Scottish Knight of Saint Andrew
Duties:
Reverence and obey the Deity. Serve the truth. Protect virtue and innocence. Defend the people against tyranny.
Lessons:
Ideas and instituions was and wane in the great cycle of time which is but change.
For Reflection:
Is virtue an armor stronger than the strongest metal?
Important Symbols:
St. Andrew’s Cross, castle in ruins, armorless knight.
In this degree, the Mason learns that there is no contradiction between religion and science; that religion can be better understood through science and science can be better understood by religion. He who denies science is as fanatical as he who denies religion. Our lifetime is limited in time; thus we must see God within this limited period of our time. Yet, God transcends all time; he is an energy over and beyond time. There is no other energy that creates that energy. There is no end to that energy. Freemasonry is thus the continual effort to exalt the divine in man over the human so that we may come to better understand the nature of God in our time.
The jewel is a St. Andrew’s Cross, of gold, with a large emerald in the center, surmounted by the helmet of a knight, and with a thistle of gold between the arms at the bottom. It is worn suspended from the collar. The emerald signifies the manliness and uprightness of chivalry, its color that of the renewal of virtue, always bright and sparkling. The thistle is the national emblem of Scotland and recalls a tradition that: “the Danes invaded Scotland and stealthily surrounded Staines Castle. They took off their shoes to wade the moat, only to find it dry and filled with thistles. The resultant yells and curses roused the garrison, and the Danes were soundly defeated (Leach, p. 1108).”
The banner of the Order is a green St. Andrew’s Cross on a white field fringed with gold. At the end of each arm of the cross is one of the four Hebrew letters that form the Ineffable Name of Deity. Above the cross is a circle of five stars with a thistle.
A Knight of St. Andrew wears a green collar edged with crimson, over the neck, and a white silk scarf, fringed with gold, and worn from left to right.
Reverence and obey the Deity. Serve the truth. Protect virtue and innocence. Defend the people against tyranny.
Lessons:
Ideas and instituions was and wane in the great cycle of time which is but change.
For Reflection:
Is virtue an armor stronger than the strongest metal?
Important Symbols:
St. Andrew’s Cross, castle in ruins, armorless knight.
In this degree, the Mason learns that there is no contradiction between religion and science; that religion can be better understood through science and science can be better understood by religion. He who denies science is as fanatical as he who denies religion. Our lifetime is limited in time; thus we must see God within this limited period of our time. Yet, God transcends all time; he is an energy over and beyond time. There is no other energy that creates that energy. There is no end to that energy. Freemasonry is thus the continual effort to exalt the divine in man over the human so that we may come to better understand the nature of God in our time.
The jewel is a St. Andrew’s Cross, of gold, with a large emerald in the center, surmounted by the helmet of a knight, and with a thistle of gold between the arms at the bottom. It is worn suspended from the collar. The emerald signifies the manliness and uprightness of chivalry, its color that of the renewal of virtue, always bright and sparkling. The thistle is the national emblem of Scotland and recalls a tradition that: “the Danes invaded Scotland and stealthily surrounded Staines Castle. They took off their shoes to wade the moat, only to find it dry and filled with thistles. The resultant yells and curses roused the garrison, and the Danes were soundly defeated (Leach, p. 1108).”
The banner of the Order is a green St. Andrew’s Cross on a white field fringed with gold. At the end of each arm of the cross is one of the four Hebrew letters that form the Ineffable Name of Deity. Above the cross is a circle of five stars with a thistle.
A Knight of St. Andrew wears a green collar edged with crimson, over the neck, and a white silk scarf, fringed with gold, and worn from left to right.
