Thank you for visiting the Stillwater York Rite. Our local York Rite body consists of the Stillwater Chapter #14, Stillwater Council #50, and St. John's Commandry #8. We meet on the 3rd Wednesday evening of each month at 7:00 p.m. For more information please contact YorkRite@stillwatermasons.com.

The York Rite is a collection of ten Masonic degrees and orders that are conferred in the United States under a 3-part system of governance consisting of Chapters, Councils, and Commanderies. In most other countries these same degrees are conferred by separate bodies operating independently from other local Masonic jurisdictions. The name derives from the City of York where, according to one Masonic legend, the first meeting of Masons in England was held in the year 926 A.D.

The York Rite is one of two Appendant Bodies of Masonry beyond the level of the Craft or Blue Lodge. It focuses on expanding a Master Masons’ understanding of several important ideas introduced in the first three degrees of the Blue Lodge and has a special and close relationship to the Blue Lodge degrees.

The York Rite completes the journey that Hiram began in the Master Mason degree and teaches the meaning of the True Word. It offers impressive lessons from the Christian Knighthood tradition in a ceremony that is among the most beautiful in all of Masonry. In fact, the final degree of the York Rite, known as the Order of the Temple, has traditionally been styled the Christian Order of Freemasonry.

The York Rite takes the Master Mason on a journey into the oldest traditions of English Freemasonry. Every serious student of Masonry should be a York Rite Mason. We know our Masonic Brothers will benefit from the added knowledge gained through their York Rite experience.