I wanted to find out when the “Lord’s Prayer” and the “Holy Bible” was added to educate senior members who lack the knowledge of the “progressive” nature of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Here are some facts, for your learning: - Ritual of the Order of Patriotic Odd Fellows (Year 1797): The oldest Odd Fellows ritual available does not contain any prayer or the Lord’s prayer or the Bible during initiations or Lodge meetings. The content of the rituals are clearly influenced by the ideas of the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ which talks about universal fraternity, tolerance other people’s beliefs and religious freedom. There is actually no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. - Lectures and Charges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellowship (Year 1820): The thoughts are general and clearly non-sectarian. There is no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. It only mentions “God” but no specific name of God. No mention of the Bible during opening ceremony. In fact, the Holy Bible is also not a part of the symbolism of the degrees of the Order either. Both opening and closing ceremony can be done within 2-5 minutes as compared to current version used by the lodges. - Ritual of the Manchester Unity, Independent Order of Odd Fellows (Year 1824): The opening ceremony or closing ceremony does not contain the Lord’s prayer. The Holy Bible was not mentioned or a requirement during lodge meetings. The Holy Bible is not yet even a part of the symbols of the degrees of the Order. There is still no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. Both opening and closing ceremony can be done within 2-5 minutes as compared to the current version used by the lodges. - Ritual of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, I.O.O.F. (Year 1831): The opening ceremony of this ritual also does not contain the Lord’s Prayer. In fact, the opening ceremony and closing ceremony does NOT have any prayer. The opening ceremony only mentions of the roles of each officer and the Noble Grand declaring the lodge opened and declaring the lodge closed during the closing. There is also no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. Both opening and closing ceremony can be done within 2-5 minutes as compared to the current version used by the lodges. The Holy Bible was also not yet a part of the symbolism of the degrees of our Order. - Ritual of the Grand Lodge of the United States, I.O.O.F. (Year 1835): Still clearly shows the non-sectarian nature of our Order influenced by the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment. Both opening and closing ceremony do not contain the Lord’s Prayer and actually do not even contain any prayer or require the presence of the Holy Bible during meetings. I repeat there was “no prayer” during the opening and closing ceremony. The Holy Bible is also not a part of the symbolism of the degrees of the Order yet. There remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. Both opening and closing ceremony can be done within 2-5 minutes as compared to current version used by the lodges. - Regulations for the Opening, Conducting Business and Closing the Lodge together with the Form of Initiation for the use of the Subordinate Lodges, under the Grand Lodge of the United States, I.O.O.F. (Year 1841): Retains the non-sectarian nature of our Order. Both opening and closing ceremony do also contain the “Lord’s Prayer”. There was no prayer at all during both opening and closing ceremonies so the Holy Bible was also not a requirement during Lodge meetings. There remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. Both opening and closing ceremony can be done within 2-5 minutes as compared to current version used by the lodges. - Regulations for the Opening, Conducting Business and Closing the Lodge together with the Form of Initiation for the use of the Subordinate Lodges, under the Grand Lodge of the United States, I.O.O.F. (Year 1848): The same as the 1841 version. No prayer recited during both opening and closing ceremony. Does not mention any specific Holy book such as the Bible. There remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. Both opening and closing ceremony can be done within 2-5 minutes as compared to current version used by the lodges. In 1850s, the chaplain was mentioned only as an optional officer in the lodge. - Regulations for the Opening, Conducting Business and Closing the Lodge together with the Form of Initiation for the use of the Subordinate Lodges, under the Grand Lodge of the United States, I.O.O.F. (Year 1870): Retains the non-sectarian nature of our Order. Both opening and closing ceremony do not also contain the “Lord’s Prayer” or any prayer at all so the Holy Bible was also not a requirement during Lodge meetings. There remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. Both opening and closing ceremony can be done within 2-5 minutes as compared to current version used by the lodges. - Regulations for the Opening, Conducting Business and Closing the Lodge together with the Form of Initiation for the use of the Subordinate Lodges, under the Grand Lodge of the United States, I.O.O.F. (Year 1871): Almost the same as the 1870 version and continued to retain the non-sectarian nature of our Order. Both opening and closing ceremony do not also contain the “Lord’s Prayer” or any prayer at all so the Holy Bible was also not a requirement during Lodge meetings. There remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. Both opening and closing ceremony can be done within 2-5 minutes as compared to current version used by the lodges. Reciting a prayer was optional. - Lectures and Charges and Explanation of the Degrees of Subordinate Lodges, I.O.O.F., Grand Lodge of the United States (Year 1871): The Holy Bible seem to first appear as one of the symbols of the Degree of Truth or Scarlet degree. - Regulations for the Opening, Conducting Business and Closing the Lodge together with the Form of Initiation for the use of the Subordinate Lodges, under the Grand Lodge of the United States, I.O.O.F. (Year 1873): Almost the same as the 1870 and 1871 version and continued to retain the non-sectarian nature of our Order. Both opening and closing ceremony do not also contain the “Lord’s Prayer” or any prayer at all so the Holy Bible was also not a requirement during Lodge meetings. There remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. The opening ceremony can be performed within 2-5 minutes and closing ceremony can be done in less than 1 minute as compared to the today’s closing ceremony. - Lectures and Charges Explanatory of the Degrees of the Subordinate Lodges, under the Sovereign Grand Lodge, I.O.O.F. (Year 1880): Both opening and closing ceremony do not contain the “Lord’s Prayer” and there is actually NO opening and closing prayer at all so the Holy Bible was also not a requirement during Lodge meetings. There remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge. The opening ceremony can be performed within 2-5 minutes and closing ceremony can be done in 1-2 minutes as compared to the today’s closing ceremony. - Ritual of the Subordinate Lodge Under the Sovereign Grand Lodge, I.O.O.F. (Year 1900): An opening prayer followed by the Lord’s Prayer “Our father who art in heaven, etc.” began to appear during the opening ceremony. This is probably highly influenced by the strong Christian belief of majority of the leaders of the Order at that time. Many of the leaders and active members during this era are actually influential Christian ministers, pastors and church leaders. But there remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge so I guess nobody leads the prayer but all members of the lodge recite the prayer. The opening and closing ceremonies became longer. This time, it takes about 10-15 minutes to perform the opening ceremony and about 2-3 minutes to perform the closing ceremony. There was still no Odd Fellows valediction during the closing ceremony. - Ritual of the Subordinate Lodge Under the Sovereign Grand Lodge, I.O.O.F. (Year 1906): Almost the same as the 1900 version. The Lord’s Prayer follows after the opening prayer. But there remains no mention of a “chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge so I guess nobody leads the prayer but all members of the lodge recite the prayer. There was still no Odd Fellows valediction during the closing ceremony so closing ceremony takes just about 2-3 minutes. - Ritual of the Subordinate Lodge Under the Sovereign Grand Lodge, I.O.O.F. (Year 1928): Almost the same as the 1906 version. The Lord’s Prayer follows after the chaplain’s opening prayer. The “Chaplain” as an officer of the Lodge began to appear. But there was still no Odd Fellows valediction during the closing ceremony so closing ceremony takes just about 2-3 minutes. - Ritual of the Subordinate Lodge Under the Sovereign Grand Lodge, I.O.O.F. (Year 1974): Almost the same as the 1928 version. The Lord’s Prayer follows after the chaplain’s opening prayer. The Odd Fellows valediction began to appear and the closing ceremony became longer to approximately 5-10 minutes. - Present: The rituals stayed almost the same as the 1974 version with very slight revisions. The Bible now remains present during meetings and members in North America recite the Lords Prayer during the opening ceremony.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:15:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015