The Remnants of the Jerusalem Church
Survivors of the Jewish war of AD 66-70 communicated the essence of Jesus’s message to the British Isles, via Alexandria in Egypt. A sect called the Ebionim or Ebionites were direct descendants of James’s church, the name being the same as the Qumranians used for themselves – Ebionim, which meant ‘the poor’. This sect held the teachings of James the Just in high regard and believed that Jesus was a great teacher but not a god. They hated Paul, whom they viewed as the enemy of the truth. ‘Ebionite’ and ‘Nasorean’ were completely interchangeable and these people were condemned, under both names, but the Church of Rome as heretics. All descendants of the Jerusalem Church except for the deviant Pauline division believed that Jesus was a man and not a god, so it is really the bejewelled Vatican and its offspring that are the true pagans and ‘heretics’.
Christianity had first come to Ireland from Alexandria via Spain as early as AD 200 and the country’s isolation from Romanised Europe permitted the development of a distinctive type of Christianity. In AD 432 Patrick went to Ireland and later in his life he is reputed to have been shipwrecked off the northern coast of Anglesey. He sought refuge from the storm in a cave on a small island. When the saint was safely ashore on the headland, he built the church of Llanbadrig. According to Catholic versions he was supposed to have been travelling from Rome, but Patrick’s surviving writings show him to have been a follower of the ‘Arian heresy’ in that he did not believe in the Virgin birth or that Jesus was anything other than mortal!
Such ideas were actively persecuted by the Roman Church, but they had no power in the many kingdoms within Ireland, Scotland and northern England until the Synod of Whitby in AD 664. Their tradition of Saint Patrick claims that he introduced mainstream Roman Christianity into the country in the fifth century AD, but the system of bishops with territorial dioceses, modeled in the Roman Empire’s administrative system, just did not exist at this time. This is a typical attempt by the Roman Church to hijack an existing local saint and change his story to reflect their preferred version of history. The truth is that during the fifth and sixth centuries Irish monasteries became great centers of learning under the auspices of the Celtic Church, sending out such missionaries as saints Columba, Iltut and Dubricius to the Celtic fringe of Europe.
What was for most of Europe a ‘Dark Age’ was for Ireland a golden period when it was the greatest place of knowledge in the Christian world. The Celtic Church spread from Ireland to Wales, Scotland and northern England, and its hermits and priests built many small churches in the wilder parts of the west of Britain. These were not churches built to serve the needs of the local population for worship, since modern geographical studies show that most of these very early churches were not in centers of population at all. (1) The founder of every monastery or convent was considered a saint.
The origin of these northern Europeans is now beyond doubt as DNA analysis of some modern-day Celts from remote communities have shown a match with some north African tribal groups. Jamesian Christianity had grown from the land of Sumer.
On being told the story of Jesus, one Celtic king accepted it right away, saying that ‘Christianity had been with them for a thousand years!’ (2) The new religion merged with some of the old druidic beliefs and grew to cover Ireland, Scotland, Wales and northern and south-western England. The Celtic Church differed greatly from the Roman type of Christianity that had swept the rest of Europe. It did not believe:
The Virgin Birth
The Divinity of Jesus
That the New Testament Superseded the Old
That Original Sin was inevitable but that it could be atoned by individual willpower and good works.
It did keep:
The Druidic Tonsure (The front half of the head was shaved)
A Dating of Easter based on the Full Moon and the Jewish Calendar
Following a fifty-year debate, the Roman Church officially absorbed the Celtic Church at the Synod of Whitby held in AD 664.
A little book, no more than four inches by two and a half inches, the book on Royal Arch Freemasonry, was privately printed in 1915. This predated the changes that have been made to the ritual of the Holy Royal Arch, due to pressure on Grand Lodge from sources outside of Masonry. Here was the original ritual, recorded before all the recent changes and innovation that have been carried out by men who did not understand the importance of the tradition with which they so readily tampered.
