early as 1599.

The Degree of Past Master (Virtual)

This degree is a fascinating "historical vestige" of Masonic ritual evolution. The central lesson is harmony and "that he who would rule others must first learn to rule himself".

Its entire existence is based on an ancient tradition that only Masons who had actually been elected and served as the Master of a Symbolic Lodge (known as "Actual Past Masters") could be exalted to the Royal Arch degree. This rule created a significant bottleneck, "prevent[ing] many worthy brethren from receiving the full information" of Masonry.

Rather than simply abolishing the ancient custom, the American Rite created a "ritualistic hack." They invented the "Past Master (Virtual)" degree. This is a short, simulated ceremony that confers the title "Past Master" on the candidate for the sole purpose of making him eligible for the Royal Arch. The candidate becomes a "Virtual," not an "Actual," Past Master. The degree is a "fictitious" or "quasi" past mastership and confers no rank or privileges in a Symbolic Lodge.

This innovation of creating a ‘virtual’ Past Master, was largely criticized for when first implemented, for ignoring a rule that was put in place for a reason and ruining the spiritual slow pace initiatic journey of a Free-Mason. It was also criticized for administering a title of Past Master to a Mason that was not a Past Master. While these criticism have subsided over the years, there is a new resurgent movement within American Free-Masonry to re-establish the requirment to an actual Past Master to obtain the upper degrees to ‘rectify’ that innovation.

The Degree of Most Excellent Master

This degree is a described as a "product of American innovation," and "peculiarly American," and often ascribed to Thomas Smith Webb. Its function is purely narrative: it bridges the story between the Blue Lodge and the Royal Arch. The Master Mason degree ends. The Royal Arch degree begins centuries later. The Most Excellent Master degree fills this gap. It teaches the lesson of reverence and represents the completion of one's spiritual and moral work.

The Degree of Royal Arch Mason

This is the "summit" and "climax" of the Capitular Rite and, for the York Rite, the completion of Ancient Craft Masonry. This degree fulfills the promise of the Master Mason degree it offers a philosophical completion of the Master Mason degree.

The Cryptic Degrees

Overview of the "Cryptic" Degrees

This body is governed by the General Grand Council. The degrees are called "Cryptic" because a "crypt or underground room figures prominently in the legends". The Council's philosophical role is to provide the "prequel" to the Masonic allegory the initial preservation".

Structurally, the Cryptic degree's position is the most ambiguous in the American system. In some jurisdictions, it is a mandatory step, but in many, it is optional and can be "skipped" to join the Commandery. This creates a significant narrative weakness, as a Mason may experience the "Recovery" without ever learning how or why it was "Preserved" in the first place, a story told only in the Council.

The Degree of Royal Master

The first degree of the Council teaches the lessons of "patience and fortitude". The legend is set before the completion of the Temple and centers on a conversation between a Fellow-Craft artificer and H∴A∴. It is unique in that its allegorical time frame begins before the drama of H∴A∴ and concludes after. It focuses on why loss happened.

The Degree of Select Master

This degree is the narrative key to the entire York Rite. It teaches "devotion and zeal". The legend dramatizes the "construction and furnishing". It shows the three ancient Grand Masters in the act preservation for a future time.

This degree "bridges the events surrounding the concealment and loss and the events leading the Royal Arch Degree". It is the direct prequel to the Royal Arch. The Stone of Foundation is its central symbol with a very profound meaning.

The Degree of Super Excellent Master

This degree is an honorary or "side" degree in many jurisdictions; it is not required for advancement and is "not a degree of the Crypt". It is, however, a very "dramatic and spectacular" ceremonies of the York Rite. It serves as a narrative bookend to the Royal Arch. It provides the crucial historical context for why the Temple needed to be rebuilt.

The Chivalric Orders

Overview of the "Chivalric" Orders

The Commandery of Knights Templar is the final body in the York Rite progression. It is unique in several respects. Unlike the preceding bodies of the Rite, which confer Degrees, the Commandery confers Orders, a term of chivalric character rather than Masonic progression.

