The Grand Constitutions of Bordeaux (Bordeaux) 1762 and Berlin of 1786 established the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite structure.

Lecture of the Hon. SGC Jordan Pulkouras 33° at the Academy of AASR on August 14, 2024.

The Grand Constitutions of Bordeaux (Bordeaux) 1762 and Berlin of 1786 established the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite structure.

At the same time, at the end of the 18th century, Freemasonry also developed in Greece, which was still occupied by the Ottomans. It contributed its dynamics and ideas to the demand for freedom and the birth of the modern nation-state.

There were several individual Lodges that developed admirable activity—almost all Scottish—but for the economy of our discussion, we shall not refer to them at all.

We will describe quite briefly,

1- The Lodges of the Ionian Islands and the Ionian State

2- The Lodges of the leading large cities of the Eastern Mediterranean, Thessaloniki, Constantinople, Smyrna, etc. And,

3- the establishment of the first Grand Lodge in the free new Greek state and its first administration at the same time as the establishment of the Greek Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Type.

We must remember that Freemasonry in Continental Europe was first introduced and developed by the Scottish Jacobites, i.e., the followers of the dethroned James Stuart.

They followed the deposed king into exile in Paris in the late 17th century and began establishing Lodges, taking the Scottish Masonic Tradition to France and then to Germany. The higher (beyond the Guild, i.e., also the Master) degrees are called from the first moment and by all - without exception - "Scottish."

The central Scottish initiatory myths and the Elect have existed since 1750. Still, the Scottish Freemasons do not have a central administration. Thus, the so-called Scottish Grand Mother Lodges in Paris, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Lyons, and Berlin are developed, each developing similar initiatory myths differently, i.e., in 7, 11, or more degrees.

Our Berlin Grand Constitutions describe the different "Types of the Scottish System, whose teachings" were "branches of one and the same tree" and united to form the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Type very poetically.

In 1764, Baron Von Hood founded the first purely chivalric Scottish system with the Templar Tradition, the Strict Observance. Following the old Chivalric Tradition, they maintained the division of Europe into medieval regions (the Languages, as they are still called Rhodes, which denote the first seven national groups that participated in the Crusades: Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Germany, England, and Spain).

Let's now come to ours, starting from the Ionian Islands.

The first Lodge founded was the Beneficenza (Bienfaisance) Lodge of Corfu.

It was said to have been founded in 1740 by the First Venerable, the Forecaster of the Venetian State. There is no evidence to confirm this, and, strangely, the Forecaster led a Masonic lodge two years after Pope Clement's condemnation of Freemasonry by Pope Clement's seal. In any case, it soon suspended its operations even if there was.

On June 13, 1782, the Grand Scottish Mother Lodge of Verona in the East of Padua (Padua), which was dependent on the Scottish Directory of Lyon, with a table of approval validated the application for the establishment of the Beneficenza with retroactive effect from the date of the application which was August 30, 1781.

This Grand Lodge practiced Strict Observance. With the knightly division, the Ionian Islands were part of Italy (which at that time was not the single country we know today but was divided into 6 to 7 states), and Lyon had supervision of the region.

The President of the Italian Mother Grand Lodge who granted the founding charter was the famous academician and professor at the University of Padua, doctor Conte Carbouri.

Our brother Andreas Rizopoulos was the one who identified Count Carbouri with Markos Harbouris, who was born in Kefalonia. A famous scientist and a renowned mason whose opinion was sought by the masons of Europe and the Enlightened of Bavaria. We know quite a bit about his activities from the records of the police of the time who were constantly watching him as Dark Jacobites, Strict Observances, and German Enlightenments were consistently suspected of involvement in the revolutionary movements that were boiling that century across Europe and led to the birth of the modern nation-states. His brother Marinos Harbouris served in the Russian army working with another great Cephalonite military man and mason, the general of the empire Petros Melissinos. Melissenos founded the first purely Russian masonic Rite, influenced by the Natic chivalric Tradition. It is information that I had given several years ago to Leander with the request that he not simply entrust Polychronis with a translation of the Typica of Melissenos but find time to deal more deeply with his work. Consider two 18th-century Cephalonites, Harbouris in Italy and Melissinos in Russia, work together, and it is these Greeks who will develop chivalric Scottish Freemasonry each in their own country and are equally dynamically active in the changing political and social environment of their time. Indeed, a chapter deserves to be thoroughly researched someday if we were to support a new researcher with a scholarship in a doctoral study.