In the pages of this book was nothing less than the complete and unaltered story of the unearthing of the Temple scrolls!
The candidate for this degree is first tested on the questions of the first three ‘Craft’ degrees before he is admitted. The room he enters is different and its officers are the ‘Three Principals’. They form what is called a Sanhedrin, the Jewish name for the elder council of the Second temple, representing the powerful triad of Priest, King and Prophet. They claim to be named after the three principals who are reputed, by the Order, to have held what is called the third, or Grand and Royal Lodge in the second Temple after the return from captivity in Babylon.
This triad was composed of Haggai the Prophet; Jeshua, son of Josedech the high priest and heir to the traditions of Aaron and the Levites; and Zerubbabel, King of the line of David. The two previous Lodges were referred to as the First or Holy Lodge, which was opened by Moses, Aholiab and Bezaleel at the foot of Mount Horeb in the wilderness of Sinai; and the second or Sacred Lodge held by Solomon, King of Israel, Hiram, King of Tyre and Hiram Abif in the bosom of Mount Moriah.
The Master Mason who wants to be ‘exalted to the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch’ must first prove himself before he is given a grip and a password (the meaning of which is “my people having obtained mercy’) to allow him to enter. The candidate wears his Master Mason’s apron and is blindfolded with a length of rope tied about his waist. Before the candidate is allowed into the Lodge room (in this degree called the Chapter) the pedestal which features later in the ceremony is covered over. The candidate is questioned then asked to kneel. The First Principal then checks that the Candidate believes in the true and living God Most High before asking the candidate to advance towards the veiled pedestal in a sequence of seven steps which mimic the actions of a Jewish Priest of Yahweh approaching the Holy of Holies in the First Temple. The candidate is told that he has now arrived at the crown of a vaulted chamber into which he must descend. To do this it is necessary to remove a keystone; he is then lowered to his knees whilst Proverbs 2:1-9 and 3:13-20 are read.
The candidate is then told that he must search in the darkness to see if anything has been secreted there. A scroll of vellum is placed in his hands and he is asked what is on the scroll, but has to reply that deprived of light he cannot tell.
The candidate is once again ‘lowered’ into the vault and Haggai 2:1-9 is read.
At this stage the candidate is obligated. The blindfold is now removed and the candidate is then asked to read the contents of the scroll that he found. The candidate then reads Genesis 1:1-3, following which the First Principal says:
’Such, newly-exalted Companion, are the first words of the Sacred Volume, which contains the treasures of God’s revealed will. Let us praise and magnify His Holy Name for that knowledge of Himself which He has vouchsafed to us, and let us walk worthily of that light which has shone around us.’
The ceremony continues with a ritual telling of the story of how the scroll came to be found. The candidate leaves and is readmitted, dressed as a Royal Arch Mason; he is joined by two Companions and the three are referred to as ‘the three sojourners’, known as the three Master Masons of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego. As they enter they take part in a ceremony known as Passing the Veils, which represents a Priest of the Temple approaching the Holy of Holies of the Temple of Solomon. This ritual completed, they present themselves to the First Principal, describing themselves as three children of the captivity who have heard that he is about to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem and beg permission to assist in the work. The First Principal questions them about their supposed origins, to which they reply that they are form Babylon and claim to be nobly born, descended from a race of patriarchs and kings who were led into captivity by Nebuzaradan, Captain of the Guard to Nebuchadnezzar until they were released by King Cyrus of Persia. Cyrus defeated the Babylonians and then issued a proclamation:
’The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem; which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? His God be with him; and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He which is God) which is in Jerusalem.
The sojourners explain that as soon as they had heard this, they had returned to Jerusalem to offer their services. Zerubbabel inquires how they wish to be employed. The three reply that they will be glad to be employed in any way which Zerubbabel is pleased to appoint them. Taking this as a sure indication that they must be qualified for offices of importance Zerubbabel tells them that only lowly tasks are left to be filled and that they will have the job of preparing the foundation of the most holy place, for which purpose they are supplied with the necessary tools. They are also warned that if in removing the ruins they should make any discovery of importance they are to communicate to none but the three Principals sitting in Council. They retire once more from the Chapter.
