The York Rite Explained: Chapter, Council, Commandery

The American York Rite is a sequence of three separate organizations, joined in order, that together take the Master Mason’s story past where the Blue Lodge leaves it.

That “separate” is the part outsiders miss. You do not join “the York Rite.” You join a Chapter. Then, if you choose, a Council. Then, if you choose, a Commandery. Three petitions, three sets of officers, three sets of dues, three sets of regalia, usually meeting in the same building on different nights, often with heavily overlapping membership.

1. The Royal Arch Chapter

The Capitular degrees, and for most men the reason to be here at all.

The Master Mason degree ends on an unresolved note. Something is lost. The Royal Arch is where that thread is picked up and finished, and Masons who describe the Craft degrees as incomplete without it are not being dramatic: in the English constitution, the Royal Arch is formally treated as the completion of the third degree rather than an addition to it.

The degrees are, in the American system:

• Mark Master
• Past Master (virtual)
• Most Excellent Master
• Royal Arch Mason: the summit of the Chapter, and the one everyone means

Members are called Companions rather than Brothers. The presiding officer is the High Priest.

If you join only one appendant body in your life, a great many Masons will tell you to make it this one.

2. The Cryptic Council

The Council of Royal and Select Masters: the Cryptic degrees, so called because they concern a vault, and what was placed in it before the Temple fell.

• Royal Master
• Select Master
• Super Excellent Master (conferred as an honorary or occasional degree in most jurisdictions)

Short, tight, and easily the most atmospheric work in the York Rite. Members are Companions; the presiding officer is the Thrice Illustrious Master.

Jurisdictional variation is real here: in a few places the Council degrees are conferred under the Chapter rather than by a separate body. Ask locally.

3. The Commandery of Knights Templar

The chivalric orders. This is the body with the uniform, the sword, the chapeau, and the cross and crown.

• Order of the Red Cross
• Order of the Knight of Malta
• Order of the Temple: the culminating order

Members are Sir Knights. The presiding officer is the Eminent Commander.

Two things to know before you set your heart on it:

It requires a profession of Christian faith. The Commandery is the only body in the mainstream American York Rite line with an explicitly Christian requirement, and it is not a formality: you will be asked to affirm it. This is the single biggest practical difference between the York and Scottish Rites, and if it is not for you, that is a completely ordinary reason to stop at Council. Nobody will think less of you and plenty of Companions do exactly that.

The uniform costs money. A Commandery outfit (chapeau, sword, belt, baldric, uniform, cross) is the most expensive regalia purchase in mainstream Freemasonry. Some Commanderies keep loaner gear for new Sir Knights and some do not. Ask what the real number is before you petition, not after.

What it costs, in total

Each body carries its own annual dues, typically modest on their own ($30–$75 each is common) but cumulative. Add initiation fees for each, and the Commandery uniform if you go that far.

Many Chapters, Councils, and Commanderies in the same building run a combined festival: one weekend, all the degrees, one bundled fee. If your area does this it is usually the cheapest and fastest route, at the cost of receiving a great deal of ritual in a very short time.

Regalia by body

Each body has its own apron and jewel, and they are not interchangeable:

• Chapter: Royal Arch apron, usually with the triple tau; the Companion’s jewel
• Council: Cryptic apron with the trowel emblem
• Commandery: no apron in the Craft sense; the uniform, chapeau, sword, and the cross-and-crown emblem carry it

Buying ahead is a bad idea. Wait until you are in the body, see what the local men actually wear, and ask the Secretary what is expected. Jurisdictional differences in apron style are real and an apron from the wrong constitution is money burnt.

Where the York Rite is strong

The York Rite line is well established across the northeastern United States, and Pennsylvania is one of its strongholds: if you were raised in a PA Lodge, the Chapter is very likely meeting in the same building.

Related: York Rite vs. Scottish Rite for the head-to-head, and Pennsylvania Freemasonry for what is locally distinctive.

The standing caveat

Names, sequence, and even which body confers which degree vary between jurisdictions, and the differences between the American, English, and Scottish systems are substantial. Everything above describes the mainstream American pattern. Your Grand Chapter is the authority for your state.