We continue.

In June 1782, as we said, the Beneficenza was founded; the following month, July 1782, in Wilhelmsbad, Wilhelmose abolished the Strict Observance and absorbed it into the Reformed Scottish Type (Rite écossais rectifié). The Corfu brothers follow, and almost together with the foundation of the Beneficenza, we find a Peristyle of Dark Teachers operating, the first of the Higher Scottish Degrees working with the Reformed Type (Rite écossais rectifié), and the name of the Peristyle is Scottish Committee Comite Ecossaise.

But other Lodges in the Ionian Islands either depended on another Scottish Mother Lodge or chose to maintain their own Scottish Tradition and not follow the Reformed Scottish Type.

And so we arrive at a great Greek politician and mason, Dionysios Roma.

Consul General of Venice in Moria and Roumeli, member of the Drafting Committee for adopting the Heptanisian Constitution, then Rector of Corfu, and then Senator. Since 1807, the control of the Heptanisou State has passed to Napoleon's France. Bonaparte uses Freemasonry as a power tool and forces the different Grand Lodges to submit to the Grand Orient of France, where his brother, Louis Bonaparte, takes over as Grand Master. Note also that the Mother High Council had already been established in Charleston in 1801, and from there, de Grasse-Tilly arrived in France in 1804 and established the first High Council of Europe. He joined the union under Bonaparte with the assurance that they would respect the independent authority of the Supreme Council. But after the establishment by the Grand Orient of the Council of Presses (Grand Directoire des Rites), he understands that the aim is to degrade and manipulate the Supreme Council - which, to be expected, must be Sovereign and Independent - and in the face of the violation of the Act of Union and the Concordat between them, he made the Supreme Council independent and withdrew from the Press Council.

To return to our topic... Rome goes to Paris on the occasion of the birth of Napoleon's child to officially wish. Requests and submits the Corfu Beneficenza and Filogenia Lodges under the auspices of the Great East, receiving permission to operate as a Regional Grand Lodge with the right to establish lodges in the Ionian Islands. At the same time, acting as a politician and Greek patriot, he clarifies that the name of the Filogenia lodge means friend of the Greek people who are slaves to the Ottomans. If the Grand East objects, they are willing to change the name.

The French had no objection; on the contrary, they agreed entirely, so 10 years before the Greek Revolution, Freemasonry was the first European institution to officially recognize the subservient Greek race, thanks to Dionysian Romas.

Of course, the demonic politician does not stop here. After 1815, the French lost sovereignty over the Ionian Islands, Which fell under the United Kingdom.

There, the king's son, the Duke of Sussex, had assumed the position of Grand Master of Masons, had already united the different Grand Lodges of England into the United Grand Lodge of England, and devoted his life to organizing Freemasonry and its different Bodies in the British Empire.

Therefore, Rome decided to break their relations with the French to transform the Regional Grand Lodge into an independent one named Serene Great East of Greece six years before the start of the Revolution. He formally sought recognition from the United Grand Lodge of England by offering the position of Grand Master to the Duke of Sussex. The request was immediately accepted, and thus, the Great East of Greece was also recognized by the English before the start of the Greek Revolution, and the Duke officially received the title of Grand Master after 8 years, on December 9, 1823, after the Revolution in Greece it was now established. He retained it until his death and then passed it to his successor, the Earl of Zetland, until the Seven Islanders ceased to operate their Grand Lodge in 1857.

What is the exciting element in the official communication of the Corfu brothers with the English Grand Lodge? The council which decides the proposal and acceptance of affiliation with the United Grand Lodge of England is not a council of Symbolic Lodges. It is the Scottish Rosicrucian Supreme Chapter, and at that time, it was the highest masonic workshop based in Corfu. Remember, Masonic regularity as we know it today was established in the early 20th century. Back then, at the beginning of the 19th century, the upper ranks were the Scots, and as such, they were accepted by all.

