Brethren,
I have always wondered what the phrase "the Lodge of the Holy Sts. John at Jerusalem" was referring to or what it actually was. In all of my historic and religious studies I had never come across this phrase or location. So I did some research and found some interesting stuff. Originally, Lodges were dedicated to King Solomon. Later - at least as early as 1598 - Masonry connected her name with that of St. John the Evangelist. Dedications to the Sts. John were made by other organizations as early as the third century, when the Church adopted the two pagan celebrations of summer and winter solstices and made of them our St. John's Day in Summer and St. John's Day in Winter. It was wholly natural for operative Masons, having dedicated their Craft to the Holy Sts. John, to begin to believe the Johns were themselves Craftsmen. Craftsmen must have a Lodge - where should that Lodge be, but in Jerusalem” Hence “The Lodge of the Holy Sts. John at Jerusalem” came into imaginary existence. Today, as we use the phrase as the starting point for a Masonic career, Masons mean only that their Craft is dedicated to these holy men, whose precepts and practices, ideas and virtues, teachings and examples, all Freemasons should try to follow.
From Meridian Height,
Lance Huston
Junior Warden
