‘Ukrainian and Russian Masonry on the Level’

    

Officers of both the Grand Lodge of Ukraine and the Grand Lodge of Russia attended the Annual Communication of the Grand Orient of Italy last month, according to an announcement from the GOI published last Wednesday. The statement did not claim specifically that the two parties met, but rather Masonry from the two warring nations was represented, among more than thirty other grand jurisdictions, at the event, held April 8 and 9 in Rimini.

The English language document translates some of Grand Master Stefano Bisi’s speech to the assembly, part of which addresses the war. Excerpted:

Stefano Bisi

It is a drama that touches our hearts, our bodies, and we hope that, in the end, reason will prevail and the guns will soon be silenced. Every man, every Freemason must bring a brick to build peace. And you who are here, dear Brethren—Fatih Sahin, Grand Secretary; and Maurizio Longo, Deputy Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ukraine; and dear Brother Andrey Bogdanov, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Russia—do everything possible so that peace and harmony reign between your peoples. … Do everything possible and impossible so that the trenches are filled with flowers and trees, which will bear fruit that we will then share, sit at the same table, side by side.

The Grand Orient, founded in 1805, is the Masonic fraternity recognized by the grand lodges in the United States, but it does not have relations with the United Grand Lodge of England. The UGLE has recognized the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy since its launch in 1993.

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