Z
The Hebrew letter, Zain.
Twenty-sixth and last letter of the English alphabet. In Hebrew the numerical
value is seven. This letter was added to the Latin from the Greek in the time
of Cicero. The Greek letter is zeta.
*
ZABUD
An historical personage at the
court of King Solomon, whose name appears in several of the advanced Degrees.
In that of Select Master in the American Rite, it has been corrupted into
Izabud. He is mentioned in First Kings (iv, 5) where he is described in the
authorized version as being "principal officer and the King's friend." The
original is Zabud ben Nathan cohen regneh hahmelek, which is literally Zabud,
son of Nathan, a Priest, the friend of the King Adam Clarke says he was "the
king's chief favorite, his confidant." Smith (Dictionary of the Bible) says:
"This position, if it were an official one, was evidently distinct from that
of Counselor, occupied by Ahithophel under David, and had more of the
character of private friendship about it."
Kitto (Cyclopedia of Biblical
Literature) says of Zabud and of his brother Azariah, that their advancement
in the household of King Solomon ' may doubtless be ascribed not only to the
young King's respect for the venerable Prophet (their father), who had been
his instructor, but to the friendship he had contracted with his sons during
the course of education. The office, or rather honor, of 'friend of the King,'
we find in all the despotic governments of the East. It gives high power,
without the public responsibility which the holding of a regular office in the
state necessarily imposes. It implies the possession of the utmost confidence
of, and a familiar intercourse with, the monarch, to whose person 'the friend'
at all times has access, and whose influence is therefore often far greater,
even in matters of state, than that of the recognized ministers of
government."to Clay probably by Preston, and so it still remains This
conception has been fully carried out in the(see Fervency and Freedom). legend
of the Select Master's Degree.
*
ZABULON
The Greek wording of Zebulun,
the tenth son of Jaeob. Delaunay (Thuileur, page 79) says that some ritualists
suppose that this was the true form of the word of which Jabulum is a
corruption. This is incorrect. Jabulum is a corrupt form of Giblim. Zabulon
has no connection with the advanced Degrees, except that in the Royal Arch he
represents one of the stones in the Pectoral or Breastplate.
*
ZACCHAI
The Hebrew word, ':T. The Latin words, Purus and Mundus, sometimes used as in
Delauney's French Thuileur, to explain the Hebrew expression as Purest and
Heavenly. A name applied to the Deity.
*
ZADKIEL
The name of one of the angels
of the seven planets, according to the Jewish Rabbis—the angel of the planet
Jupiter.
*
ZADOK
A personage in some of the
Ineffable Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. In Scripture he
is recorded as having been one of the two chief Priests in the time of David,
Abiathar being the other. He subsequently, by order of David, anointed Solomon
to be King, by whom he was rewarded with the post of High Priest. Josephus
(Antiquities of the Jews x, 8, 6) says that "Sadoc, the High Priest, was the
first High Priest of the Temple which Solomon built." Yet it has been supposed
by some authors, in consequence of his name not being mentioned in the
detailed account of the dedication, that he had died before the completion of
the Temple.
*
ZAPHNATH-PAANEAH
An Egyptian title given to the
Patriarch Joseph by the Egyptian King under whom he was Viceroy. The name has
been interpreted Revealer of secrets, and is a password in the old
instructions of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
*
ZARATHUSTRA
The name, in the Zend
language, of that great reformer in religion more commonly known to Europeans
as Zoroaster, which see.
*
ZARRIEL
The angel that, in accordance
with the Cabalistical system, governs the sun.
*
ZARTHAN
The Zarthan of First Kings
(vii, 46) appears to be the same place as the Zeredathah of Second Chronicles
(iv 17). In the Masonic lectures, the latter word is always used (see
Zeredathah).
*
ZARVAN-AKAR-ANA
A Sanskrit expression meaning,
Time without limits. According to the Parsees, the name of a deity or abstract
principle existing before the birth of Ahriman and Ormudz.
*
ZEAL
Ever since the Revival in
1717, for it is found in the earliest lectures, it was taught that Apprentices
served their Masters with "Freedom, Fervency, and Zeal"j and the symbols of
the first two of these virtues were Chalk and Charcoal. In the oldest
instructions, earthen pan, which see, was designated as the symbol of Zeal;
but this was changed to Clay probably by Preston , and so it still remains
(see Fervency and Freedom)
The instruction to the
Operative Mason to serve his Master with freedom, fervency, and zeal—to work
for his interests willingly, ardently, and zealously is easily understood. Its
application to Speculative Freemasonry, for the Master of the Work we
substitute the Grand Architect of the Universe, and then our zeal, like our
freedom and our fervency, is directed to a higher end. The zeal of a
Speculative Freemason is shown by advancing the morality, and by promoting the
happiness of his fellow-creatures.
*
ZEBULON
Son of Jacob and Leah; in the
Exodus his Tribe marched next to Judah and Issachar, and received the
territory bounded on the East by the southern half of the Lake of Galilce,
including Rimmon, Nazareth, and the Plain of Buttauf, where stood Cana of
Galilee. The Hebrew word means Heaven, or the abode of God (see Jabulum).
