FREEMASONRY: A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE FROM THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF THE WEST

The Teachings of Jesus Christ Stand Diametrically Opposed to the Teachings of Masonry 

By Fr. Duncan Richards (Ancient Church of the West) 

INTRODUCTION

Over the centuries, many have seen serious issues with the philosophy and practice of Freemasonry. These concerns are not new, nor are they based merely on conspiracy or misunderstanding. From the 18th century onward, the Christian Church, across traditions, has consistently condemned Freemasonry as incompatible with the Christian Faith. This began officially with Pope Clement XII’s 1738 Papal Bull In Eminenti, and continued through the formal condemnations issued by Protestant and Orthodox bodies, including the Holy Synod of Greece in 1933. Despite claims to the contrary by its defenders, Freemasonry is not merely a social or philanthropic fraternity like the Rotary Club or Lions. Rather, by its own self-disclosure, it represents a syncretistic religious order with its own liturgies, rituals, cosmology, and metaphysics.

In this essay, we will show that the primary objections of the Church are not “overblown,” but drawn from the Masons’ own writings. As Job said, “Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee” (Job 15:6).

We will address five core areas of concern, each of which renders Freemasonry incompatible with Orthodox Christianity:

1. Freemasonry claims to be inherently religious in nature, and sometimes explicitly claims to be a religion.

2. Freemasonry conducts worship around an altar with rites derived from various faiths.

3. Freemasonry admits members from all religions into its ritual worship, regardless of doctrine or belief in the Holy Trinity.

4. Masonic rites incorporate elements from ancient pagan mystery religions.

5. Freemasonry exhibits a Gnostic cosmology and epistemology, elevating secret knowledge and initiatic hierarchies over revealed truth.

Let us examine each of these points in turn.

1. FREEMASONRY AS RELIGION

Masonic writings repeatedly and unambiguously claim a religious identity. In an official Masonic edition of the Bible, the following is stated:

“The internal operations of Freemasonry are pre-eminently religious; many of its most meaningful symbols are Scriptural in origin; its ritual is based largely upon the Word of God, the greatest of the three great Lights of Freemasonry… The principles of true religion are inculcated as the fundamental controlling force for the daily life and for all human relationships of members of the Fraternity.” (Masonic Bible, Introduction)

From this, one might wrongly assume that Masonry is compatible with Christianity. However, Freemasonry is not a Church, and its rituals are not mere symbolic gestures but liturgical acts based on extra-biblical philosophies. The use of Scriptural language does not sanctify an alien worship structure. As the Lord warned through the prophet Isaiah, “This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me” (Isaiah 29:13; cf. Matthew 15:8-9).

Consider the famous prayer offered by George Washington at a Lodge meeting. While quoting Micah 6:8, he omits the final clause: “and walk humbly with thy God.” This omission is telling. Masonry invokes virtue but avoids submission to the living God. And yet, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).

2. MASONIC WORSHIP AROUND AN ALTAR

According to Albert G. Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, the Masonic altar is “the most important article of furniture in a Lodge room,” and he defines it as:

“A structure elevated above the ground, and appropriated to some service connected with worship, such as the offering of oblations, sacrifices, or prayers.” (Mackey, p. 50)

Mackey continues:

“The Masonic altar… is an altar of sacrifice, for on it the candidate is directed to lay his passions and vices as an oblation to the Deity… The altar is, therefore, the most holy place in a Lodge.”

Here we see a profound problem. Freemasonry does not simply use religious language: it has a functioning liturgical system. The offering of moral oblations to an undefined “Deity” is not Christian sacrifice, and this altar is not the altar of Christ. For Christians, the true altar is the Cross, and the true sacrifice is the once-for-all offering of the Lamb of God (Hebrews 10:10). The only acceptable spiritual sacrifices are those offered in union with Christ in the Church (Romans 12:1; 1 Peter 2:5).

St. Paul reminds us that “we have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat” (Hebrews 13:10). How then can a Christian approach the Masonic altar in spiritual fellowship with those who deny the Lord of that altar?

