Charters of Lodges In Lebanon Revoked by GM of District of Columbia

by Christopher Hodapp

MW Grand Master Jacob M. Bressman of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia has arrested the charters of all three of their lodges in the Middle Eastern nation of Lebanon. Official Decision No. 2024-4, issued June 24th, revokes the charters of Phoenix Lodge No. 1001, Cadmus Lodge No. 1002, and Cedrus Libani Lodge No. 1003, all located in Beirut, Lebanon.

The Decision states:

"It has come to my attention that Phoenix Lodge No. 1001, Cadmus Lodge No. 1002 and Cedrus Libani Lodge No. 1003, have each demonstrated an inability to work together in fraternal communion-to such an extent that their disharmony warrants action by this Grand Lodge; and. . . have been provided ample opportunity to rectify these issues but have failed to do so. . . 

[snip] 

[These lodges are now] prohibited from holding all communications, conducting visitations to other Lodges, and participating in any Masonic activities-including all appendant bodies-held throughout this or any other Jurisdiction in the World, until such time as this matter is properly resolved."

The decision does clarify in this instance that the members of these three lodges who are in good standing "continue to enjoy their individual privileges and rights as Masons of this jurisdiction."

For such a relatively small country, Freemasonry has had a chaotic history Lebanon. In 1999, authors Kent Henderson and Tony Pope reported in their indispensable book, Freemasonry Universal, that there were at least 18 grand lodges at work within Lebanon at that time; several had just one single lodge and a grand master "appointed for life."

Grand lodges of Scotland, New York and the Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF) have all had regularly chartered lodges in that country for decades. Scotland's first lodge in the area was chartered in 1861, back when the region was called Greater Syria, and the Scottish lodges flourished during the period of the Ottoman Empire. The GL of Scotland formed its own own District Grand Lodge of Lebanon in 2012. New York first established lodges in Lebanon in 1924, and created its own District Grand Lodge of Syria-Lebanon back in 1955.

The entry of the GLofDC into Lebanon was a recent development. I believe they chartered their first two lodges there in 2017, which turned into a major controversy that resulted in New York, Scotland and DC all trading accusations and withdrawals of fraternal relations for a few years.

Further mucking up this melange, three of the Grand Lodge of New York's chartered
Lebanon lodges petitioned to form their own grand lodge. A charter to that effect was signed and issued by the Grand Lodge of the F&AM of the State of New York on October 24, 2018 creating the Grand Lodge of the F&AM of Lebanon. 

It's worth pointing out to those unacquainted with the geography, Lebanon sits just west of Syria and north of Israel, abutting the Golan Heights. Increased Hezbollah attacks against Israel from across the border are in danger of escalating the war into Lebanon sooner than later. It is a complex country with a complicated population mix and a history of violent upheavals ever since achieving its post-WWII independence. As desperately needed as Masonry's message of tolerance, cooperation, universal benevolence, and brotherhood may be in this region of the world, the realities of human conflicts aren't always so easy to trowel over with the cement of brotherly love.

GL of New York Restores Amity with the GL of Scotland

NY GM restores amity with Scotland (artist rendering).

by Christopher Hodapp

The Grand Lodge of New York has at last settled its six-year-long dispute with the Grand Lodge of Scotland and restored fraternal relations. Announcements were officially issued this morning by New York's Grand Master, Most Worshipful Richard J. Kessler, and Scotland's Grand Secretary, RW William M.S. Semple. (Click images below to enlarge.)

Scotland never did suspend recognition of New York, so their letter merely states the resumption of fraternal relations.

The original dispute came about in 2017 after a chain of events in the Middle Eastern nation of Lebanon (yes, really). Grand lodges of Scotland, New York and the Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF) have all had regularly chartered lodges in that country for decades, and shared that territory (along with at least six more unrecognized and/or irregular grand lodges that chartered other lodges of their own). New York first established lodges in Lebanon in 1924, and created its own District Grand Lodge of Syria-Lebanon back in 1955.

Meanwhile, Scotland's first lodge in the area was chartered in 1861, back when the region was called Greater Syria, and the Scottish lodges flourished during the period of the Ottoman Empire. The GL of Scotland formed its own own District Grand Lodge of Lebanon in 2012, and I believe they currently have a dozen lodges at work there.

