St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist
"Masonic Lodges are dedicated to the St. John" - Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry By R. Swinburne Clymer pg. 60
Masons historically celebrate two feasts of Saint John. The feast of John the Baptist falls on 24 June, and that of John the Evangelist on 27 December, roughly marking mid-summer and mid-winter.
“...the christian religion and Masonry have one and the same common origin, the ancient worship of the sun. The high festival of the masons is on the day they call St. John's day… ...and is what is called midsummer day. The sun is then arrived at the summer solstice, and with respect to his meridional altitude, or height at high noon, appear for somedays to be of the same height.” Thomas Paine On The Origin Of Free Masonry
"It was conceded, that the Freemasonry of our days (St. John's Freemasonry) sprang from the Building Fraternities of the Middle Ages, but at the same time asserted that in the early ages there existed a secret society, which strove to compass the perfecting of the human race, precisely in the same manner, and employing similar means, as did the Swedish system, which, in fact, only followed in the wake of its predecessor, being concealed in the Building Fraternities, so that our Society did not rise from them, hut made itself a way through them. The Secret Science, the Mystery, was very ancient indeed. This mystery formed the secret of the Higher Degrees of the Rite, which were not merely kept hidden from the rest of the confederation, out also from the members of the inferior degrees of the system itself. This mystery was fully confirmed by documents, which the Grand Lodge of Germany had in its keeping." - Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry By R. Swinburne Clymer pg. 73
"The fact that each, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, were Eminent Essenes, is a sufficient reason why, in later times, Masons should dedicate their lodges to them without looking for or assigning any others, although doubtless our ancient brethren had other reasons. Masonic Monitors say: 'And since their time (St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist), there is represented in every regular and well-governed Lodge a certain point within a circle, embordered by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, and upon the top rests the Holy Scripture. The two parallel lines which in the modern lectures are said to represent St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, really allude to particular periods in the sun 's annual course. At two particular points in this course the Sun is found on the Zodiacal signs, Cancer and Capricorn, which are distinguished as the summer and winter solstices. When the sun is in these points, he has reached his greatest northern and southern limits. These points, if we suppose the circle to represent the sun's annual course, will be indicated by the points where the parallel lines touch the circle. " - Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry By R. Swinburne Clymer pg. 161-162
"The circle that is at the center of the Masonic lodge is in four parts: first, the circle itself; then the point in the center of the-circle; and then two parallel lines, one on each side of the circle. In Masonic lore the circle is the boundless universe, the point in the center is the individual Mason, and the lines on two sides of the circle are the staffs of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist." - Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry by John J. Robinson Pg. 237
Master Mason 3rd Degree Oath
“I, _______, of my own free will and accord. in the presence of Almighty God, and this worshipful lodge of Master Masons, dedicated to God and the holy Saints John, do hereby and hereon most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear. in addition to my former obligations, that I will not reveal the secrets of the Master Mason's degree to anyone of inferior degree, nor to any other being in the known world, except it be to a true and lawful brother or brethren Master Masons, within a body of a just and lawfully constituted lodge of such, and not unto him or them whom I shall only hear so to be, but unto him and them only whom I shall prove so to be, after strict trial and due examination, or lawful information received"- Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry by John J. Robinson Pg. 215-216
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