Lodge Southern Cross #44 AF & AM
Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon

The Triangle

by M.W.Bro. J. J. Miller

"I heard as I passed amid the crowd
a deep-toned prayer to God arise,
To the honor of men who freely gave
The gift of a perfect sacrifice.

- Val. j. Roche."

The other Sunday a reverential crowd assembled on Victory Square, the triangle in the centre of the city of Vancouver, to commemorate the unveiling of a triangular stone cenotaph as a memorial to the heroic dead. There was a suppressed, joyous sadness as the service of dedication reverently proceeded. The speaker said the triangle stone was a symbol of Truth, Righteousness and Freedom - those virtues for which heroic men had fought and died.

The cenotaph tells all people who pass by that "their name liveth for evermore," and, in case the weight of that statement may not be fully borne in on the spectator, the inert mass of stone appealingly asks, "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"

There, for all time, this symbol will stand as a reminder of the patriotism, courage and self-sacrifice of the heroic men of 1914-1918 - a reminder of "a Gethsemane of anguish, a Calvary of pain," a reminder of the greatest in bloodshed the world has known. Time blunts the senses, the wounds in human hearts, and leads men to forgetfulness. This empty tomb, symbol of full graveyards overseas, is placed "lest we forget."

In ancient days, the triangle was considered the most sacred of all emblems. How fitting that the triangle park situated beside one of Vancouver's main thoroughfares should have been consecrated as a sacred place by the erection of this memorial of triangle shape, sacred to the memory of men who made the supreme sacrifice! This will strike members of the mystic fraternity as significant, more especially as Freemasons all over the Empire answered promptly the call to arms when they saw great and sacred principles involved. It is safe to say that there is not a Masonic lodge in the Empire that is without an Honour Hall.

What the symbol of the Square and Compasses is to Craft Masonry, the triangle is to the advanced orders. In the Holy Royal Arch it is emblematical of the three essential attributes of the Deity - Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence. The three sides or angles form one triangle; the three equal attributes constitute one God.

The number three pervades Masonic ceremonial and symbolism all along the way. There are three degrees in Ancient Craft Masonry, three principal officers, three pillars, three greater lights, three lesser lights, three movable and three immovable jewels, three working tools in each degree, and so on. In the Holy Royal Arch it is held in still higher estimation. Three principal officers rule the chapters, there are three sojourners, and three and only three candidates may be admitted at the one time [ED: the current ritual of the Grand Chapter of British Columbia and Yukon states that any multiple of three is acceptable].

And wherever you travel in Royal Arch Masonry, you find allusion made to the triangle at every step. The jewel worn by the Companions consists of two triangles interlaced, possessing important symbolical representations.

The jewel worn by members of the Cryptic Rite is also a triangle, but one angle or side is broken, symbol of certain traditions of this Royal and Select Degree, and the triangular plate of gold possesses a mystical import. The Order of Knight Templars, being Christian, embraces the sign of the Cross as a distinctive emblem, at the same time adopting the triangle as of sacred significance - all Knights of the Temple, on their consecration, being received within the triangle.

To the Scottish Rite Mason, the triangle is all-important, emblematical, significant and symbolical. The ring with which brethren are invested bears the emblem of the triangle, and the number three permeates the whole of the Rite with mystical symbolism.

The Egyptians called the triangle, or three, the sacred number, or perfection, representing God - also the three kingdoms, animal, vegetable and mineral. They called it "The Soul of Nature." The Greeks, we are told, called it the summum bonum - The Great All - the symbol of perfection.

I met a brother Mason one day recently, and I noticed on his hand a ring with a triangle emblem upon it.

"How do you come to wear that ring?" I asked. "You do not belong to the Scottish Rite?"