Complicating matters, the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia chartered two of its own Lebanon lodges that resulted in New York suspending relations with them briefly in 2008-09 for improperly invading the territory. They patched up their feud pretty quickly.

But the longer gripe with Scotland came when a pair of expelled New York Masons in Lebanon jumped ship, joined a Scottish-constitution lodge, AND helped charter the District of Columbia's new Lebanon lodges. Despite New York's actions, the GL of Scotland not only refused to acknowledge and honor the expulsions, but went even further and bestowed provincial grand rank on the two men.

Here is the letter from the GL of New York back in 2017 announcing the withdrawal amity, just for reference:

Confused yet? For a longer explanation of this saga, see this story from 2017 (Click Here).

PGM William Sarbane (right, in the hat) issued a
charter for the new Grand Lodge of Lebanon in 2018.

Further mucking up this melange, three of the Grand Lodge of New York's chartered 

Lebanon lodges petitioned to form their own grand lodge. A charter to that effect was signed and issued by the Grand Lodge of the F&AM of the State of New York on October 24, 2018 creating the Grand Lodge of the F&AM of Lebanon. They currently have six chartered lodges at work, plus a lodge of research. However, there still remain 12 active New York lodges in their District Grand Lodge of Syria-Lebanon, along with Scotland's lodges in their District Grand Lodge of Lebanon.

And I don't even want to talk about the GLNF's French lodges because it becomes too headache inducing.

In Thomas Jefferson's inaugural address in 1801, he declared his devotion to "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none." Those ol' entangling alliances will bite you in the butt every time.

Fraternal Assistance Needed For Masons in Beirut, Lebanon

by Christopher Hodapp

On August 4th, Beirut, Lebanon was devastated when a harbor warehouse was leveled by a pair of massive explosions. In an instant, more than 200 people were killed and 60,000 injured when hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer detonated. Buildings were damaged for miles around when the blast wave hit, and an estimated 300,000 people were left homeless by the destruction. The damage caused by the blast left buildings miles from the port explosion in ruin. The blast comes at a terrible time for the nation of Lebanon, which was already on the brink of financial collapse facing a disastrous economic crisis.

Freemasons from three regular, recognized grand lodge jurisdictions have banded together to organize a financial relief initiative to provide compensation to Masons and other individuals who were directly affected by the disaster. 

The Fraternal Assistance Crisis Team (F.A.C.T. Lebanon) is made up of representatives from the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, and the Grande Loge National Française. All three of these grand lodges have Masonic lodges currently chartered and at work in Lebanon.

The F.A.C.T. Lebanon website has been set up in both English and French to accept international fraternal donations. According to the website, "The Fund will follow strict rules with regards to processes and transparency in the resource and information for eligibility criteria, the methodology used to calculate economic and non-economic loss and compensation payment procedures."

In early August, WB Robert L. D. Cooper, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and curator of their Masonic museum issued the following statement about the F.A.C.T. Lebanon assistance program:

COMMUNICATION FROM BEIRUT

Good Morning Brethren - a quick update from Beirut. Burial of relatives of our brethren who tragically lost their lives are now underway and we are taking account of the damages of our own membership and temples.

We are liaising with each other to ensure provision is made for medicines for our brethren as we have fully covered accommodation for those whose homes are not viable.

In the next 48 hours, we will be launching a contribution page for anyone wishing to assist along with the two other jurisdictions in amity with our Grand Lodge, Grand Lodge of Washington DC, and Grand Lodge National de France. This is becoming critical as the government has not done anything to assist and the situation is getting more difficult for many by the day.

On Lodge level, many of our Lodges have started various initiatives to support their own communities in the areas they meet, from providing hundreds of meals for the medical teams who are practically living in the hospitals to provision of soup kitchens, blood donation and volunteer work for repairs.

Our Cypriot brothers have organized a shipment of food which will be making its way to the port of Tripoli in the Northern region of Lebanon.

May the Great Architect of the Universe continue to protect us all.