The acceptance of the transformation of the Regional Grand Lodge into an independent one under the name of the Serene Great East of Greece was decided, as the Minutes of the time inform us, on the 26th day of the 2nd month (that is, in Scottish terms of April) of the year 5816 by whom? From the "Supreme Provincial Peristyle attached to the Scottish Grand Provincial Lodge of the Scottish Philosophical Order of St. John of Scotland under the distinctive title Charity and Filogenia United in the East of Corfu."

Anyone interested in a more profound investigation can find the central relevant records of the time in Krat's book of our brother Andreas Rizopoulos, Masonic Analects.

We leave the Ionian Islands and cross to the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean. We should remember that the 18th century was the era of significant social changes. The nation-states are born, and with the struggles, the bourgeoisie is emancipated, young scientists who do not tolerate the restrictions of the Catholic church in their research, and merchants who acquire their own power that does not depend on any lord, noble, or abbot. All of them find a source of inspiration and encouragement in Freemasonry, a brotherhood that passionately encourages and supports the vision of the new world they claim.

Thus, the first lodges in the region (Aleppo, Constantinople) were created in 1744 by the Scottish Alexander Drummond, who was also the first to receive the title of Regional Grand Master from the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The area is a commercial crossroads of Epirus and has a substantial economic interest. Drummond represented the Levant Company, which controlled Britain's commercial interests in the region and officially held the title of Consul.

But today, we are particularly interested in the activity of the competing French Society of the Societe Francaise d'Orient, which is based in Marseille and spreading to the same places.

Marseilles is home to the Grand Scottish Mother Lodge of Saint John of Scotland, 'Saint-Jean d'Ecosse,' which was founded by Scottish Jacobites and practiced a Scottish system of seven degrees. After 1751, they founded lodges in Constantinople 'Saint-Jean d'Ecosse de la Parfaite Union/ Saint John of Scotland of the Perfect Union,' in Thessaloniki 'Saint-Jean d'Ecosse de l'Amitié/ Saint John of Scotland of Friendship' and in Smyrna 'Saint-Jean d'Ecosse des Nations Réunies/ Saint John of Scotland of the Reunified Nations, as well as peristyles of higher degrees. Greek students, scientists, and businessmen actively participate in these activities. With the Revolution, they stop working as mainly Smyrni people are suspected of participating in the revolutionary islands, Chios and Psarras.

They reopened in 1824, but the Scottish Grand Mother Lodge of Marseilles was subordinated to the Grand Orient. The application for recognition dated February 25, 1824, confirms that apart from the symbolic Lodge of Nations Reunions, there was also the Scottish Supreme Peristyle of Philadelphes in Smyrna, which was also recognized and reopened.

Now, what's the exciting part? We said that all the urban cultures of the time developed in Thessaloniki, Smyrna, and Constantinople. Athens is an unremarkable village that will develop much later. To this day, in our Standard of the 9th grade, we have a unique peculiarity; some beasts are described that do not exist in any other Standard of another country. If we investigate a little deeper, we will see that it is a verbatim copy of the 18th-century Standard of the Grand Scottish Mother Lodge of Marseilles. The Greek brothers of Smyrna, Thessaloniki, or Constantinople in the 18th and 19th centuries used and loved it, so when Freemasonry was officially established in the new Greek state, as they were part of the most dynamic economic and cultural element, they offered along with them the Tradition they knew. And from there, it reached our days, and it is absolutely legitimate and acceptable as Freemasonry is, first of all, a tradition, and by practicing this Standard, we, unbroken, maintain a Scottish tradition of two and a half centuries.

Thus, we established the first Grand Lodge and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Press in the new Greek state.

In 1857, the operation of the Serene Grand Lodge of the Ionian Islands was suspended, and in the same year, seven lodges appeared to be operating in free Greece under the auspices of the Grand Orient of Italy. Why under Italy and not France or England? The last two, together with Russia, are guarantor powers. Acting intelligently, our ancestors chose a third neighboring and friendly country that would not involve them in political rivalries.

