Ancient and Masonic Order of the Scarlet Cord
Installation Ceremony of President of a Consistory

 
2010

President: Companions, we shall now proceed with the Installation of the President Elect.
Companion Director of Ceremonies you will so present.
Director of Ceremonies and Assistant Director of Ceremonies, with swords at the carry, collect the President Elect, usually the Primus of Lectures, and place him about six feet west of the Pedestal facing east.
Director of Ceremonies is holding the President Elect's furled Patent of Appointment. The President Elect should have removed his officers sash and collar.
Director of Ceremonies: We have the pleasure to present to you our Distinguished Companion, …, who has been regularly elected President of this Consistory that he may receive at your hands the benefit of installation. He has his Patent, signed by the Most Distinguished Grand Summus authorising you to install him.
President: Let the Patent be displayed.
Director of Ceremonies returns his sword, unfurls the Patent, holds it in front of himself, shows it to the President and then slowly perambulates around the Consistory showing the patent to all companions.
President: Companion Recorder you will read the Patent aloud to the companions.
Director of Ceremonies hands Patent to the Recorder who reads Patent and then hands it back to Director of Ceremonies. He then conveys it to the President who places it on his pedestal.
President: Distinguished Companion …, I congratulate you on the honour conferred upon you by the companions of this Consistory who have elected you to this high office.
As you are an experienced Freemason and have doubtless previously been installed into the Chair in other Orders of Masonry, it would be invidious of me to attempt to advise you on your duties or on how you should conduct yourself while discharging those duties.
However I will remind you that when you were prepared for this ceremony you avowed that the first three grades of our Order taught you to have Faith in the God of Our Fathers, to seek Hope in salvation and to be in Charity with all men.
You were then informed that as a Distinguished Companion you should always keep the promises you make to your fellow companions.
Are you willing to accept the office of President of this Consistory under these conditions?
President Elect responds.
President: You will now advance to the Pedestal, kneel on both knees place both hands on the Volume of the Sacred Law, state your names at length and repeat after me. Gavels once and all stand with sign of fidelity.
I, …, of my own free will and accord and in the presence of the God of our Fathers and of these my companions here assembled, do agree to accept the office of President of this Consistory and to discharge the duties thereof, zealously, conscientiously and to the best of my ability until the next regular period of election within the Consistory and until a successor shall have been duly elected, prepared and installed in my stead.
I likewise promise that I will never reveal the secrets restricted to the President's chair to anyone who is not, a Distinguished Companion, and lawfully elected to preside over a Consistory.
I furthermore solemnly promise and swear that I shall constantly endeavour to keep whatever promises I may make to my fellow Distinguished Companions and will always assume that they will likewise be honest and truthful in their dealings with me.
All these points I swear to observe. So help me the God of our Fathers and keep me steadfast in this my solemn obligation as President of this Consistory.
President: As a pledge of your fidelity you will seal that obligation with your lips on the Volume of the Sacred Law. Done.
Rise duly obligated President of this Consistory.
Director of Ceremonies leads President to a vacant seat in the Consistory.
Director of Ceremonies: Be seated, Companions.
Installing President: I must now ask all companions who have not been installed President of a Consistory to retire under the direction of the Director of Ceremonies.
Director of Ceremonies requests Companions to leave their officer's sashes on their chairs and leads them to the door.
Installing President, gavels once: I declare this to be a duly constituted Assembly of Installed Presidents and I will thank
Distinguished Companion ... to act as Episcopus,
Distinguished Companion … to continue to act as Director of Ceremonies
Distinguished Companion … to act as Guarder.
Assistant Director of Ceremonies places a kneeling stool east of the Pedestal.
Director of Ceremonies removes President's chain/collar and sash and places them on a cushion.
Installing President: Distinguished Companion …, you will kneel in front of the Pedestal and be attentive to a portion of Holy Scripture.
Escorted to the kneeling stool by the Director of Ceremonies.
Episcopus reads l Samuel Ch. 7 Verses 15-17: And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
And he went from year to year in circuit of Bethel, and Gilgal and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places.
And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the Lord.
Installing President: Companions you will turn to the east and assume an attitude of prayer.
Episcopus: O God of our Fathers, we implore Thee to bestow Thy blessing upon this candidate, who now offers himself to be President of this Consistory.
Endue him with the strength and wisdom to fulfil his duties, so that with Faith, Hope and Charity and Thy given word, he may rule and judge worthily over his companions.
And may he ever remember that service to his companions and all good works are the pathway to Thy most glorious presence.
Freely has he received, freely may he give.
S.M.I.B.
The companions face inwards. The Installing President leaves his chair and proceeds to a position in front of the President Elect who is still kneeling. The Director of Ceremonies proffers the cushion with the President's chain/collar and sash and the Installing President invests the PE with first the sash and then the chain/collar. He then places both hands on the President's Elect's shoulders and says:
Installing President: To the service of the God of Our Fathers I dedicate you as a High Priest and Judge in our Order.
He then grasps him by both hands.
Installing President: Rise, President of this Consistory.
The Installing President wheels the President ninety degrees clockwise so that the new President is facing south.
I will now entrust you with the mysteries restricted to the office of President.
The sign is given by putting forth the left hand as if holding a horn of oil and turning the hand clockwise in allusion to Samuel pouring the anointing oil on the head of the boy David.
The word is Elkanah. President repeats.
Elkanah was the father of Samuel who with his wife Hannah kept their promise by giving up their only son to the Lord.
The grip is given by grasping each other's right hand and then covering the back of the other's right hand with the left hand. This grip is accompanied by the words "My Word is my Bond"
This grip is an indication of the binding attachment between Presidents of our Order.
The Installing President takes the President's right hand in his right hand and passing between the President and the pedestal he guides the President to the Chair.
With the grip and the words "My Word is my Bond" I place you in the chair of this Consistory and may the God of our Fathers grant you the wisdom to rule and judge over your Consistory as did the prophet Samuel rule and judge over Israel.
I place in your hands this Gavel, the symbol of your authority.
The Third Grade jewel you wear may now have attached to it a silver representation of the horn of oil in order to indicate to your companions that you are now a Distinguished President in our Order.
Installing President: Distinguished Companions you will now all pay homage to your new President.
Each companion present passes before the President and gives him the grip and says the words "My Word is my Bond".
Installing President: Companion President, will you now be pleased to gavel once and declare this Assembly of Installed Presidents closed. Done.
President: I declare this Assembly of Installed Presidents closed.
Installing President: Companion Director of Ceremonies you will admit the Companions.
The companions line up in the north under the direction of the Director of Ceremonies.
Installing President: Companions, our Distinguished Companion … has been regularly installed as President of this Consistory and I now call upon you to salute him with three taking the time from our Companion Director of Ceremonies.
Director of Ceremonies leads Salutation which is three times xx xx.
Installing President: Companions, I now proclaim that Distinguished Companion … has this day been regularly installed as President of this the … Consistory No … on the books of the Grand Senatus of the Ancient and Masonic Order of the Scarlet Cord in the British Isles and its Districts and Consistories Overseas for the ensuing 12 months and until a successor shall have been duly elected, prepared and installed in his stead and I call upon you to pay homage to your President by proceeding to a position in front of him, showing reverence to him with a court bow and returning to your seats. Done.
Installing President: Companion President, you will please stand. I now present to you the Warrant of this Consistory which has passed through the hands of many Distinguished Companions. I am sure that whilst it is in your possession it will lose none of its lustre and you will pass it to your successor as pure and unsullied as you now receive it.
Installing President: Companion President, you will please be seated. I now present to you the Constitutions and Regulations of our Ancient Order which you should carefully study. I also present to you the By-Laws of the Province with which you will make yourself familiar and finally the By Laws of this Consistory which you will enforce.
Installing President: Companion President, you will now appoint and invest your officers. Done.
 
