The Prince of Mercy, also known as the Scottish Trinitarian, is the 26th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and the last of the four Mystery Degrees in the Council of Kadosh. Having looked at the ancient initiations of Egypt, Persia and the Islamic world, the Rite now turns to the early Christian church and to the idea of a threefold God that appears, in one form or another, in many of the world’s faiths. The degree’s practical message is simple: be merciful, be tolerant, and help spread the true principles of Masonry.
The degree at a glance
- Body: Council of Kadosh (19°–30°).
- Degree: 26°, Prince of Mercy, or Scottish Trinitarian. It closes the Mystery Degrees (23° to 26°).
- Setting: the catacombs beneath Rome, where the early Christians are pictured meeting in secret. The hangings are green, supported by nine columns alternately white and red, and the presiding officer is styled Chief Prince.
- The candidate: represents a Catechumen, a Christian under instruction, named Constans, who seeks admission to the highest rank of the early Christian mysteries.
- Colours: green, red and white, which together form what the degree calls the Masonic Trinity.
- In the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction: the 26° is “Friend and Brother Eternal”, a story of two officers on opposite sides of the American Civil War who keep faith as Masonic brothers. Its lesson is that Masonic unity and harmony rise above conflict.
The lesson
Rex Hutchens explains in A Bridge to Light that the Christians of the first centuries, like the older mystery schools, passed on their teachings in stages and in private. Three classes of believers are described. The Auditors were beginners learning the basic doctrine; the Catechumens were being prepared for baptism; and the Faithful were admitted to the deepest teachings, celebrated in what was called the Mass of the Faithful. The candidate stands at the threshold of that last class.
His name has a history of its own. Constans means “steady” or “faithful”, and it was also the name of a Roman emperor who reigned from 337 to 350 and firmly supported the Nicene Creed of 325, the statement that defined Christ as fully divine and set out the doctrine of the Trinity. Hutchens is careful to add that the degree does not exclude anyone of another faith. Its aim is to show how widely the great ideas of Christianity are shared. The Christian, he writes, can only have his faith strengthened by seeing the ancient wisdom it contains, while the non-Christian gains understanding and tolerance by learning what other faiths teach.
To make that point, the degree surveys threefold ideas of God across many cultures: the Hindu Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; the Persian Ahura Mazda and the spirits that act through him; the Egyptian Amun with his creative and generative powers; the Kabbalistic crown, wisdom and understanding; the Norse Odin, Frea and Thor; and the Christian Father, Word and Holy Spirit. The degree also draws parallels between the death of Hiram Abif and the death of Jesus, and reads the three pillars of the lodge, Wisdom, Strength and Beauty, as symbols of the attributes of God and of the human virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.
Albert Pike’s lecture in Morals and Dogma begins by insisting on respect for every sincere belief. “We utter no word that can be deemed irreverent by any one of any faith,” he writes, and he sums up the principle in one memorable line: “Masonry, of no one age, belongs to all time; of no one religion, it finds its great truths in all.” Hutchens adds that Pike gathered the moral teaching of the four Mystery Degrees into nine “Great Truths of Masonry”. Among them: God is spiritual and unseen, the soul is immortal, the moral sense comes from God, the difference between good and evil is real, and God’s infinite justice and infinite mercy hold each other in balance. Charity sits at the heart of the list; as Pike puts it in the lecture, “Charity knows neither rule nor limit.”
The lecture also speaks of a triple covenant of mercy between God and humanity: the covenant with Noah, sealed by the rainbow; the covenant with Abraham; and the promise made through the prophets to all nations. Hutchens notes that a covenant is more than an oath. It describes a lasting relationship, and in becoming a Prince of Mercy a Mason enters into such a relationship with his brethren.
Duties of the degree
- Practise mercy. Forgive injuries, as the title of the degree demands.
- Be tolerant. Toleration was already a duty of the 18th degree; repeating it here shows how central the Rite considers it. A man is to be accepted for himself, not for the faith he happened to be born into.
- Be devoted to teaching and spreading the true principles of Masonry.
- Lesson: the idea of a threefold Deity belongs to no single religion, and the truths of Masonry are found within the religions of the world.
Symbols and regalia
The apron is scarlet with a wide white border. An equilateral triangle made of green bars sits in the centre with the jewel embroidered in gold inside it, and the flap is sky-blue. A Bridge to Light explains the three colours of the degree: green for infinite wisdom, red for supreme energy or power, and white, the blend of all colours, for divine harmony.
The cordon is a broad ribbon in the three colours, green, white and red, worn from the right shoulder to the left hip.
The jewel is an equilateral triangle of gold bars with a flaming gold heart in the middle, hung from a narrow purple ribbon. The heart carries the letters IHS, the traditional Christian monogram of Jesus, and the sides of the triangle carry initials for Wisdom, Force and Harmony. Hutchens points out that IHS can also be read as the initials of three Latin words with that same meaning, so the Christian and the Masonic readings of the jewel meet.
Important symbols are the numbers 3 and 9, the triple interlaced triangle that forms a nine-pointed star, an arrow, and the tessera, a small token in the shape of a fish. Early Christians carried such a token as a mark of their faith and a pledge of friendship. In the degree a veiled statue of a maiden holding an arrow stands for truth and purity, and the arrow, coloured like the degree, for divine justice.
Reflections
The question A Bridge to Light sets for this degree is the oldest one in the Gospel of John: “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Pontius Pilate asked it and did not wait for an answer. The degree suggests a reply in stages: truth is something each person has to seek for himself, which is exactly why he must allow everyone else the same freedom.
Pike’s statement of what he called the Masonic Creed is a fitting summary of the whole degree. Believe in God’s infinite benevolence, wisdom and justice; hope for the final triumph of good over evil; and be charitable “as God is, toward the unfaith, the errors, the follies, and the faults of men: for all make one great brotherhood” (Morals and Dogma, lecture XXVI).
Please view the video on the left, for a more detailed explanation of the 26th° Degree.
Sources:
– Rex R. Hutchens, A Bridge to Light: The Revised Standard Pike Ritual, 4th edition, edited by Arturo de Hoyos (Washington, D.C.: The Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., 2010), chapter “The 26th Degree – Prince of Mercy or Scottish Trinitarian”. Purchase ‘A Bridge To Light‘ by Rex R. Hutchens
– Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), lecture XXVI “Prince of Mercy, or Scottish Trinitarian”. Purchase ‘Morals & Dogma‘ by Albert Pike.
– Charles T. McClenachan, The Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1884). Purchase ‘The Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry’ by Charles T. McClenachan.
– Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, “Scottish Rite 26th Degree”: https://scottishritenmj.org/degrees/degrees-26