The adoption of this terminology was taken from the French Rite and its Orders of Wisdom, though for a very different reason. In the French Rite directly stems from the Premiere Grand Lodge and is one of the oldest systems of upper degrees in existence, the term Orders was chosen precisely because that Rite held that the full Masonic journey ends at the Third Degree; anything beyond it was not a continuation of the Masonic story, but a series of moral and philosophical teachings.

The York Rite, which stems from the Antient tradition that considered the Craft story unfinished at the Master Mason Degree, continued that narrative through additional degrees, the Mark, Royal Arch, and Cryptic Degrees. However, when the system reaches the Commandery, the story of the Craft concludes, so the York Rite inspiered by the French Rite, named these degrees, Orders.

Second, its governance is unique among Masonic bodies. Local Commanderies and state Grand Commanderies are all subservient to one single national body: The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America.

Philosophically, it represents a "new line of Masonic thought," moving definitively away from the Ancient Craft "stone-builder" allegory to the "ideals and practices of ancient chivalry and Christianity".

The Christian Requirement

This is the Commandery's most defining and controversial feature. Unlike the Blue Lodge or the other York Rite bodies, which require only a belief in a Supreme Being, membership in the Commandery is open only to Masons (who must be Royal Arch Masons) who profess to be "a firm believer in the Christian religion". The entrant must take an obligation to "defend the Christian faith", although in recent years, due to a large drop in membership some Commanderies have been less strict in that requirement.

This requirement is for a Christian belief, but it is not necessarily Trinitarian. A proposal at a recent national Triennial Conclave to add a specifically Trinitarian test was "struck down," meaning that non-Trinitarian Christians (such as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are generally eligible for membership, so long as they can, in good conscience, "declare themselves a Christian".

It is critical to note that the Masonic Knights Templar does not claim any direct historical or lineal descent from the medieval military order of Knights Templar. This is explicitly stated. The connection is symbolic and philosophical, a product of 18th-century romanticism.

The Illustrious Order of the Red Cross

This is the first Order conferred in the Commandery. It is an American innovation in this position and serves as a brilliant narrative bridge. Its theme is not Christian, but is based on the Old Testament/Apocrypha. The Order teaches the lesson of Truth. It transitions the candidate from the Jewish/Temple-based allegory of the Chapter to a chivalric court setting, preparing him for the Orders of Knighthood.

The Order of Malta

This is the first explicitly Christian Order in the York Rite. It is preceded by a short "passing order" called the Passing Order of St. Paul, or the Mediterranean Pass. The Order teaches the lesson of Faith. Its symbolism is derived from the historical Knights Hospitaller of St. John, who later became the Knights of Malta. The symbol is the eight-pointed Maltese Cross, representing the eight Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount.

The Order of the Temple

This is the "crowning glory" of the York Rite and is considered by some the "most beautiful and solemn" Order of the York Rite. The candidate is tested on his faith, courage, and humility through a series of "trials". The Order is based on the romanticized traditions of the medieval Knights Templar, which are used to "impart moral instruction consistent with the biblical teachings of the Christian tradition". The central lessons are self-sacrifice and reverence, culminating in a solemn ceremony where the candidate is dubbed a "Knight of the Valiant and Magnanimous Order of the Temple".

The Broader York Rite Universe, Invitational and Honorary Bodies

Beyond the three (or four, including the Blue Lodge) progressive bodies of the York Rite, there exists a vast constellation of associated "Honorary Bodies" or "Invitational Bodies". Membership in these is by invitation only and is not a right. These invitations are typically extended only to York Rite Masons who are in good standing (usually requiring Royal Arch membership at minimum) and who have "contributed in some significant way" to the fraternity.