In the next part of the ceremony the three masons from Babylon again seek admission to the Chapter, bring with them news of a discovery. Once they are admitted the First Principal requests them to relate their story:
Early this morning on resuming our labors we discovered a pair of pillars of exquisite beauty and symmetry; proceeding with our work, we discovered six other pairs of equal beauty, which, from their situation, appeared to be the remains of the subterranean gallery leading to the Most Holy Place; on clearing away the fragments and rubbish which obstructed our progress, we came to something which se4med to be solid rock, but accidentally striking it with my crow, it emitted a hollow sound. We then cleared away more of the loose earth and rubbish, when we found that instead of a solid rock there was a series of stones in the form of an arch, and being aware that the architect of the previous structure had designed no part of it in vain, we determined to examine it, for which purpose we removed tow of the stones, when we discovered a vault of considerable magnitude, and immediately cast lots who should descend.
The lot fell on me; when, least any noxious vapors or other causes should render my situation unsafe, my companions fastened this cord or life line round my body, and I was duly lowered into the vault. On arriving at the bottom, I gave a preconcerted signal, and my companions gave me more line, which enabled me to traverse the vault; I then discovered something in the form of a pedestal and felt certain marks or characters thereon, but from the want of light I was unable to ascertain what they were. I also found this scroll, but form the same cause I was unable to read its contents. I therefore gave another preconcerted signal, and was drawn out of the vault bringing the scroll with me. We then discovered from the first sentence that it contained the records of the Most Holy Law, which had been promulgated by our God at the foot of Mount Sinai.
This precious treasure stimulated us to further exertion. We removed another stone, and I again descended into the vaulted chamber. By this time the sun had attained its greatest altitude, and shining in all its splendor, darted its rays immediately into the aperture, which enabled me to distinguish those objects I had before but imperfectly discovered. In the center of the vault I saw a pedestal of pure virgin marble, with certain mystic characters engraven thereon, and a veil covering the upper face of the altar. Approaching with reverential awe, I lifted the veil, and beheld what I humbly supposed to be the Sacred Word itself. I replaced the Veil on the sacred pedestal, and was again raised out of the vaulted chamber. We hem closed the aperture, and hastened hither, to report to your Excellencies the discoveries which we have made.
The precise moment of discovery must have been at the hour of high twelve, the time when Seqenenre was at his final devotions to Amen-Re and the sun was at its meridian, which it is always said to be for Freemasons. The timing is no doubt symbolic, but what intriguing symbolism.
Zerubbabel then asks the sojourner to tell him what the word was that he found, and receives this fascinating reply:
’That we must beg to be excused from for we have heard with our ears, and our forefather have declared that in their time and in the old times before them it was lawful for none but the High Priest to pronounce the name of the True and Living God Most High, no him but once a year, when he alone entered the Holy of Holies and stood before the ark of the covenant to make propitiation for the sins of Israel.’
The candidate is given an explanation of this word which was found on the pedestal:
’It is a compound word and its combinations form the word Jah-Bul-On. Jah the first part, is the Chaldean [Sumerian] name of God and signifies his essence and majesty incomprehensible; it is also a Hebrew word signifying “I am” and “shall be”, thereby expressing the actual, future and eternal existence of the Most High. Bul is an Assyrian word, signifying Lord or Powerful, it is itself a compound word signifying in or on; and Bul signifying Heaven on High, therefore this word means Lord in Heaven or on High. On is an Egyptian word, signifying Father of All, and is also a Hebrew word implying strength or power, and expressive of the omnipotence of the Father of all. All the significations of these words may, therefore, be thus collected: - I am and shall be; Lord in Heaven; Father of all.’