*
ZECHARIAH
"The son of Iddo," born in
Babylonia during the Captivity, who joined Zerubbabel on his return to
Palestine. A leader and a man of influence, being both Priest and Prophet.
*
ZEDEKIAH
A personage in some of the
advanced Degrees, whose melancholy fate is described in the Second Book of
Kings and in the prophecies of Jeremiah. He was the twentieth and last King of
Judah. When Nebuchadnezzar had in his second siege of Jerusalem deposed
Jehoiachin, whom he carried as a captive to Babylon, he placed Zedekiah on the
throne in his stead.
By this act Zedekiah became
tributary to the King of the Chaldees, who exacted from him a solemn oath of
fidelity and obedience. This oath he observed no longer than till an
opportunity occurred of violating it. In the language of the author of the
Books of Chronicles, "he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made
him swear by God" (Second Chronicles xxxvi, 13).
This course soon brought down
upon him the vengeance of the offended monarch, who invaded the land of Judah
with an immense army. Remaining himself at Riblah, a town of the northern
hoarder of Palestine, he sent the army under his general, Nebuzaradan, to
Jerusalem, which was invested by the Babylonian forces. After a siege of about
one year, during which the inhabitants endured many hardships the city was
taken by an assault, the Chaldeans entering it through breaches in the
northern wall.
It is very natural to suppose,
that when the enemy were most pressing in their attack upon the devoted city;
when the breach which was to give them entrance had been effected; and when,
perhaps, the streets most distant from the Temple were already filled with
Chaldean soldiery, a Council of his princes and nobles should have been held
by Zedekiah in the Temple, to which they had fled for refuge, and that he
should ask their advice as to the most feasible method of escape from the
impending danger.
History, it is true, gives no
account of any such assembly; but the written record of these important events
which is now extant is very brief, and, as there is every reason to admit the
probability of the occurrence, there does not appear to be any historical
objection to the introduction of Zedekiah into the legend of the
Super-Excellent Master's Degree, as having been present and holding a Council
at the time of the siege.
By the advice of this Council,
Zedekiah attempted to make his escape across the Jordan. But he and his
attendants were, says Jeremiah, pursued by the Chaldean army, and overtaken in
the plains of Jericho and carried before Nebuchadnezzar. His sons and his
nobles were slain, and, his eyes being put out, he was bound in chains and
carried captive to Babylon, where at a later period he died.
*
ZELATOR
The word has two meanings of
importance.
1. The First Degree of the German Rose Croix. The title expresses the spirit
of emulation which should characterize the neophyte.
2. The First Degree in the First Order of the Rosicrucian Society.
*
ZEMZEM
The holy well at Mecca in
Arabia. Mecca was the birthplace of the prophet Mahomet, Muhammad, or
Mohammed—the last name commonly used—founder of the religion bearing his name.
*
ZENANA
The inner portion of a
gentleman 's house in India, devoted to the use of females. In contrast with
the front or men's portion, it is devoid of comforts. Each woman has a small
cell, on the second or third story, fronting on the inner court of the square
structure.
*
ZENDAVESTA
The scriptures of the
Zoroastrian religion containing the doctrines of Zoroaster. Avesta means the
sacred text, and Ze7zd the commentary.
The work as we now have it is
supposed to have been collected by learned Priests of the Sassanian period,
who translated it into the Pehlevi, or vernacular language of Persia. The
greater part of the work was lost during the persecutions by the Mohammedan
conquerors of Persia One only of the hooks has been preserved, the Vendidad,
comprising twenty-te o chapters. The Yasna and the Vispered together
constitute the collection of fragments which are termed Vendidad Sadé. There
is another fragmentary collection called Yesht Sadé. And these constitute all
that remain of the original text. So that, however comprehensive the
Zendavesta must have been in its original form; the work as it now exists
makes but a comparatively small book.
The ancients, to whom it was
familiar, as well as the modern Parsees, attribute its authorship to
Zoroaster. But Doctor Haug, rightly conceiving that it was not in the power of
any one man to have composed so vast a work as it must have been in its
original extent, supposes that it was the joint production of the original
Zarathustra .Sitama and his successors, the high priests of the religion, who
assumed the same name.
The Zendavesta is the
scripture of the modern Parsee; and hence for the Parsee freemason, of whom
there are not a few, it constitutes the Book of the Law, or Trestle-Board.
Unfortunately, however, to the Parsee it is a sealed book, for, being written
in the old Zend language, which is now extinct, its contents cannot be
understood. But the Parsees recognize the Zendavesta as of Divine authority,
and say in the Catechism, or Compendium of Doctrines in use among them: "We
consider these books as heavenly books, because God sent the tidings of these
books to us through the holy Prophet Zurthost."
Brother Albert Pike prepared
elaborate commentaries on the Irana-Aryan Faith and Doctrine of the
Zen,davesta, a volume bearing that title and edited by Brother Marshall W.
Wood, being published by the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite, 1924.
*
ZENITH
That point in the heavens
which is vertical to the spectator, and from which a perpendicular line
passing through him and extended would reach the center of the earth. From of
old the documents of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite are dated "under
the Celestial Callopy of the Zenith which answers to" the latitude of the
place whence the document is issued being then given to fill the blank space.