These bodies include, but are not limited to:

• Allied Masonic Degrees (AMD)
• Order of Knight Masons
• Order of Saint Thomas of Acon
• York Rite Sovereign College of North America
• Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priests (HRAKTP)
• The Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine
• Knights of the York Rite Cross of Honor (KYCH): This is arguably the most prestigious service-based honorary body. An invitation is extended only to those Masons who have demonstrated supreme dedication to all the York Rite bodies by being elected and serving a full term as the presiding officer of all four bodies:
  • Worshipful Master of a Symbolic Lodge
  • Excellent High Priest of a Royal Arch Chapter
  • Illustrious Master of a Council of Royal & Select Masters
  • Eminent Commander of a Commandery of Knights Templar

This requirement represents decades of dedicated leadership and is an exceptionally high honor.

From America to the World, the International Diffusion of the Rite

Expansion in the United States

The American Rite was born from the "Antient" lodges that dominated 18th-century American Free-Masonry. It was standardized by Thomas Smith Webb's Monitor and organized by the creation of General Grand Bodies. This "Webb work" was then spread by dedicated Masonic lecturers, or "disciples" of Webb, such as John Barney, who was instrumental in establishing the work in states like Ohio. This system rapidly became the dominant form of Free-Masonry throughout the United States though it originally encountered resistance from ‘modern’ or ‘premiere’ jurisdictions seeing them as innovation, the premiere jurisdictions originally insisted that the full initiation was completed at the third, Master Mason degree and that any other degrees “completing” the story were innovating.

Adoption in Canada

Canada's Masonic landscape is a mix of English and American traditions. Many Canadian jurisdictions officially adopted the "Ancient York Rite" work "as practised in the State of New York". However, many other lodges practice the "Canadian Rite," which is "quite similar" to the English "Emulation" work. In provinces like Alberta, the two Rites exist side-by-side. The "American, Canadian, or York Rite" structure is well-established, with the U.S.-based General Grand Chapter (Royal Arch) having jurisdiction over several Canadian provinces.

Diffusion into Latin America

The "American Rite" was exported south from the United States. It was first introduced to Mexico in the 1820s. It saw a major revival in the 20th century, largely through the efforts of "English-speaking expat lodges". The system is also found in other nations, including Argentina and Chile. The U.S. General Grand Chapter (Royal Arch) maintains jurisdiction over many chapters throughout Central and South America.

Establishment in the Philippines

The American York Rite structure is also present in the Philippines. The U.S.-based General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons has jurisdiction over the Grand Chapter of the Philippines, and there is an active "Philippine York Rite".

Late Arrival in Europe

The Rite's diffusion pattern is the strongest evidence for its "American" identity. The York Rite, as an American system, is "little known to European Free-Masons". It "did not arrive in Europe until quite recently, when American troops were stationed there during the two world wars". It was exported from America to Europe, not the other way around and is encountering difficulties to attract.

The individual degrees (such as the Royal Arch and Mark Master) are practiced widely in Europe, but their organizational system is completely different. For example, in England:

• The Royal Arch is "automatically included in the Master Mason's Degree" as part of the 1813 Union, attached to a Blue Lodge.
• The Mark Master degree is conferred in a separate "Grand Lodge of Mark Masters".
• The Cryptic degrees are conferred in a different order and under a separate body, the "Order of Royal and Select Masters".

The American bundling of Chapter, Council, and Commandery into one progressive "Rite" is what makes the system unique.

York Rite vs. Scottish Rite

For a Master Mason in the United States seeking "further light," the primary choice is between the York Rite and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (and to a very much lower degree, the French (Orders of Wisdom) and Rectified Scottish Rite (R.E.R./C.B.C.S.)). Both share the ultimate goal of "Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth", but they differ significantly in philosophy, structure, and practice.

The York Rite is often described as. A common and useful analogy is that "York Rite is a history major, Scottish Rite is a philosophy major, and the Shriners are the Greek frats".

Article By Antony R.B. Augay P∴M∴