Enoch was the most notable saint of the antediluvian period, the seventh of the patriarchs, and the great-grandfather of Noah. He is reported to have "walked with God" for three hundred years, and it is said that he did not die a natural death, but was momentarily translated into the place where God is. His Hebrew name was Henoch, signifying to initiate and to instruct. Traditions and legends of some of the higher degrees of Freemasonry present the claim that Freemasonry in its science of morality and ethics and in its emblematic and symbolic mysteries existed as a Craft in the days of the patriarchs, and in the times of antiquity. The great Masonic "Legend of Enoch," sustains this claim in a most remarkable way. According to this legend Enoch initiated and promoted a "Craft" in which the sublimest truths of Freemasonry were taught by emblems and symbols and through mystics and mysteries. These were preserved in an underground temple which was discovered in excavations long after the great Deluge. Many Oriental writers abound in traditional stories which sustain the great Masonic "Legend of Enoch."
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This page is adapted from the Glossary at Phoenixmasonry — Used with permission.
