Opening and closing
He answers the Master in the ritual opening and closing, repeats his knocks with his own gavel and confirms that the lodge is properly guarded and that the brothers are in order.
Office of the lodge · Dutch Freemasonry
Eerste Opziener
In the West, where the sun sets, he watches over the work of the day.
- Place in the lodge
- In the West, at the head of a column
- Jewel of the office
- The level
- In particular care of
- The Fellow Crafts (gezellen)
The Eerste Opziener is the first support of the Master. Together with the Second Warden he sits in the West, facing the East, and he is responsible in particular for the (gezellen): their instruction, their progress and their readiness for the next step.
He is also the natural successor. In many Dutch lodges the First Warden is the brother who will one day sit in the East. The office is therefore both a duty and a school: whoever learns to oversee the work learns what it means to lead it.
Origins
History of the office
The operative wardens were the overseers of the building site. They checked the work, kept order among the workmen and paid their wages at the end of the day. The Dutch word "opziener" says exactly that: the one who looks over the work.
In the oldest speculative lodges two wardens assisted the master. English lodges came to place the in the West and the in the South. Dutch lodges, like French ones, seat both Wardens in the West, each at the head of one of the two columns of brothers along the sides of the lodge.
In Dutch practice each Warden has his own group of brothers in his care: the First Warden the , the Second Warden the . That division gives the office a clear educational task, which in English-speaking lodges is often left to separate instruction officers.
Eerste Opziener
What the office involves
Guiding the Fellow Crafts
He follows the in their study of the second degree: the liberal arts and sciences, the meaning of the symbols and the preparation of their first papers. He advises the Master when a is ready to be raised.
Keeping his column
During the work he keeps order on his side of the lodge and passes on to the Master the request of a brother who wishes to speak.
Deputising for the Master
When the Master is absent he takes up the and leads the work. He must therefore know the ritual of the East as well as his own.
Closing the day
In the symbolism of the ritual he stands where the sun sets. As the operative warden paid the workmen, he sees that every brother leaves the work having received what is due to him.
In practice
How it works in a Dutch lodge
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Election
He is elected with the other officers for a term set in the by-laws, and is usually a brother with years of experience in the lodge.
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In the West
During the work he sits in the West with the as his jewel and a gavel of his own, so that the Master's knocks are answered and carried through the lodge.
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Board and promotions
He takes part in the board of the lodge and in the preparation of passings and raisings, because he knows better than anyone how each is progressing.
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On the way to the East
In many lodges the First Warden follows the Master in the East. His years in the West are his apprenticeship as a leader.
What the office asks
- Fairness
- Steadiness
- Teaching patience
- Readiness to take over
- Loyalty to the Master
The lesson for every brotherA good teacher is not above his pupils: he only walks a little ahead on the same road. The on the breast of the First Warden reminds him, and every brother who watches him, that guiding others begins with treating them as equals.
To reflect on
- Whom are you guiding at the moment, and do you see them at eye level?
- Are you ready to take over the work when it is asked of you?
- How do you close your day: with an honest look at the work that was done?
Whether or not you hold this office, each office mirrors a task that every Freemason carries within himself.