";I'll tell you," he replied. "It is an engrossing story. It belonged to a very dear friend of mine who was a Scottish Rite Mason. At the outbreak of war, he volunteered at once. He saw many months of active service, and he had many narrow escapes from death. At last, after a very severe battle, he was posted as missing, and he was never seen or heard of again. About a year afterwards, when the Canadians had made an advance after a pitched battle, a Canadian soldier, who was a Mason, took this ring off a dead German's finger, and, reading the name on the inside of the ring, he had it sent to the Scottish Rite Body in Canada to be delivered to the widow. Although glad to get her late husband's ring, she could not be prevailed upon to wear it after it had been worn by one of the enemy, and, for all she knew, by the very hand that had slain her husband. So she presented the ring to me to wear in her stead. Am I right in wearing it?" he queried.

"Sure," I said, "so long as you do not represent yourself as a Scottish Rite Mason."

The three angles of this triangle were (1) The Scottish Rite Mason who was invested with the ring, (2) the enemy soldier who took it from his dead body and wore it, and (3) the Craft Mason who now wears it.

It may be asked: Was there any fraternal regard at all in the breasts of the enemy who were Masons? A friend of mine assured me there was.

"I am not a Mason myself," he said, "but many a time during my three years imprisonment in Germany I wished I was, as I noticed, whenever an exchange of prisoners was made, that my Mason friends would be sure to he the ones chosen for exchange. On one occasion we had a regular bunch of 'flyers' in our camp, and there came word that an exchange of thirteen was to be made. I am almost positive, from my knowledge of the thirteen that were released from our prison and exchanged, that they were all Freemasons. I don't know whether I'm right or not; but it was the general opinion of us long-time prisoners that we would have been exchanged had we been able to wear a Masonic ring."

I remember hearing a lecture by a Belgian during the war, in which he narrated an incident which showed that the German Mason was not quite unmindful of his obligations. It was in a Belgian town. Forty prisoners were lined up against a wall to be shot, amongst them some of the leading citizens of the town. As the firing squad was brought into line, an Englishman, who was amongst the number to be shot, called out, and gave the sign of distress. The German lieutenant in command of the squad told him to fan out. He replied that unless the others' lives were also spared he would prefer to fall with them. After consultation with his superior officers, the lieutenant postponed the massacre, which is still postponed.

The three sides of the triangle in this incident were (1) the Englishman, (2) the German, and (3) the Belgian.

It is well known that just before the war there was warm fraternization between the Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Lodges of Germany. Visits were exchanged, and there is no doubt that a real effort was made by Masons on both sides to avert the dread catastrophe. However, when actual war broke out, and the Grand Lodge of England appealed to the German Grand Lodges, the reply was a curt "Freemasonry does not enter into war," and so all fraternal communication and relationship between the Grand Bodies was severed, and they remain at a distance to this day.

The reference to the cenotaph, which is of triangular shape and which is erected upon the 'Square'; which also is triangular in form, has led us into the discussion of Masonic symbolism and of matters mystical and fraternal. What a triangular situation existed during the War between Masons of the British Empire, of Germany and of France! Before the war there existed warm fraternal relationship between the Grand Bodies of Germany and English-speaking Masonry, while the Grand Orient of France was unrecognized. War changed these relationships. Germany was read out of the English-speaking pale of Masonry, and many English-speaking jurisdictions extended cordial recognition to the Grand Orient of France, although England has not done so. At the same time, it is a well-known fact that brethren from English and allied jurisdictions fraternized with French Freemasons and even visited them in their lodges.

The angles of the triangle in this situation are (1) English Freemasonry, (2) German Freemasonry, and (3) French Freemasonry - three sides of a triangle joined together by the mystical union of ancient fraternity, disrupted and broken by "man's inhumanity to man" and by breach of the Ancient Landmarks of Freemasonry.

Time, the great healer and adjuster, under the guiding and beneficent hand of the Eternal Grand Master, may, in due time, unite the broken triangle so that, conforming to ancient usages and customs, international fraternity may once again be established, brotherly love be renewed and continued “that all may see the benign influence of Masonry, as all true Masons have done from the beginning of the world, and will do to the end of time."

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© 2006-2008, Lodge Southern Cross No. 44, BC&Y
Last Updated: 28 Dec, 2007/TMC