of Knights Templar
of the State of Missouri
The Commandery of Knights Templar
"Chivalric Freemasonry"
The various Commanderies of Knights Templar operate under the jurisdiction of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of the State of Missouri, and they in turn under the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the U.S.A.
In the Commandery, the Chivalric Orders of Christian Knighthood are conferred as follows:
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Order of the Red Cross
As the first step in a Commandery of Knights Templar, the Illustrious Order of the Red Cross continues the story of the Royal Arch and deals with a period in Jewish history at the time of the return of the Jews from captivity and the efforts to rebuild the Temple of their God in Jerusalem. The Illustrious Order of the Red Cross, peculiar to the United States, teaches the lessons of the triumph of Truth.
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Order of Knight of Malta
The second Order in the Commandery is the Knight of Malta with its pass degree of Knight of St. Paul or the Mediterranean Pass. This Order is the first Christian Order encountered by the candidate. The ritual is based historically upon one of the old Orders of the Crusades.
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Order of the Temple
This is the third and most impressive Order of the Commandery and is wholly Christian. The Templar tradition derives from the Society of the same name which played so important a part in the Crusades of the Middle Ages. Beautiful lessons of the death and ascension of our Savior are inculcated and the candidate is received into full fellowship, in the most solemn manner.
The only argument which can be used against knightly orders as component parts of the Masonic System is that they are essentially Christian in their character and scope. this, however, arises from the circumstances which are inseparably interwoven in the world's history and which therefore cannot be annulled. We have inherited from the fathers aforetime an organization which has for its symbol the triumph of the Cross and which commemorates the deeds of its defenders. Having accepted the inheritance, we must adhere to the fact that was sealed in blood amid the din of arms and the carnage of battle.
While Freemasonry demands only a belief in God; while Hindu, Mohammedan, Jew and Gentile may worship around its altars, yet it cannot be deemed inconsistent that the Christian Freemason should establish a branch of the fraternity where he may be free to interpret the symbols of the Symbolic Lodge according to his religious belief. Thus the Masonic Orders of Christian Knighthood are the logical outcome of the Christian Mason's belief in Christ as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, whose hand will raise the dead to life and in whose Holy Name the True Word is found and restored at last. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Grand York Rite of Missouri
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