Anachronism

Anachronism. An or Ana means negative or backwards, so an anachronism assumes the early existence of late things or the late existence of early things, thus, getting them out of natural or chronological order. Anachronisms have played and do play a large part in both ritual and historical writings about Freemasonry. In the former, they do no harm, for a ritual is not supposed to be a true account of historical events but a legend, an allegory, or a story to teach a lesson or illustrate a point. Thus, it is said that an obvious anachronism in the lodge is the position of the celestial and terrestrial globes on top of the two columns from Solomon’s Temple since, in those times, the rotundity of the earth was unknown. Also, the Gothic Legends of the history of Masonry or Geometry contained such striking anachronisms as placing Abraham and Euclid in the same generation, although they lived many centuries apart.

Where anachronisms do harm and are inexcusable is in Masonic historical writing, where they distort our ideas about the Society and lead us into error by bringing together distantly separated events or conditions. The most usual form is to suppose that conditions existing in the life-time of the writer have always existed, that Freemasonry has always been as it is today. For examples: that lodges have always had altars, that Grand Lodges have always had exclusive jurisdiction in their claimed territory, that aprons have always been square with triangular flaps, that an unwarranted lodge was illegal after 1717, etc. Obviously, one of the gravest errors is the old idea that Freemasonry is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.

Macoy Collector's Note: This entry is the cornerstone of Coil’s philosophy on Masonic history: Ritual relies on anachronism to teach moral lessons, but historians must rely on documented facts in chronological order.