The word Jah-Bul-On was not quite accurately explained by the Royal Arch Freemasons. The first part, ‘Jah’, is the Hebrew word for their god with a Sumerian connection. It can be seen in the name of the prophet Elijah (El being the ancient word for a god). The second part is usually spelled ‘Baal’, the great Canaanite god whose name does indeed mean ‘Lord on high’. The ancient Egyptian word for father was ‘it’, not ‘on’. ‘On’ was the original name of Heliopolis, the city of the sun god Re. The Greeks identified Baal with their sun god Helios and his city Heliopolis. ‘Jah-Baal-On’ was the names of the three great gods, of the Jews, the Canaanites and the Egyptians, all of whom were referred to as the ‘Most High.’ If this was indeed carved upon a stone found at the center of the Jerusalem Temple, its creators must have deliberately merged the three forms of God into one ultimate deity.
The type of arch described in the ceremony is an arrangement of stone supporting each other in compression to form a curved load-bearing structure which was unknown at the time of Zerubbabel.
In this Masonic legend, the visiting ‘highly skilled’ masons removed the keystones of an arch and then stood underneath it without in any way shoring up the rest of the arch. They showed great concern about the possibility of being overcome by noxious vapours to the extent of fixing a safety rope, but were unworried about the havoc they had caused to the structural integrity of the roof. These were not the actions of stonemasons, let alone ones ‘highly skilled in architecture’, but it makes a lot of sense as a record of the actions of a gang of treasure-hunting knights, searching in underground vaults beneath the ruins of the Herodian Temple.
A duplicate of the Qumranian copper scroll had been deposited in the ‘Shith’, or cave, directly beneath the altar of the Temple – the cave that was capped with the marble block with a ring at its center. This was the stone that the Templars lifted and descended to the vault below.
In 1894 a group of British Army officers, with a budget of just five hundred pounds, set out to try and map the vaults below the ruins of Herod’s Temple. The contingent of Royal Engineers led by Lieutenant Charles Wilson conducted some excellent work under very adverse conditions and they could confirm that the chambers and passageways they found were often vaulted with keystone arches. They were not the first visitors. They came across Templar artifacts discarded some seven hundred and forty years previously. These consisted of part of a sword, a spur, part of a spear or lance, and a small Templar cross. They are now in the care of Robert Brydon, the Templar Archivist for Scotland.
The ‘Heavenly Jerusalem’ Scroll
An illustration titled ‘The Heavenly Jerusalem circa 1200 AD’ was housed in Ghent University Library. It showed a vision of a rebuilt Jerusalem, only this was no artist’s impression; it was a highly symbolic diagram.
The stylized city shows twelve towers: one principal heavenly tower, two major towers arising from the central pillars, three lesser towers with their own pillars and six background towers. The towers that rise directly from the two main pillars are supporting a curved archway and the central Heavenly tower; both are identified with Jacob, or James! James became both the mishpat and tsedeq pillars after the death of Jesus. The most impactful motifs in the whole drawing were unmistakable – three Masonic squares and compasses!
Dr. Martine De Reu, the conservator of manuscripts and rare books at the Univesiteitsbibliotheek, provided a background to the illustration. We were looking at a copy of one of the scrolls buried by James’s church and found by the Templars.
In around AD 1119, Hugues de Payen and his small band of primitive archaeologists found the secret scrolls. These knights were completely illiterate, so they decided to get them translated. Geoffrey de St Omer, the second in charge to Hugues de Payen knew an elderly canon by the name of Lambert, who was a retire schoolmaster of the Chapter of Our Virgin in St Omer. He died in 1121, sadly without completing his encyclopaedia. (3)
One of the most famous of all of Lambert of St Omer’s works is his hasty copy of a drawing that depicts the heavenly Jerusalem. It shows that the two main pillars of the heavenly Jerusalem are both named ‘Jacob’, and apparently shows the founder to be John the Baptist. There is no mention of Jesus at all in this so-called Christian document.