FACT LEBANON’s support and donations will be channeled and directed into these main Relief categories:

• Medical & Health-Related Relief: To support individuals who have suffered injuries or physical disability (hospitalization, medicine, medical equipment, etc).
• Rebuilding & Relocation Relief: To support in home refurbishing and restoration, relocation, and loss of business/economic damage of offices and business structures.
• Memorial-Related Relief: To support the families, widows and orphans of victims following the death of the family breadwinner.

For more information and donations, CLICK HERE.

PLEASE NOTE: The FACT Lebanon website does not accept Paypal for donations, but you can donate there via credit card. Be aware that some U.S. banks and credit card systems may decline the foreign payment when you try the first time, unless you commonly make other international payments or transactions. (This is an automated safeguard against nefarious activity that card companies commonly use today — they're afraid somebody is using your stolen credit card number to rent a helicopter in Dubai.) If the system declines the payment, be sure to check your email for a notice form your bank before trying again. They're trying to protect you, but that can often be an annoyance if you don't see the message that your payment got flagged. 

That said, I successfully made a donation using my American card in late August and it worked fine.


US DONATIONS AND PAYPAL UPDATE 9/28/2020:

The Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia has also set up a U.S. portal for donating to FACT Lebanon via Paypal or by check. Visit their separate website HERE.

Also at that site is a 4-page document with a detailed explanation of the program and details about its distribution.

To donate by U.S. check, please make payable to The DC Masonic Foundation and mail to:

The DC Masonic Foundation
5428 MacArthur Blvd. NW
Washington, DC 20016-2524

In the memo section, please write: "Beirut Relief Fund"

New Grand Lodge of Lebanon Chartered By GL of New York

THIS STORY HAS UPDATED INFORMATION 10/27/2017:

The Grand Lodge F&AM of New York has issued the following official statement on Wednesday, October 24th, 2018:

The Grand Lodge of New York, F. & A.M., with MW William M. Sardone presiding as the Most Worshipful Grand Master, has authorized and empowered the formation of the “Grand Lodge of the Free & Accepted Masons of Lebanon” in the Republic of Lebanon.

The Grand Lodge of New York gives its blessings to the new Grand Lodge of Lebanon for a successful continuance of its Grand Lodge forever.

The new Grand Lodge of Lebanon is made up of three lodges previously affiliated with the District Grand Lodge of Syria-Lebanon under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. Nine remaining New York-chartered lodges in the area remain under New York's District Grand Lodge authority at this moment in time. That may change.

Additionally, there are other lodges at work in the region: ten are chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and two by the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia (and perhaps others as well). It does not appear that these non-New York lodges have joined the newly established jurisdiction at this time.

Lodges from these differing foreign grand lodges all at work in Lebanon have been involved in friction between their governing bodies over the years. At various times, New York has suspended amity with both D.C. (in 2008) and Scotland (in 2017) over jurisdictional and other conflicts concerning Lebanon lodges. I believe that situation still currently exists with Scotland (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Perhaps this newly established grand lodge will help to calm those waters in time.

A video was also released last night of the charter being issued and can be seen at this Facebook link.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 1, 2018:

I have been forwarded a copy of the charter issued by New York.

Click to enlarge

UPDATED: GL of New York Withdraws Amity with Scotland

Word coming out of the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM on Monday is that they have suspended recognition of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. It appears to have been some institutional heartburn left over from an old territorial issue with the District of Columbia over lodges in Lebanon several years ago, but I haven't seen official wording yet (see the update below). 

(New York's official trip to the UK this October might be a wee bit uncomfortable now, as Glasgow was supposed to be their first tour stop, then Edinburgh. Aaaaand...a Scottish team was all set to be in Troy, NY on May 25th to exemplify a degree, with the NY GM in attendance. Good thing Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont aren't far from Troy, so their plane tickets won't be wasted.)

NOTE: My headline is technically incorrect. Recognition is suspended, not withdrawn. I just can't change it now because it will break everybody's links back to here.

---

UPDATE 11:00AM 5/2/2017:

Okay, without having seen actual documents yet, my understanding is that this situation goes back to 2008. At that time, the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia chartered a new lodge — Ahiram Lodge 1000 — in the Middle Eastern nation of Lebanon where the GLs of both Scotland and New York already had lodges (along with several others). New York at that time had long declared that Lebanon was their "exclusive territory" as part of its District Grand Lodge of Syria-Lebanon, and felt that it had been infringed upon by DC's actions. So NY suspended recognition of DC in 2008. 

