While watching a television programme that visited the Cheltenham
Masonic Hall, I noticed that there was a banner hanging by the staircase that
showed strange winged creatures. As a student of such things [1], I was intrigued
and Ray Pearson and one of his colleagues kindly supplied me with a photograph
(below, upper).
The banner features a version of the Arms of the United Grand Lodge of
England (seen above, lower) and is slightly modified to include reference to
the Provincial Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire. This is the description of the
Crest and Supporters of the Arms given in a translation from the heraldic language
[2]:
The Crest consists of a golden ark
supported by two cherubs. These have the upper part of the body in natural
flesh tints and the lower half covered in brown fur, their wings are in gold
and above them, in Hebrew, is the Motto "Holiness to the Lord"..
..The Supporters are two cherubs coloured similarly to the pair on the Crest.
The golden ark is the Ark of the Covenant, containing the
two stone tablets on which are written The Ten Commandments and each cherub
covers the lid, or mercy seat, with one outstretched wing, a motif repeated in
the Supporters.
There are many descriptions of cherubim (or cherubs, the
terms being used interchangeably) in The Holy Bible [3] and several quotes are
important for our understanding of their appearance:
Ezekiel 10.14 And every one
had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face
was the face of a man, and the third face of a lion, and the fourth the face of
an eagle.
The "cherub"
in the quote above has been interpreted by some Christians as being an
ox [4], although the reasons for this are not given. If we substitute the term
facets for faces, we can see that cherubim are composed of four creatures and
this is how they appear in the Masonic illustration, with the lion's mane being
represented by long hair. Interestingly, the Cheltenham cherubim are androgynous,
appear to have breasts, and their hair (mane) is worn up. Why? Perhaps the
artist was influenced by images of French sphinxes (see below)?
Continuing [3]:
1 Kings 6.23-24 And within
the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. And five
cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the
cherub; from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the
other wing were ten cubits
We thus know that the wings of cherubim are 50% of their
height and clearly some licence is allowed when portraying the creatures. It is
noticeable that the arms are replaced by wings, just as in birds, but quite
different to conventional portrayals of angels, for example. However, cherubim
do have hands as we learn in another passage in The Holy Bible [3]
Ezekiel 10:7-8 And one
cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that
was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him
that was clothed with line: who took it, and went out. And there appeared in
the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings.
So the hands are hidden, but I presume
that they are attached to arms and that the arms, in turn, are attached to some part of the
skeleton.
What else do we know about cherubim? Within
Roman Catholicism, the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (not to be
confused with Dionysius the Areopagite) have held sway since mediaeval times and still
do today. For Pseudo-Dionysius, cherubim were the second highest rank of
heavenly beings, with only Seraphim holding a more important role. There were
then various other groups, with Archangels and Angels forming the lowest
grouping and only these forms being able to leave Heaven and communicate with
humans on Earth [1].
Religious paintings show cherubim, sometimes with long wings
and sometimes with very short wings, and the bodies of babies – what we recognise
colloquially as cherubs. Whereas the Masonic view of cherubim has a basis in
Biblical text, the portrayals in many paintings, and in sculpture, seem the product
of imagination, just as the close relatives of cherubim, the putti, clearly
are. Putti have no connection with Heaven and were associated with human
pleasure and temptation in Renaissance Art. Perhaps they were originally
cherubim that had been cast from Heaven because of some naughtiness?
[1] Roger S. Wotton (2009) Angels, putti, dragons and
fairies: believing the impossible. Opticon1826
7:1-7.
[3] The Holy Bible King James' Version: http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/
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