Freemasonry: A Spiritual Path Illuminated by the Christ Archetype
Freemasonry, heir to the tradition of the builders and the mystery schools, has never sought to establish a religion.
It does not claim to impose a revealed truth, but rather offers its members a framework for reflection and inner growth.
In this quest for light, the figure of Christ holds a unique place: not as dogma, but as an archetype of transformation.
As Irène Mainguy writes: “Freemasonry retains only what is necessary from the figure of Christ to elevate consciousness, without concern for his divinity or theological quarrels.”
(La Symbolique maçonnique du troisième millénaire, Dervy, 2005)
In this reading, Christ is not the sole Saviour as defined by Christian orthodoxy, but a fully human being, bearer of a universal wisdom.
The initiate may recognise in him the model of a humanity advancing toward the light.
His ordeal, far from being a mere act of historical barbarity, becomes a symbolic passage: that of the death of the profane man and the resurrection of the “enlightened” man.
In Masonic language, one would speak of a transmutation of the being — a descent into darkness followed by an ascent into light.
Historically, the figure of Christ is present in the Higher Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, notably within the chivalric degrees.
The Knight Rose-Croix, the 18th degree of the AASR, invites the Freemason to contemplate the Passion of Christ not as dogma, but as an allegory of human suffering sublimated by universal love.
Irène Mainguy notes on this subject: “Christ is presented there as the supreme initiatic model, who accepts to die to himself in order to be reborn into the truth of Being.”
(De la symbolique des grades aux arcanes du REAA, Dervy, 2012)
This spiritualist interpretation of the Christ figure aligns with the works of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, known as “the Unknown Philosopher”, for whom “the inner Christ” is the image of the divine that man must awaken within himself.
It is not a question of external salvation, but of the interiorisation of the sacred.
Thus, the ordinary man, despised and persecuted, can through Masonic work reclaim his spiritual dignity, reintegrate himself into the order of the cosmos, and be reborn into a human destiny reconciled with light.
It is not the triumphant Christ of cathedrals, but the silent Christ of the heart of the inner temple that Freemasonry subtly evokes.
This Christ does not judge, he enlightens.
He does not promise paradise, he invites fulfilment.
He does not divide, he unites.
He does not found a religion, he reveals a path — a demanding path, requiring renunciation, silence, brotherhood, and the constant pursuit of truth.
Thus, Freemasonry, in its humanist and spiritualist essence, makes of Christ a travelling companion, a luminous figure among others, one who speaks to universal consciousness.
It does not retain the cross of dogma, but the message of liberating love.
It does not pray to Christ, it walks with him — not behind him, but beside him, on that long journey which is the reintegration of man into his spiritual dimension.
Alexandre Rosada – April 2025