The latitude alone is expressed because that indicates the position of the
sun's meridian height. Longitude, however, is always omitted, because every
place whence such a document is issued is called the GSrarzd East, the
specific spot where the sun rises. The theory implied is, that although the
South of the Lodge may vary, its chief point must always be in the East, the
point of sunrising, where longitude begins.
*
ZENNAAR
The sacred cord used in the
Hindustance initiation, which writers on ritualism have compared to the
Masonic Apron. Between eight and fifteen years of age, every Hindu boy is
imperatively required to receive the investiture of the Zenrzaar. The
investiture is accompanied by many solemn ceremonies of prayer and sacrifices.
After the investiture, the boy is said to have received his second birth, and
from that time a Hindu is called by a name which signifies "twice born."
Coleman (Mythology of the Hindus, page 155) thus describes the Zennaar: The
sacred thread must be made by a Brahman. It consists of three strings, each
ninety-six hands, forty-eight yards, which are twisted together: it is then
folded into three, and again twisted, these are a second time folded into the
same number, and tied at each end in knots. It is worn over the left shoulder,
next the skin extending half-way down the right thigh, by the brahmans,
Ketries, and Vaisya castes. The first are usually invested with it at eight
years of age, the second at eleven, and the Vaisya at twelve. The period may,
from especial causes, be deferred; but it is indispensable that it should be
received, or the parties omitting it become outcasts.
*
ZERAIAS
One of the three officers appointed by King Solomon to superintend the hewing
of the timbers in the Forests of Lebanon.
*
ZERBAL
The name of King Solomon's
Captain of the Guards, in the Degree of Intimate Secretary. No such person is
mentioned in Scripture, and it is therefore an invention of the ritualist who
fabricated the Degree. If derived from Hebrew, its roots will be found in Zer,
an enemy, and by:, Baal, and it would signify an enemy of Baal.
*
ZEREDATHAH
The name of the place between
which and Succoth are the clay grounds where Hiram Abif is said to have cast
the brazen utensils for the use of the Temple (see Clay Ground).
*
ZERUBBABEL
Pronounced Zer-oobbawbel, the
accent or emphasis on the last syllable. In writing the life of Zerubbabel
from a Masonic point of view, it is incumbent that reference should be made to
the legends as well as to the more strictly historical details of his eventful
career. With the traditions of the Royal Arch, and some other of the higher
Degrees, Zerubbabel is not less intimately connected than is Solomon with
those of Symbolic or Ancient Craft Masonry. To understand those traditions
properly, they must be placed in their appropriate place in the life of him
who plays so important a part in them. Some of these legends have the
concurrent support of Scripture, some are related by Josephus, and some appear
to have no historical foundation. Without, therefore, vouching for their
authenticity, they must be recounted, to make the Masonic life of the builder
of the second Temple complete.
Zerubbabel, who, in the Book
of Ezra, is called Sheshbazzar, the Prince of Judah, was the grandson of that
King Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, who had been deposed by Nebuchadnezzar and
carried as a captive to Babylon. In him, therefore, was vested the regal
authority, and on him, as such, the command of the returning captives was
bestowed by Cyrus, who on that occasion, according to a Masonic tradition,
presented to him the sword which Nebuchadnezzar had received from his
grandfather, Jehoiachin.
As soon as the Degree of the
Persian monarch had been promulgated to his Jewish subjects, the Tribes of
Judah and Benjamin, with the Priests and Levites, assembled at Babylon, and
prepared to return to Jerusalem, for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple.
Some few from the other Tribes, whose love of their country and its ancient
worship had not been obliterated by the luxuries of the Babylonian court,
united with the followers of Zerubbabel, and accompanied him to Jerusalem.
The greater number, however,
remained; and even of the Priests, who were divided into twenty-four courses,
only four courses returned, who, however, divided themselves, each class into
six, so as again to make up the old number. Cyrus also restored to the Jews
the greater part of the sacred vessels of the Temple which had been carried
away by Nebuchadnezzar, and five thousand and four hundred were received by
Zerubbabel, the remainder being brought back, many years after, by Ezra. Only
forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty Israelites, exclusive of servants
and slaves, accompanied Zerubbabel, out of whom he selected seven thousand of
the most valiant, whom he placed as an advanced guard at the head of the
people.
Their progress homeward was
not altogether unattended with danger; for tradition informs us that at the
river Euphrates they were opposed by the Assyrians, who, incited by the
temptation of the vast amount of golden vessels which they were carrying, drew
up in hostile array, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Jews, and
the Edict of Cyrus, disputed their passage. Zerubbabel, however, repulsed the
enemy with such ardor as to insure a signal victory, most of the Assyrians
having been slain in the battle, or drowned in their attempt to cross the
river in their retreat. The rest of the journey was uninterrupted, and, after
a march of four months, Zerubbabel arrived at Jerusalem, with his weary
followers, at seven o'clock in the morning of the 22d of June, five hundred
and thirty-five years before Christ.
During their captivity, the
Jews had continued, without intermission, to practice the rights of
Freemasonry, and had established at various places regular Lodges in Chaldea.