The document dates from over five hundred years before the Masonic square and compasses symbol was first officially used. The ‘squares’ have no possible reason for being placed in the picture. This symbol of Freemasonry was used by the Jerusalem Church. This double use of James dates the creation of the original to the nineteen years between the crucifixion of Jesus and the stoning of James.
The illustration shows the three huge squares tucked incongruously into balconies with the accompanying compasses directly above in the apex of each tower. This trio sit beneath the twin pillars of James, indicating their subordinate position. Although we cannot make out the one on the left-hand, the right-hand one is identified as Andrew and the central one, Peter. Unfortunately for the Catholic Church and their claim to be the direct descendants of Jesus’s authority via Peter, this scroll clearly confirms that James was the leader of the Jerusalem Church and Peter was a secondary person.
The subject of the lost secrets of Freemasonry is discussed between the Worshipful Master and his two wardens:
Q: Why leave the east to go to the west?
A: In search of that which was lost.
Q: What was that which was lost?
A: The genuine secrets of a Master Mason.
Q: How became they lost?
A: By the untimely death of our Grand Master Hiram Abif.>br>
Q: How do you hope to find them?
A: By the centre.
Q: What is a centre?
A: That point, within a circle, from which every part of its circumference is equidistant.’
The Royal Arch Degree has what is called a ‘tracing board’ which is a visual compilation of the subject matter of the Order. It is all about the excavation of the Temple. In the background we see Jerusalem and the ruins of the Temple strewn about, and in the foreground the excavated entrance to the underground vault. Inside a central panel there are seven steps rising to a tessellated pavement on which there are digging tools as well as building tools, a square and compasses and a scroll. Around the edge of this panel are the badges of the twelve tribes of Israel and, at the top, what are claimed to be the four principal banners of Judah (a lion and royal crown), Reuben (a man), Ephraim (an ox) and Dan (an eagle).
The Impact of the Nasorean Scrolls
The nine knights discovered a treasure that they could not share with the world at large. The find did have an immediate impact on their home country, France. It took several decades for the Order established by Hugues de Payen and his fellow founders in AD 1118 to become one of the most powerful forces in Christendom.
In a single century from 1170 no fewer than eighty cathedrals and almost five hundred abbeys were built in France alone, involving more masonry than ever cut in ancient Egypt. (4) These buildings were built to a startling new plan on a scale never seen before. A classic example of these super-buildings is Chartres Cathedral.
The instructions that the nine knights recovered from the vaults of the Temple at Jerusalem had been left by the Nasoreans just before they failed in their own mission to build Heaven on Earth.
The Templars proceeded to give the world a new, supreme level of operative masonry.
The Templars became masters of both speculative masonry and operative masonry.
CONCLUSION
The Celtic Church rejected such central tenets as the virgin birth and the divinity of Jesus. The Celtic Church had been forcibly consumed by the Roman Catholic Church in the middle of the seventh century.
The original ritual of the Royal Arch Degree of Freemasonry provided the complete story of the unearthing of the scrolls. One problem was it described the events as happening on the site of Zerubbabel’s Temple rather than Herod’s. It referred to the discovery made by the Templar knights at the beginning of the twelfth century, because keystones and vaulted arches had not been invented until the Roman period.
The image used on the Royal Arch Degree ‘tracing board’ had shown in detail the excavation of the Temple and the layout of the vault beneath the rubble that held the scrolls.
The identification of the Heavenly Jerusalem as a copy of one of the scrolls taken by Geoffrey de St Omer to Lambert at the Chapter of Our Virgin in St Omer was a breakthrough. The use of the Masonic square and compasses in this picture is blatant, and James was the two central pillars of the New Jerusalem.
(1)E.G. Bowen: Settlements of the Celtic Saints in Wales
(2)C. Matthews: The Elements of the Celtic Tradition
(3)Private correspondence with the Librarian of Ghent University
(4)C. Frayling: Strange Landscape
