Perfect Master
Perfect Master is the fifth degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Charles T. McClenachan's 1885 version centres on remembrance of Hiram Abiff and the respect owed to a worthy person after death. It follows Secret Master within the Lodge of Perfection.[1]
Remembrance of Hiram
The degree's legendary setting is the period of mourning after the death of the Temple's master builder. Adoniram is charged with arranging a memorial, which King Solomon subsequently examines. The completed work gives the degree a setting in which remembrance, workmanship and the judgement that a task has been properly finished are brought together.[2]
McClenachan also records a practical connection with Masonic mourning: his book states that Lodges of Sorrow in the Rite were usually held in this degree. That observation describes the usage recorded by the author in the nineteenth century.[3]
Lessons
The explanation asks the living to learn from the virtues of the deceased. Honour paid at a memorial has a continuing purpose when it encourages others to practise those virtues. Hiram's fidelity supplies the example, while the funeral setting brings the Mason's own mortality into view.[4]
The word perfect belongs both to the title and to the book's account of the finished memorial. The moral demand remains with the living: to use the time available to them well and to make their conduct worthy of remembrance. The text places grief alongside religious hope in a life beyond death.[5]
Differences between versions
The Missouri Scottish Rite's public outline stresses honesty and good faith.[6] The modern Northern Masonic Jurisdiction retains the title Perfect Master but presents a different story, involving Aaron's sons and neglect of a sacred flame. Its stated lesson is trustworthiness. A shared title therefore does not establish that the modern ceremony follows McClenachan's funeral narrative.[7]
Related pages
Overview of degrees 4° to 17° · Previous: 4° Secret Master · Next: 6° Intimate Secretary
References
- ↑ Charles T. McClenachan, The Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, revised and enlarged edition (New York: Author's Edition, 1885), pp. 9, 48, 51-60. Digitised copy.
- ↑ Charles T. McClenachan, The Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, revised and enlarged edition (New York: Author's Edition, 1885), pp. 48, 59-60. Digitised copy.
- ↑ Charles T. McClenachan, The Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, revised and enlarged edition (New York: Author's Edition, 1885), pp. 51. Digitised copy.
- ↑ Charles T. McClenachan, The Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, revised and enlarged edition (New York: Author's Edition, 1885), pp. 48, 53, 55, 59-60. Digitised copy.
- ↑ Charles T. McClenachan, The Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, revised and enlarged edition (New York: Author's Edition, 1885), pp. 48, 55-59. Digitised copy.
- ↑ Missouri Scottish Rite, Degrees. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- ↑ Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, 5° - Perfect Master. Accessed 23 September 2026.