Especially, according to the Rabbinical traditions, had they instituted their
mystic Fraternity al Naharda, on the Euphlates; anal, according to the same
authority, we are informed that Zerubbabel carried with him to Jerusalem all
the secret knowledge which was the property of that Institution, and
established a similar Fraternity in Judea. This coincides with, and gives
additional strength to, the traditions of the Royal Arch Degree.
As soon as the pious pilgrims
had arrived at Jerusalem, and taken a needful rest of seven days, a Tabernacle
for the temporary purposes of divine worship was erected near the ruins of the
ancient Temple, and a Council was called, in which Zerubbabel presided as
King, Jeshua as High Priest, and Haggai as Scribe, or principal officer of
State. It was there determined to commence the building of the second Temple
upon the same holy spot which had been occupied by the first, and the people
liberally contributed sixty-one thousand drachms of gold, and five thousand
minas of silver, or nearly a quarter of a million of dollars, toward defraying
the expenses; a sum which sinks into utter insignificance, when compared with
the immense amount appropriated by David and Solomon to the construction of
their Temple.
The site having been thus
determined upon, it was found necessary to begin by removing the rubbish of
the old Temple, which still encumbered the earth, and prevented the workmen
from making the necessary •arrangements for laying the foundation. It was
during this operation that an important discovery was made by three
Sojourners, who had not originally accompanied Zerubbabel, but who, sojourning
some time longer at Babylon, followed their countrymen at a later period, and
had arrived at Jerusalem just in time to assist in the removal of the rubbish.
These three Sojourners, whose
fortune it was to discover that stone of foundation, so intimately connected
with the history of Freemasonry and to which we have before had repeated
occasion to allude, are supposed by a Masonic tradition to have been Esdras,
Zachariah, and Nehemiah, the three holy men, who, for refusing to worship the
golden image, had been thrown by Nebuchadnezzar into a fiery furnace, from
which they emerged uninjured. In the Chaldee language, they were known by the
names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
It was in penetrating into some of the subterranean vaults, that the Masonic
stone of foundation, with other important mysteries connected with it, were
discovered by the three fortunate Sojourners, and presented by them to
Zerubbabel and his companions Jeshua and Haggai, whose traditionary knowledge
of Freemasonry, which they had received in a direct line from the builders of
the first Temple, enabled them at once to appreciate the great importance on
these treasures.
As soon as that wonderful
discovery was made, on which depends not only the existence of the Royal Arch
Degree, but the most important mystery of Freemasonry, the Jews proceeded on a
certain day, before the rising of the sun, to lay the foundation-stone of the
second Temple; and for that purpose, we are told, Zerubbabel selected that
stone of foundation which had been discovered by the three Sojourners. On this
occasion, we learn that the young rejoiced with shouts and acclamations, but
that the ancient people disturbed them with their groans and lamentations,
when they reflected on the superb magnificence of the first Temple, and
compared it with the expected inferiority of the present structure.
As in the building of the
first Temple, so in this, the Tyrians and Sidonians were engaged to furnish
the timber from the Forests of Lebanon, and to conduct it in the same manner
on floats by sea to Joppa. Scarcely had the workmen well commenced their
labors, when they were interrupted by the Samaritans, who made application to
be permitted to unite with them in the construction of the Temple. But the
Jews, who looked upon them as idolaters, refused to accept of their services.
The Samaritans in consequence
became their bitter enemies, and so prevailed, by misrepresentations, with the
ministers of Cyrus, as to cause them to put such obstructions in the way of
the construction of the edifice as seriously to impede its progress for
several years. With such difficulty and danger were the works conducted during
this period, that the workmen were compelled to labor with the trowel in one
hand and the sword in the other. To commemorate these worthy Craftsmen, who
were thus ready, either to fight or to labor in the cause of God, as
circumstances might require, the sword and trowel crosswise, or, as the
Heralds would say, en Satire, have been placed upon the Royal Arch Tracing
Board or Carpet of our English Brethren. In the American instructions this
expressive symbol of valor and piety was unfortunately omitted.
In the seventh year after the
restoration of the Jews, Cyrus, their friend and benefactor, died, and his son
Cambyses, in Scripture called Ahasuerus, ascended the throne. The Samaritans
and the other enemies of the Jews, now becoming bolder in their designs,
succeeded in obtaining from Cambyses a peremptory order for the stoppage of
all the works at Jerusalem, and the Temple consequently remained in an
unfinished state until the second year of the reign of Darius, the successor
of Cambyses.
Darius appears to have had,
like Cyrus, a great friendship for the Israelites, and especially for
Zerubbabel, with whom he was well acquainted in his youth. We are informed, as
an evidence of this, that, when a private man, he made a vow, that if he
should ever ascend the throne, he would restore all the vessels of the Temple
that had been retained by Cyrus. Zerubbabel, being well aware of the friendly
disposition of the King, determined, immediately after his accession to power,
to make a personal application to him for his assistance and protection in
rebuilding the Temple. Accordingly he departed from Jerusalem, and after a
journey full of peril, in which he was continually attacked by parties of his
enemies, he was arrested as a spy by the Persian guards in the vicinity of
Babylon, and carried in chains before Darius, w-hox- how-ever, immediately
recognized him as the friend and companion of his youth, and ordering him
instantly to be released from his bonds, invited him to be present at a
magnificent feast which he was about to give to the Court.
