The York Rite in the United States is a grouping of separate Rites joined in order, namely the Capitular Rite, or Royal Arch Masons, the Cryptic Rite, or Cryptic Masons and the Chivalric Orders, or Knights Templar. It is one of the two branches of freemasonry in which a Master Mason may proceed after he has completed the three degrees of Symbolic or Blue Lodge Masonry. Consisting of Royal Arch Masons, Royal and Select Masters and the Knights Templar. The other branch is known as the Scottish Rite, consisting of the Lodge of Perfection (4°–14°), Chapter of Rose Croix (15°–18°), Council of Kadosh (19°–30°), and the Consistory (31°–32°). The Supreme Council confers the 33rd Degree of Sovereign Grand Inspector General.
Royal Arch Masonry is the first order a Master Mason goes through when he joins the York Rite. Royal Arch Masons meet as a Chapter. The degrees that are earned are: Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master and finally Royal Arch Mason.
The second order, Cryptic Masonry or the Cryptic Rite because a crypt or underground room figures prominently in the degrees. The degrees earned are: Royal Master, Select Master, Super Excellent Master,
The Knights Templar is the final order joined in the York Rite. Unlike
other Masonic bodies which only require a belief in a Supreme Being regardless
of religion, membership in Knights Templar is open only to Royal Arch Masons
who promise to defend the Christian faith. Its affiliation with Masonry is
based on texts that indicate persecuted Templars found refuge within the
safety of Freemasonry.
A local Knights Templar organization is called a Commandery in the United States
and a Preceptory elsewhere. In the United States, Knights Templar consists of
three degrees: Illustrious Order of the Red Cross, Order of the Knights of Malta
and Order of the Temple.