 
Address to the President
 
To be given by the Installing President, or a Past President, after the appointment and Investure of the Consistory Officers.
Distinguished Companion …, now that you have attained the Presidency of this Consistory, I congratulate you on behalf of all the companions present on reaching that high station and I pray that the God of our Fathers will be pleased to grant you the health and strength to enjoy it.
I must also remind you of your Preparation for the office of President, when your attention was drawn to the three cardinal virtues on which our ceremonies are based - Faith, Hope and Charity. It will be your responsibility to ensure that the performance of these ceremonies is sufficiently dignified to reflect the fundamental importance of those virtues.
I enjoin you to rule and direct the proceedings of your Consistory with zeal and enthusiasm as well as justness and fairness. An equal measure of kindness, modesty and compassion will enable you to preside with the wisdom of the Prophet Samuel.
Never forget the scarlet thread which binds you to our Order and its members and that special bond of faithfulness you have just solemnly engaged to uphold as an Installed President.
Such conduct will add much lustre to your year of office, so that at its conclusion, the members of this Consistory will unite in regarding you as a truly distinguished Companion.
 
 
Closing of a Consistory
 
President stands and gavels once: Companions, assist me to close this Consistory.
President: The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Companion Guarder, what saith the Watchman?
Guarder gives a Court Bow to the President, opens door and says to the Watchman outside: Companion Watchman, what of the day?
Watchman reports to Guarder: The morning cometh and all is safe and well.
Guarder returns to his place and says: Companion President, all is safe and well.
President: Companions, you will stand to order with the sign of the First Grade.
President: All our work having been happily conducted and completed, I now call on Companion Episcopus for prayer.
Episcopus: May He, Who watching over Israel slumbers not, nor sleeps, take into His most intimate keeping all His faithful Ostiarii. May He preserve and comfort us all and, under the shadow of His wing, may we rest secure from harm. S.M.I.B.
President: By virtue of the Authority vested in me, I close this Consistory. President knocks once, repeated by Guarder & Watchman.
DC closes VSL.
President: God speed you, fideles.