It is said that on this
occasion, Zerubbabel, having explained to Darius the occasion of his visit,
implored the interposition of his authority for the protection of the
Israelites engaged in the restoration of the Temple. The King promised to
grant all his requests, provided he would reveal to him the secrets of
Freemasonry. But this the faithful Prince at once refused to do. He declined
the favor of the monarch at the price of his infamy, and expressed his
willingness rather to meet death or exile, than to violate his sacred
obligations as a Freemason.
This firmness and fidelity
only raised his character still higher in the estimation of Darius, who seems,
indeed, to have been endowed with many noble qualities both of heart and mind.
It was on this occasion, at the feast given by King Darius, that, agreeably to
the custom of Eastern monarchs, he proposed to his courtiers the question
whether the power of wine, women, or the King, was the strongest.
Answers were made by different
persons, assigning to each of these the precedency in power; but when
Zerubbabel was called on to assert his opinion, he declared that though the
power of wine and of the King might be great, that of women was still greater,
but that above all things truth bore the victory. Josephus says that the
sentiments of Zerubbabel having been deemed to contain the most wisdom, the
King commanded him to ask something over and above what he had promised as the
prize of the victor in the philosophic discussion. Zerubbabel then called upon
the monarch to fulfil the vow that he had made in his youth, to rebuild the
Temple, and restore the vessels that had been taken away by Nebuchadnezzar.
The King forthwith granted his
request, promised him the most ample protection in the future prosecution of
the works, and sent him home to Jerusalem laden with honors, and under the
conduct of an escort.
Henceforth, although from time
to time annoyed by their adversaries, the builders met with no serious
obstruction, and finally, twenty years after its commencement, in the sixth
year of the reign of Darius, and on the third day of the month Adar, 515 5
ears B.C., the Temple was completed, the capstone celebrated, and the house
solemnly dedicated to Jehovah with the greatest joy. After this we hear
nothing further of Zerubbabel, nor is the time or manner of his death either
recorded in Scripture or preserved by Masonic tradition. We have, however,
reason for believing that he lived to a good old age, since we find no
successor of him mentioned until Artaxerxes appointed Ezra as the Governor of
Judea, fifty-seven years after the completion of the Temple.
*
ZETLAND, THOMAS DUNDAS, EARL
OF
One of the most noted of the
noblemen of England, born in 1795, and initiated in the Prince of Wales Lodge,
No. 259, on June 18, 1830. Appointed Junior Grand Warden in 1832, Deputy in
1839, Pro Grand Master in 1840. Upon the decease of the Duke of Sussex, in
1843, the Earl became the chief ruler of the Craft, until March, 1844, when he
was elected Most Worshipful Grand Master, which office he held until 1870. He
was Provincial Grand Master of North and East Yorkshire from 1839 until he
died, in 1873.
*
ZEUS
Greatest of the national
deities of Greece, son of Chronos and Rhea, brother of Poseidon and Hera, and
husband of the latter. Mostly worshiped in Cretel Arcadia, and Dodona. Finally
the great Hellenic Divinity, identified with Jupiter of the Romans and Amon of
the Libyans. Zeus was represented as of majestic form, holding in one hand a
scepter, and in the other a thunderbolt, signified by the accompanying symbol.
*
ZI
In the Izdubar legends, a kind
of spiritual essence residing in every organic thing, each created object
having its special Zi, of which the Supreme Being was a more exalted genus. Zi
was also by a parity of reasoning regarded as the soul of man, and even man
himself.
*
ZICU
or ZIGGARA. The Accadian name
for primeval matter.
*
ZIF
Hastings Dictionary of the
Bible says, "seemingly the bright month," referring to Zif, and that this was
later called Iyyar . The eighth month of the civil and the second of the
sacred year of the Hebrews, commencing on the first of the new moon in the
month of April. The name of this month is mentioned but once in the
Scriptures, and then refers to the date of the commencement of Solomon's
Temple (see First Isings vi, 1). The month Bul, or Marchesvan, is mentioned as
the date of the completion of the Temple. (Reference to this is also in First
Kings vi, 38.)
*
ZILLAH
Wife of Lamech, and mother of
Tubal Cain and Naamah. One of the few females mentioned as of the antediluvian
or before the Deluge period.
*
ZINNENDORF, JOHANN WILHELM VON
Few men made more noise in
German Freemasonry, or had warmer friends or more bitter enemies, than Johann
Wilhelm Ellenberger, who, in consequence of his adoption by his mother's
brother, took subsequently the title of Von Zinnendorf, by which he is
universally known. He was born at Halle, August 10, 1731.
