The Grand Lodge of Ritualistics and Research is a living organism, in full initiatory movement. It affirms its roots in the most ancient traditions of spiritual origin, being traditionalist from this perspective, while embracing the need for progress. From an institutional point of view, the Grand Lodge is internationally structured, being cross-border and having a unitary and independent character.
Traditionally, the Grand Lodge is organized according to the principle of the Regularity of the Masonic Work which emerges from the Landmarks of Freemasonry and from the Customs and Traditions of the Universal Masonic Order, focusing on a return to the original Masonic Tradition, the initiatory, mystical and esoteric one.
The methods of recognition and the division of Symbolic Freemasonry into the Three Degrees are essential for any Brotherhood that claims belonging to the Masonic perimeter. The Grand Lodge has full authority over the first Three Degrees of Regular Universal Freemasonry, conferred on members by virtue of Its absolute powers. It does not share its authority with any other Masonic power.
The Order has no international relations with conservative Freemasonry. Grand Lodge is not a club, nor a weekend hobby, but invites its members to constant individual, intellectual and spiritual improvement. The Grand Lodge is committed to developing relations with liberal Freemasonry. In this sense it accepts and embraces absolute freedom of conscience, of divine origin, but, however, does not receive atheists into its ranks. As a structure, the Grand Lodge of Ritualistics and Research refers to the mystical, esoteric and spiritual sphere, participating, together with the individual work of the Brothers, in their intellectual and spiritual elevation.
The legend of the Third Degree is one of the most important Landmarks and anyone who excludes it or alters its content ceases from that moment to belong to Regular Freemasonry. Our Brotherhood is led by a Grand Master, elected by the Council of Wise Men. This body is the founder of our Brotherhood and at the same time is responsible for preserving the identity assumed by the Order. The Grand Lodge is not a democratic body, it is led by a Grand Master who is constantly and vigilantly supervised by the Council of Wise Men. The Mason, a member of our Grand Lodge, is a free man in mind and heart, just as the Great Architect of the Universe gave us free will in creation. However, he must respect the Internal Laws of the Order and the Fundamental Laws of the Universe.
The Grand Lodge is an Order in all the power of the Word, having an initiatory character, based on the search for the Mysteries of the Creation and Evolution of the Universe, for which freedom of Conscience, faith in the Great Architect of the Universe, in His Revealed Will and the existence of the Afterlife are supreme values.
Our Grand Lodge welcomes good men of good morals with a declared intention to improve themselves. Intention is followed by Initiation with a free mind and an open heart. The Work must be carried out with seriousness, patience and respect for authority. Patience is followed by generosity and gratitude, directed in the direction of the spiritual heart, where the Great Architect rests. To become whole, the Freemason is obliged to chisel himself, being in the Work, simultaneously and inseparably, both sculpture and sculptor. He delves within himself the idea of ​​Universal Fraternity from the perspective of the Immutable Love that exists in the Creation-Creator Unity, constantly carrying the mirror of his own reflection in his heart.
Our Grand Lodge assumes the quality of actively participating, through the Initiatory Traditions assimilated by its members, in the spiritual elevation of the Brothers and Sisters to prepare them for the Great Transition. Our hope is in the Great Architect of the Universe as the Supreme Source and Pattern. Practicing V.I.T.R.I.O.L. it is the natural way to seek our innermost divine nature in our spiritual heart.
The Universal Chain of Union is the Spiritual Work practiced in the Order with the aim of bringing together beneficial energies, concentrating them towards the Center of the Circle. However, Freemasonry is a progressive body, which has, through its members, also material and earthly needs. Our way of living in the world is to develop our mental and intellectual capacities by assimilating information, understanding, conceptualizing and debating in fertile opposition.
The coordinator of initiatory work in the Grand Lodge is the Grand Master, who has the privilege of presiding over all meetings of the Order, wherever and whenever they take place; he has the power to grant exemptions for pay increases. The Grand Master has the power to grant dispensations for the establishment and operation of new Lodges and enjoys the prerogative of consecrating Masons on sight, or “under the sword”.