(Just in the cause of full disclosure, there were at least as many as 18 or 19 different "grand lodges" at work in the tiny country in 1999, the last year I was able to find info for — some of which were perfectly regular in origin and practice. Some are chartered by other nations like the Grande Loge Nationale Française, but others are considered less regular in the eyes of the more widely recognized Masonic world. It's...complicated, and the place isn't that big.)

After backchannel negotiations, the new DC lodge remained in operation, and amity between New York and DC were quickly restored in February 2009.

However, one major bone of contention grew over three former New York members from Lebanon who were expelled by the GL of NY and had been heavily involved in opening the DC-chartered lodge. It seems they subsequently left Ahiram 1000, briefly were members of the Grand Lodge of Italy, and eventually became members in a Scottish constitution lodge in Lebanon. The Scots would not honor NY's expulsions, permitting the three to retain their Scottish lodge membership. The tipping point now in 2017 is that the GL of Scotland is attempting to grant these same three Masons provincial grand rank for their Scottish district in Lebanon (which does seem unduly provocative from this outsider's point of view, but what do I know).

Meanwhile, there's absolutely zero irony that the Grand Officers of New York were bagpiped into their banquet to the tune of...'Scotland Forever.'

For an extensive article featuring a tour of the GL of New York's lodges in Lebanon, see pages 23-37 of the Spring 2017 issue of the Empire State Mason magazine.

For the pertinent background to this from back in 2008-9, including links to explanatory documents, see these posts:


11/6/2008: GL of New York Suspends Amity With GL of District of Columbia

11/11/2008: GLDC Responds to GLNY Over Lebanon

2/19/2009: UPDATED: GL of New York Restores Recognition with the GL of District of Columbia

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UPDATED 5/5/2017: 

Here is the official notice from the Grand Lodge of New York suspending formal recognition of Scotland, dated May 4, 2017. It gives the details of the bone they are picking over their three former members in Lebanon. Click to enlarge.

Eye Watch Lebanon

Eye Watch Lebanon is an online magazine and website for regular, recognized Freemasonry in Lebanon. That's a tall order, because Freemasonry in that relatively small country includes a patchwork quilt of grand lodges from around the world, and more than a few of spontaneous formation.

I had the honor of being interviewed in Eye Watch Monthly Issue #3, September 2011.
Have a look here.

Previous issues have featured Brothers Tim Hogan and Cliff Porter.

GL of New York Suspends Amity With GL of District of Columbia

According to a message posted elsewhere by Right Worshipful Jay D. Marksheid, Grand Director of Ceremonies of the Grand Lodge of New York, a dispute has arisen between grand lodges in New York and Washington DC that has ramifications for members of those grand lodges.

According to brother Marksheid's post, as of November 5th, 2008, by order of Most Worshipful Edward Gilbert, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York, F&AM, amity between the Grand Lodge of NY, F&AM and the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia has been officially suspended. 
 
According to the order, the Grand Lodge of DC first issued a charter for a new Lodge in a territory already under the jurisdictions of the GLofNY and GL of Scotland without first obtaining their permission to do so. Further, the charter was issued in the name of several Masons who are under formal suspension from the GLofNY.  According to the GLofNY, both actions run afoul of rules of the Conference of Grand Masters of North America, and of generally recognized Masonic jurisprudence.
 
At this time, members of the GLofNY may not visit Lodges of the GlofDC nor hold Masonic intercourse with members of the GLodDC, nor permit them to visit tyled NY Lodges.

The dispute regards New York and Scotland's existing lodges in Lebanon and the GLofDC's chartering this year of a new lodge there without first establishing a treaty with New York and Scotland. There currently is no grand lodge of Lebanon, but lodges chartered by both Scotland and New York have coexisted there for decades. The GLofDC has a large Lebanese membership, and granted dispensation to L'Hiram Lodge last year, officially issuing its charter on October 25th at their annual communication.

Other grand lodges will undoubtedly pile on to the dispute to support New York.