In 1863, the Greek Lodges acquired semi-autonomy in the form of a Directory. In 1868, by Decree of the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, the Serene Grand Orient of Greece was established with eight Lodges and a presence in Athens, Corfu, Piraeus, Lamia, Argos, Ioannina, and Zakynthos.

Nevertheless, the primordial flaw of our race – discord – has a loud presence.

The few active members are unable to agree on the election of a Grand Master and continue to function with a board of directors chaired by Nicholas Damascene as Additional Grand Master. The Lodges are languishing and will only activate or function normally once Rodokanakis arrives.

A few words about Rodokanakis, who would be of no interest to us if he were a prince, as the Greek state does not recognize such titles.

The Rodokanakis family, originally from Chios, was a firmly established business and financial power in Europe, and today, there are still streets bearing the Rodokanakis name in both England and France. The prince himself, as Dimitrios Rodokanakis called himself, was not a mason. He accepted the invitation to come to Greece to contribute to the organization of Freemasonry. In an "extraordinary" ceremony of St Andrew Lodge No 48, in the presence of representatives of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and Canada and officials of the Supreme Council, he received the three symbolic degrees. The following month, in an equally solemn ceremony and in the presence of representatives of both the Grand Orient of France and the Grand Peristyle of Canada, he received the degrees of Distinguished Master, Past Venerable, and Master of the Sign and after "passing the Veils" in the ancient way elevated to the Supreme Order of the Royal Arch.

He was then "duly and anciently" installed as a member of the Religious and Military Order of the Temple in the priory of the Lothians No. 1 and subsequently promoted and raised to the honor of knighthood by becoming a member of the Royal Order of Scotland.

I copied phrases from the minutes of the time. I noted that each ceremony had the character of an emergency or special meeting and took place in the presence of representatives of the Grand Lodge and Grand Bodies, both in Scotland and other countries. Thus underlining the importance of the event. And all the participants of the ceremonies, next to their name as seen in the publications of the time, note the Scottish degree they hold. Don't be surprised, as the boundaries of Masonic Normality we observe today between tectonic bodies stabilized after 1930.

Finally, on April 28, 1870, the High Council of Scotland awarded Prince Dimitrios Rodokanakis the 33rd degree of Grand Inspector General of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Press and welcomed him as an active member of the High Council.

Dimitrios Rodokanakis, although he has been questioned by some later Greek "dark Masons," i.e., some who, although they declare themselves "Scots" without ground and with sophistry, try to undermine the Scottish Rite itself, was the man who founded Greek Freemasonry. He arrived in Greece from England, where he resided, crossing Europe at war in a journey that lasted eight months and required a whole year to unite the few remaining brothers and persuade them to move unitedly and in accordance with international Masonic institutions to establish standard administrations.

On July 9/21, 1872, the three-day meeting of the Grand Lodge began. On the first day and under the chairmanship of the Additional Grand Master Nikolaos Damascenes, they elected 9 Representatives of the Lodges "enveloped with unlimited authority, as they proceed in the election of the Members of the Synod of M.A. according to article 20 of the Constitution."

On the second day, the Delegates elected Dimitrios Rodokanakis, the first Grand Master, by open vote.

The rest of the Grand Council was duly elected on the third day, July 11/23rd. You see in all the references that come from the minutes of the time a double date, e.g., 11/23. This happened because, at that time, the new Gregorian calendar had been adopted by many countries but only by some. In Greece, for example, it was officially introduced in 1923. So because the minutes were sent to all the tectonic forces of the two hemispheres, they included both Julian and Gregorian dates.

After the installation of the administration of the Great East of Greece was fully and correctly completed, the following day, July 24, Prince Dimitrios Rodokanakis duly established the Supreme Council 33º for Greece of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite based on the powers granted to him by the Supreme Council of the 33rd for Scotland. Thanks to his concerted actions, all international canonical masonic powers almost immediately recognized the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Council of Greece.

Thus began Freemasonry and the Scottish Tradition in the Greek state, which we unbrokenly follow and support today.

Dimitrios Rodokanakis 33º, first SGC for Greece