In order to carry out the Work in the Workshop of the Mind and in the Workshop of the Soul, Freemasons are obliged to meet in the Lodges. The Lodges can have different purposes in the Masonic Work and are established as such through the will of the founding members. Within the Grand Lodge it is possible to establish Symbolic Study Lodges (Traditional Lodges), Ritualistic and Research Lodges, Mother Lodges, Education Lodges, Specialization Lodges, Builders’ Lodges (businessmen), Culture and Art. The territorial construction of a structure begins with a Growth Point (Work Point), a Triangle, a Pentagram (Masonic Circle) and ends with a Provisional Lodge which, after a phase, aspires to completion. Each Lodge is led by a Worshipful Master and two Wardens. In the Lodge, the coordination of the Work is in the hands of the Worshipful Masters, assisted by the supervision of the Columns of the two Supervisors. At the moment in which the two Pillars take on a form of being among the Apprentices and the Companions of the Craft, they are called to spiritual elevation through hierogamy and, gathering together the opposites, they will concentrate on the Central Pillar, tending through the separation of the space-time towards the proximity of the Sacred. It is the moment when the role of the Worshipful Master becomes more active and alive than ever. The being of the Lodge is in all its work in the hands of the Venerable who will never stop working.
The Venerable of the Lodge is required to carefully prepare each meeting in the Workshop, both mentally and spiritually. However, his work does not cease and is not limited to the perimeter of the Lodge. It continues externally, the Venerable having the duty to assist his Brothers and Sisters outside the Temple, in their intellectual and spiritual work. The Venerable is also the administrator of the Lodge in all its needs, whether legal or material.
The Masonic Work is closed to the profane eye, so each Lodge meets in a Covered form. Freemasons have the right to be represented in all General Assemblies of the Order and to instruct their representatives on the mandate entrusted to them. Masters can express their opinions, because their voice is important for the well-being of the Order and its evolution. From this perspective, the Tradition of the Order is in the hands of the Council of Wise Men and the Grand Master and its evolution is in the hands of the Venerables and, finally, in the hands of the General Assembly.
Every Freemason has the right to appeal to the Grand Lodge against a decision taken by his Lodge if he considers it to be unjust. The Brothers and Sisters of the Order have the right to visit and participate in the work of other regular Lodges. The Venerable has the obligation to verify, according to Tradition, the Masonic quality of a visitor, except for the visitor who is known as such by at least one member of the Lodge visited. No Lodge can interfere in the activities of another Lodge. Every Freemason must obey the rules of the Masonic Jurisdiction in which he resides.
Every candidate for initiation must be a man, born free, of good morals and of mature age. Every Mason must believe in the existence of Deity as the Great Architect of the Universe, regardless of how he defines his Supreme Being. Every Freemason must believe in the Afterlife and the Immortality of the Spirit. The Book of the Sacred Law must be present in every Lodge.
All Freemasons are equal, regardless of their social or Masonic status, which does not exclude the observance of the hierarchy and Order propagated on the Columns.
The Masonic Order is a society that guards secrets that can only be disclosed to those worthy of knowledge and, generally, refer to forms and methods of meeting between Brothers and Sisters, as well as the Rituals of the Order. Freemasonry is a speculative science based on an operational art that is based on Initiation as a rite of passage and on the search for the Supreme Being towards which the Freemason always directs his Hope. Symbolism and, through it, the work in the Workshop of the Spirit, together with the energies of each symbol are the essence of initiatory research. The work has a hermetic character and therefore, the intellectual research of the Freemasons will be based on hermeneutics applied in psychoanalysis. The settlement in the Temple follows the structure of the Sephirotic Tree, because the Temple is at the level of the Grand Lodge the representation of Creation itself, the Adam Kadmon of Light in the eternal search for the lost Imago Dei. The Mason is a face of clay and water, dried by the breath of divinity and purified by fire. He builds and builds himself, through sharing and without stopping, like a clay brick, but each time with a spiritual connection, otherwise the Work remains truncated and serf.
I said!
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ritualistics and Research
Hirza Radu-Calin