‘Ukraine’

    

The website of the Grand Lodge of Ukraine is down, as probably all civilian communications in the country are defeated by Russian cyber warfare now that the military invasion is underway.

Freemasonry in Ukraine is nearly as old as it is in the New World. The first lodge there was organized by Polish Masons in 1742, and more lodges were set to labor through the rest of the century. In the 1800s, the fraternity acted similarly as one might expect: espousing Enlightenment values with an eye toward reinventing the government to ensure what we call Civil Rights for the people. The Grand Lodge was formed in 1900 by five lodges, and its fortunes ebbed and flowed with the country’s. Naturally, when Ukraine was diminished (and starved) as a Soviet Socialist Republic, Freemasonry was outlawed, but it sprouted anew in the post-Soviet era, although there are periodic noises from politicians about banning the order again.

Grand Lodge of Ukraine photo

In 2005, the National Grand Lodge of France (that’s the French one we recognize) and the Grand Lodge of Austria consecrated the current Grand Lodge of Ukraine.

Past Grand Master Bill Sardone with Ukraine Grand Master Anatoly Dymchuk last November in Berlin during the International Conference of Regular Masonic Grand Lodges.

I hear there supposedly has been a Ukrainian Masonic Club in New York.

I’m sure a Masonic relief endeavor will be launched here to help, aid, and assist our brethren there. If so, I’ll publish the details when they are known.