He was initiated into
Freemasonry at the place of his birth. He afterward removed to Berlin, where
he received the appointment of General Staff Sturgeon and chief of the medical
corps of the army. There he joined the Lodge of the Three Globes, and became
an ardent disciple of the Rite of Strict Observance, in which he took the
Order name of Eques à lapide nigro or Knight of the Black Stone. He was
elected Master of the Scottish Lodge. He had the absolute control of the funds
of the Order, but refusing to render any account of the disposition which he
had made of them, an investigation was commenced. Upon this, Zinnendorf
withdrew from the Rite, and sentence of excommunication was immediately
afterward pronounced against him. Zinnendorf in return declared the Strict
Observance of imposture, and denounced its theory of the Templar origin of
Freemasonry as false.
In the meantime, Zinnendorf
sent his friend Hans Carl Baumann to Stockholm, that he might receive
manuscripts of the Degrees of the Swedish system, which had been promised him
by Carl Friederich von Eckleff, Scottish Grand Master of the Chapter in that
city. Baumann returned with the manuscripts, which, however, it appears from a
subsequent declaration made by the Duke of Sudermania, were very imperfect.
But, imperfect as they were,
out of them Zinnendorf constructed a new Rite in opposition to the Strict
Observance. Possessed of great talent and energy, and his enemies said, of but
little scrupulousness as to means, he succeeded in attracting to him many
friends and followers. In 1766, he established at Potsdam the Lodge Minerval,
and in 1767, at Berlin, the Lodge of the Three Golden Keys, Freemasons were
found to give him countenance and assistance in other places, so that on June
24, 1770, twelve Lodges of his system were enabled to unite in the formation
of a Body which they called the Grand Lodge of all the Freemasons of Germany.
The success of this Body, under the adverse circumstances by which it was
surrounded, can only be attributed to the ability and energy of its founder,
as well as to the freedom with which he made use of every means for its
advancement without any reference to their want of firmness.
Having induced the Prince of
Hesse-Darmstadt to accept the Grand Mastership, he succeeded, through his
influence, in obtaining the recognition and Chance of the Grand Lodge of
England in 1773; but that Body seven y ears after withdrew from the
connection. In 1774, Zinnendorf secured the Protectorship of the King of
Prussia for his Grand Lodge. Thus patronized, the Grand Lodge of Germany
rapidly extended its influence and increased in growth, so that in 1778 it had
thirty-four Lodges under its immediate jurisdiction, and Provincial Lodges
were established in Austria, Silesia, Pomerania, Lower Saxony, and Russia.
Findel explains this great accession of strength by supposing that it could
only have been the consequence of an ardent desire of the Gertnan Freemasons
to obtain the promised revelations of the advanced Degrees of this system of
Zinnendorf.
Zinnendorf had been elected
Grand Master in 1774, an office he held until his death. But he had various
difficulties to encounter in that period of authority. He found an active and
powerful antagonist in the Lodge Royal York, at Berlin. The Duke of Sudermania,
Grand Master of Sweden, issued an official document in 1777 and declared that
the Warrant which had been granted by Eckleff to Zinnendorf, and on the
strength of which he had founded his Grand Lodge, was spurious and
unauthorized; the Grand Lodge of Sweden pronounced him to be a fomenter of
disturbances and an insolent calumniator of the Swedish Grand Master, and in
1780 the Grand Lodge of England withdrew from its alliance.
But Zinnendorf was undismayed.
Having quit the service of the government in 1779, he made a journey to Sweden
in an unsuccessful effort to secure all the documents connected with the
Swedish system. Returning hence he continued to preside over the Grand Lodge
with unabated zeal and undiminished vigor until his death, which took place
June 6, 1782. Von Zinnendorf undoubtedly committed many errors, but we cannot
withhold from him the praise of having earnestly sought to introduce into
German Freemasonry a better system than the one which was prevailing in the
last quarter of the eighteenth century.
*
ZINNENDORF, RITE OF
A Rite invented by Count Von
Zinnendorf, and fabricated out of some imperfect copies of the Swedish system,
with additions from the Illuminism of Avignon and the reveries of Svedenborg.
It consisted of seven Degrees, divided into three sections as follows:
I. Blue Freemasonry.
1. Apprentice.
2. Fellow Craft.
3. Master.
II. Red Freemasonry.
4. Scottish Apprentice and Fellow Craft.
5. Scottish Master.
III. Capitular Freemasonry.
6. Favorite of Saint John.
7. Chapter of the Elect.
This system was practiced by
the Grand Lodge of Germany, which had been established by Zinnendorf, and by
the Lodges of its Obedience.
*
ZINZENDORF, COUNT VON,
NICOLAUS LUDWIG
v Founder of the existing sect
of Moravian Brethren; also of a religious society which he called the Order of
the Grain of Mustard-Seed. He was ordained Bishop of the Moravians in 1737,
and at request of King Frederiek William I of Prussia, went to London, and was
received by Wesley. In 1741 he proceeded to Bethlehem, in America, and founded
the Moravian Settlements. The prolific author of a hundred volumes. He was
born at Dresden in 1700, and died in 1760.
*
ZION
Mount Zion was the
southwestern of the three hills which constituted the high table-land on which
Jerusalem was built. It was the royal residence and hence it is often called
the City of David. The name is sometimes used as synonymous with Jerusalem.
*
ZITHERN
An instrument of music of
twenty-eight strings drawn over a shallow box; both hands are employed in
playing on it.
