Encyclopedia Masonica

A kingdom of West Asia. No Lodges have been constituted in Persia by the Grand Lodge of England although Sir Gore Ousely, Ambassador to the Shah of Persia in 1810, was appointed Provincial Grand Master for that country. The Grand Orient of France, however, controls one Lodge at Teheran, Le Reveil de l'Iran, meaning in French The AuJakening of Persia. Iran, or Eran, as it is sometimes spelled, is the official designation of the Persian Kingdom and is derived from Aryana, the country of the Aryans, who were the Sanscrit-speaking immigrants to Persia, from India, and the name was thus adopted from ancient times by the Persians.

Several prominent Persians have been Freemasons. Askeri Khan, Ambassador of the Shah, at Paris, was initiated in 1808 and the Mirza Abul Hassan Khan in 1810. According to the Freemason of June 28, 1873 nearly all the members of the Court of Teheran were Freemasons.

On November 24, 1808, when Askeri Khan, the Ambassador of Persia near the Court of France, was received into the Order at Paris by the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic Scottish Rite, he presented his sword, a pure Damascus blade, to the Lodge, with these remarks: I promise you, gentlemen, friendship, fidelity, and es teem. I have been told, and I cannot doubt it, that Freemasons were virtuous, charitable, and full of love and attachment for their sovereigns. Permit me to make you a present worthy of true Frenchmen. Receive this sabre, which has served me in twenty-seven battles. May this act of homage convince you of the sentiments with which you have inspired me, and of the gratification that I feel in belonging to your Order. The Ambassador subsequently seems to have taken a great interest in Freemasonry while he remained in France, and consulted with the Worshipful Master of the Lodge on the subject of establishing a Lodge and Accepted Scottish Rite. He was a very learned man and a voluminous writer of versatile talents, and published numerous worts on mythology, the fine arts, theology, geography, philosophy, and the mathematical sciences, besides some translations from the Latin. He died at Valence, in Dauphiny, in the year 1800.

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.