3. UNIVERSALISTIC RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM

In Morals and Dogma of the Scottish Rite, Albert Pike writes:

“Masonry, around whose altars the Christian, the Hebrew, the Moslem, the Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one God who is above all the Baalim…” (p. 226)

This “god above all gods” is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Holy Trinity does not permit being equated with Baal or Brahman. This syncretism violates the First Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). And it defies the teaching of our Lord: “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

The Masonic claim that men of every religion may pray together as brothers to a generic god is not an expression of Christian charity, but of indifferentism—a denial that there is one Truth, one Baptism, and one Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:5). As our Savior warned: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).

4. PAGAN RITES AND DEMONIC PARALLELS

Masonic ritual borrows heavily from ancient pagan mystery cults. Mackey freely admits this. In his entry on the Dionysian Mysteries, he describes initiation rites involving thunder, darkness, apparitions, and dramatic reenactments of death and resurrection. These bear resemblance to initiations in the rites of Osiris and Isis, complete with symbols like the “mundane egg” and ceremonial purification.

Even if intended only allegorically, these rites imitate the practices of idol-worshiping nations whom God condemned. As St. Paul teaches:

“The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils” (1 Corinthians 10:20-21).

Participation in rituals that mimic demonic liturgies, even in ignorance, places a soul in spiritual peril. The early Church Fathers saw this clearly: Tertullian and St. Irenaeus denounced similar secret cults, and St. Athanasius condemned the appropriation of pagan religious symbols. St. Basil the Great warned against those who “mix the poison of idolatry with the honey of Christian truth.”

5. GNOSTIC ONTOLOGY AND SECRET KNOWLEDGE

Freemasonry thrives on secrecy and elite initiation, creating a divide between the “enlightened” and the profane. In this, it mirrors the ancient heresy of Gnosticism, condemned at Nicaea and by all the Fathers.

In Morals and Dogma, Pike claims that Christianity’s true meaning is known only to the initiated, but that the clergy and teachers of the Church are “ignorant of the true meaning of that which they teach” (p. 105). This is the same blasphemy proclaimed by the Gnostics of the 2nd century, against whom St. Irenaeus wrote in Against Heresies, saying:

“They gather together what they consider scattered words and symbols of truth, and from them construct a monstrous myth… They claim secret knowledge beyond the Gospel, but they deny the Incarnation.”

Similarly, the Masonic claim that Moses, Aaron, and the prophets held secret knowledge passed only within their “lodge” is a direct assault on the nature of Revelation. St. Paul warned us: “Avoid profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20).

The Fathers of the Ancient Church never accepted any “hidden gospel.” St. Vincent of Lérins famously said that the true faith is that “which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” Freemasonry, by contrast, replaces the universal faith with arcane symbols, passwords, and private rituals.

CONCLUSION

For all these reasons, we affirm the wisdom of the Holy Synod of Greece (1933), which declared Freemasonry “a false and anti-Christian mystery,” and forbade Orthodox Christians from membership. We echo the words of the Apostle Paul: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers… what concord hath Christ with Belial?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).

As members of the Ancient Church of the West, we hold to the apostolic and catholic faith handed down in the Scriptures, the Ecumenical Councils, and the unbroken liturgical witness of the Church. We reject all systems that attempt to supplement or replace this deposit of faith, and especially when they require secret oaths, false altars, and prayers to gods not known in Christ.

Let the faithful be warned: Freemasonry is not a harmless fraternity. It is a rival religion, a counterfeit temple, and a heresy clothed in benevolence. Let no bishop, priest, or layman be deceived.

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” (1 John 5:21)

COLLECT

Almighty and Everlasting God, who alone art the true Light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, and in whom is no darkness at all: Deliver, we beseech Thee, thy servants from all snares of the enemy; from the deceitful illusions of secret oaths, false lights, and the hidden works of darkness; from the bondage of the occult, from every spiritual oppression and torment, and from the lying spirits of false religion, especially from the vanity and pride of Freemasonry and all its errors. Break, O Lord, every ancestral curse, every unholy tie, and every word sworn in blindness and error; and by the might of Thy Cross and Passion, set at liberty those held captive by the adversary. Send Thy holy angels to stand guard about Thy people, that we, being cleansed from every defilement of flesh and spirit, may walk as children of the day, in purity, in truth, and in the liberty of Thy glorious Gospel. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.