*
ZIZON
This is said, in one of the
Ineffable Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, to be the name of
the balustrade before the Sanctum Sanctorum. There is no such word in Hebrew,
but it may be a corruption of the Talmudic , which Buxtorf (Talmudic Lexicon)
defines as a beam, a little beam, a small rafter.
*
ZOAN
An Egyptian town, known to the
Greeks as Tanais, presumed to have been founded 3700 B.C., and probably the
residence of the Pharaohs of the Exodus.
*
ZODIAC
Many of the Egyptian temples
contain astronomical representations; notably those of Esneh, Contra Latopolis,
and Denderah, which were famous for their zodiacal ceilings. Antiquity was
accorded to the records of the Egyptian Empire by calculations made from the
positions of the stars on the monuments and on these ceilings. Closer
criticism now reveals these positions to be fanciful and the data unreliable.
The Zodiac of Denderah has been removed to Paris, where it forms the chief
ornament of the museum of the Louvre. Those remaining in Egypt are suffering
from deterioration. Crosses will be found to be a portion of five of the signs
of the Zodiac.
*
ZODIAC, MASONIC
The French name is Zodiaquz
Maçonnique, a series of twelve Degrees, named after the twelve signs of the
Zodiac, the first being the Ram. It was in the series of the Metropolitan
Chapter of France, and in the manuscript collection of Peuvret.
*
ZOHAR
The Hebrew word, meaning
Splendor. After the surrender of Jerusalem, through the victory of Vespasian,
among the fugitives was Rabbi Simon Ben Jochai, who remained an Anehorite for
twelve years, became visionary, and believed he was visited by the prophet
Elias. His son, Rabbi Eliezer, and his clerk, Ptabbi Abba, when visiting him,
took down his pronounced divine precepts, which were in time gathered and
formed into the famous Sohar or Zohar. From this work, the Sepher Jetzirah,
and the Commentary of the TenSephiroth was formed the Cabala. The Zohar, its
history, and as well that of its author, overflow with beautiful yet ideal
mysticism.
*
ZOHARITI
A Hebrew word meaning the I
Iluminated. At Society founded by Jacob Franck at the beginning of the
eighteenth century.
*
ZONAR
The symbolic girdle of the
Christians and Jews worn in the Levant, as a mark of distinction, that they
may be known from the Mohammedans.
*
ZOROASTER
More correctly, Zarathustra.
He was the Legislator and Prophet of the ancient Baetrians, out of whose
doctrines the modern religion of the Parsees has been developed. As to the age
in which Zoroaster flourished, there have been the greatest discrepancies
among the ancient authorities. The earliest of the Greek writers who mentions
his name is Xanthus of Lydia, and he places his era at about 600 years before
the Trojan war, which would be about 1800 years before Christ. Aristotle and
Eudoxus say that he lived 6,000 years before Plato; while Berosus, the
Babylonian historian, makes him a king of Babylon, and the founder of a
dynasty which reigned over Babylon between 2200 and 2000 B.C.
The Parsees are more moderate
in their celebrations, and say that their Prophet was a contemporary of
Hystaspes, the father of Darius, and accordingly place his era at 550 B.C.
Haug, however, in his Essays on the Sacred Language of the Parsees, declares
that this supposition is utterly groundless. He thinks that we can, under no
circumstances, assign him a later date than 1000 B.C., and is not even
disinclined to place his era much earlier, and make him a contemporary of
Moses. Brother Albert Pike, who has devoted much labor to the investigation of
this confused subject of the Zoroastrian era, says, in an able article in
Doctor Mackey's National Freemason (volume iii, No. 3):
In the year 1903 before
Alexander, or 2234 B.C., a Zrathustrian king of Media conquered Babylon. The
religion even then had degenerated into Magism, and was of unknown age. The
unfortunate theory that Vitagpa, one of the most efficient allies of
Zarathustra, was the father of Darius Hystaspes, has long ago been set at
rest. In the Chaldean lists of Berosus, as found in the Armenian edition of
Eusebius, the name Zoroasfer appears as that of the Median conqueror of
Babylon; but he can only have received this title from being a follower of
Zarathustra and professing has religion. He was preceded by a series of
eighty-four Median Kings- and the real Zarathustra lived in Baetria long
before the tide of emigration had flowed thence into Media. Aristotle and
Eudoxus, according to Pliny, place Zarathustra 6000 years before the death of
Plato, Hermippus, 5000 years before the Trojan war. Plato died 348 B.C.- SO
that the two dates substantially agree, making the date of Zarathustra's reign
6300 or 6350 B.C., and I have no doubt that this is not far from the truth.
Bunsen, however (God in
History, volume I, book iii, chapter vi, page 276), speaks of Zarathustra
Spitama as living under the reign of Vistaspa toward the year 300() B.C.,
certainly not later than toward 2500 B.C. He calls him "one of the mightiest
intellects and one of the greatest men of all time"; and he says of him:
"Accounted by his contemporaries a blasphemer, atheist, and firebrand worthy
of death; regarded even by his own adherents, after some centuries, as the
founder of magic, by others as a sorcerer and deceiver, he was, nevertheless,
recognized already by Hippocrates as a great spiritual hero, and esteemed the
earliest sage of a primeval epoch—reaching back to 5000 years before their
date—by Eudoxus, Plato, and Aristotle."
