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Above
The Pro Grand Master, Lord
Northampton, with the Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of
Macedonia, Vladimir Sukarov
Below
Bro Sukarov at the Lodge meeting
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The Consecration of the new Grand Lodge
in the Former Yugoslavian Republic of
Macedonia by the Pro Grand Master, Lord
Northampton, and a team of Grand Officers
on 30 September was the culmination of
nearly ten years work.
There had been no Masonic presence in
Macedonia for nearly 80 years when a group
of Macedonians approached the United
Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) in 1996
with a request to be made regular Freemasons
in Lodges in London.
They had done their research and had
realised that there was both regular and
irregular Masonry, and were determined that
the new Masonic presence in their country
would be of unimpeachable regularity.
After due diligence, the group were
introduced to a number of London Lodges
and, they having decided that the candidates
were “fit and proper persons”, arrangements
were made for each of the Lodges to have a
dispensation to meet on the same day on
three occasions in 1997 and the group
became Master Masons under the UGLE.
Not only were they regular in their
attendance at their Lodges in London, but
they were also given permission to hold a
Lodge of Instruction in Skopje, and a
number of English brethren, in particular
Brother John Matthews, regularly visited
them and helped them in their work.
Regular visits to London were a major
commitment in time and money, so in 2001
the brethren petitioned to have a Lodge
meeting in Skopje, which was agreed,
and a team went out from England and
consecrated the Skopje Lodge No. 9721
on 1 October 2001.
The Lodge worked in English, which
became a small problem, as many potential
good candidates had no English. In 2001,
Unity Lodge No. 9749 was consecrated with
special permission to work the ritual in
Macedonian. It was followed, in 2003,
by White Dawns Lodge No. 9765, also
working in Macedonian.
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By 2005, the three Lodges had
demonstrated that they were capable of
running their own affairs and the decision
was taken to form them into a Grand Lodge.
The Consecration was one of the largest
international Masonic meetings in Europe
this year, in which 15 Grand Lodges were
represented, 11 by their MW Grand Masters
in person, the remaining four by special
representatives.
The new Grand Master for Macedonia,
Brother Vladimir Sukarov, in his address,
paid special tribute to the Pro Grand Master
and his team not only for the superb
ceremony, but also for all the support and
fraternal affection that had been shown to his
Brethren from their first coming to England.
The new Grand Lodge had been granted
prospective recognition by England at the
Quarterly Communication on 14 September,
which became effective immediately the
Consecration was complete. It was accorded
immediate recognition by a number of the
Grand Masters present at the ceremony and
is now seeking recognition throughout the
regular Masonic world.
The Consecration was followed by
a Festival Banquet, to which the ladies
had been invited. It was a fitting end to
a very happy and exciting day. As Lord
Northampton remarked in proposing the
Toast to the new Grand Lodge, the day had
been the culmination of nearly ten years of
hard work, but the real work would begin
the next day when they would begin to set
the standards and traditions of the Grand
Lodge of Macedonia.
John Hamill is Director of Communications
at the United Grand Lodge of England
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Copyright 2002-2007
MQ Magazine
Web site created by Mark Griffin
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