The name of this great
reformer is always spelled in the Zendavesta as Zarathustra, with which is
often coupled Spitama; this, Haug says, was the family name, while the former
was his surname, and hence both he and Bunsen designate him as Zarathustra
Spitama. The Greeks corrupted Zarathustra into Zarastrades and Zoroastres, and
the Romans into Zoroaster, by which name he has always, until recently, been
known to Europeans. His home was in Bactria, an ancient country of Asia
between the Oxus River on the North and the Caucasian range of mountains on
the South, and in the immediate vicinity, therefore, of the primal seat of the
Aryan race, one of whose first emigrations, indeed, was into Bactria.
The religion of Zoroaster
finds its origin in a social, political, and religious schism of the Bactrian
Iranians from the primitive Aryans. These latter led a nomadic and pastoral
life in their native home, and continued the same habits after their
emigration. But a portion of these tribes, whom Haug calls the proper
Iranians, becoming weary of these wanderings, after they had reached the
highlands of Bactria abandoned the pastoral and wandering life of their
ancestors, and directed their attention to agriculture. This political
secession was soon followed by wars, principally of a predatory kind, waged,
for the purpose of booty, by the nomadic Aryans on the agricultural
settlements of the Iranians, whose rich fields were tempting objects to the
spoiler.
The political estrangement was
speedily and naturally followed by a religious one. It was at this time that
Zoroaster appeared, and, denouncing the nature worship of the old Aryan faith,
established his spiritual religion, in which, says Bunsen, "the antagonisms of
light and darkness, of sunshine and storm, become transformed into antagonisms
of good and evil, of powers exerting a beneficent or corrupting in Huenee on
the mind."
The doctrine of pure
Zoroastrianism was monotheistic. The Supreme Being was called Ahuramazda, and
Haug says that Zoroaster's conception of him was perfectly identical with the
Jewish notion of Jehovah. He is referred to as "the Creator of the earthly and
spiritual life, the Lord of the whole universe, at whose hands are all the
creatures." He is wisdom and intellect; the light itself, and the source of
light; the rewarder of the virtuous and the punisher of the wicked.
The dualistic doctrine of
Ormuzd and Ahrimanes, which has falsely been attributed to Zoroaster, was in
reality the development of a later corruption of the Zoroasteric teaching. But
the great reformer sought to solve the puzzling question of the origin of evil
in the world, by supposing that there existed in Ahuramazda two spirits,
inherent in his nature, the one positive and the other negative. All that was
good was real, existent; while the absence of that reality was a non-existence
or evil. Evil was the absence of good as darkness was the absence of light.
Zoroaster taught the idea of a
future life and the immortality of the soul. The doctrine of the resurrection
is one of the principal dogmas of the Zendavesta. He also clearly inculcated
the belief of a heaven and a hell. The former was called the House of Hymns,
because the angels were supposed to sing hymns there; the latter the house of
destruction, and to it were relentlessly consigned the poets and Priests of
the old Aryan religion.
The doctrine of sacred names,
so familiar to the Hebrews, was also taught by Zoroaster. In one of the Yashts,
a portion of the Zendavesta, Ahuramazda tells Zarathustra that the utterance
of one of his sacred names, of which he enumerates twenty, is the best
protection from evil. Of these names, one is ahmi, meaning I am, and another,
ahmi vat ahmi, I am who I am. The reader will be reminded here of the Holy
Name in Exodus, Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, or I am that I am.
The doctrine of Zoroaster was
not forever confined to Bactria, but passed over into other countries; nor in
the transmission did it fail to suffer some corruption. From its original seat
it spread into Media, and under the name Magism, or the doctrine of the
Magavas, that is, the mighty ones, was incorporated at Babylon with the
Chaldean philosophy, whence we find its traces in the Rabbinism and the
Cabalism of the Hebrews. It was carried, too, into Persia, where it has Jeell
developed into the awoder and still existing sect of the Parsees, of whom we
now find two divisions, the conservatives and liberals; the former cultivating
the whole modified doctrine of Zoroaster, and the latter retaining much of the
doctrine, but rejecting to a very great extent the ceremonial instructions.
*
ZSCHOKKE, J. H. D.
One of the most eminent
Freemasons and German authors known. Born at Magdeburg, 1771, died 1848.
*
ZUNI INDIANS
A tribe inhabiting New Mexico,
United States of America, whose mystic services have attracted the attention
of Masonic scholars in consequence of their similarity to those in vogue by
the Masonic Fraternity. These Indians have a formal religious initiation, in
which the suppliant kneels at the altar to take his vows, after being received
upon the point of an instrument of torture to the flesh. Among their forms and
ceremonies are facing the East, circumambulation, tests of endurance, and
being peculiarly clothed. Incense is burned, and the sun worshiped at its
rising (see Indian Freemasonry).
*
ZURTHOST
The name given by the modern
Parsees to Zarathustra or Zoroaster. They call him their prophet, and their
religious sect the Zarthosti Community.
