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HISTORY OF THE GREAT ROMANIAN NATIONAL LODGE 1880
From the Grand Master's Desk: (Translated in English from Romanian)
Captain MOROIU, to General SĂVOIU, Celebrating over 140 years of History and Tradition
Romanian Freemasonry dates from 1732 (17 years after the Grand Lodge of London, in 1717), new documents were found in the achieves that indicate two years later in 1734 the first Lodge was creation and Prince Constantin Mavrocordat was initiation as a Mason in Moldavia; it was well known and often mentioned that the Prince was in Moldavia in 1734 for mysterious reasons. Prince Constantin Mavrocordat was revered as one of the most enlightened rulers of the eighteenth century at that time. The region and territory that he ruled is now known as (present-day Romania); it was divided into three principalities: Transylvania, under the Habsburg Empire, Moldova, and Wallachia - vassals of the Ottoman Empire). In 1734 the Prince's initiation into Freemasonry was bestowed upon him by the preceptor of his sons, the Italian Antonio del Chiaro. Constantin Mavrocordat ruled four times in Moldova and in Wallachia, he completely reformed the administration and finances of the principalities in which he ruled, he also unified the boyar ranks in two classes: the Great Boyars and the Small Boyars and for the first time a constitution was written that would be evoked into action and made public in 1740 by a newspaper in Paris. At that time, it was a rarity in this region of the world to make such a bold move as to put the laws of governance in writing for all to see and require all to abide by them. Until then, the rule of law was the will and pleasure of the Monarchy, and it could change at any time without any checks or balances... The Ruling Class was The Sovereign Commanders of their Jurisdiction.
The Masonic lodges will develop in this period of the 18th century on a large scale in all the 3 Romanian principalities. We will have especially Lodges in the Danube cities, often made up of foreign traders, numerous in this era of flourishing trade relations and which the Romanian Principalities were already known exporters of cereals. The lodges will shape the spirit of the Romanian elite and will allow the extraordinary development of ideas of progress. Precisely because he was a Freemason in a lodge in Vienna, Emperor Joseph II could receive as an audience, great heroes like Horia and later the hero Tudor Vladimirescu who were Freemasons that would lead the liberation struggle against the Ottoman Empire (partially responsible for WW I and a part of the Central Powers). The same generous ideas circulated by Freemasonry will permeate the generations of young Pansophist boyars, provoking a chain of revolutions that in 1848 shook the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Sublime Gate Empires. The Freemasons will be the ones who in 1859 will succeed in the Union of the two Principalities, putting in their head the Prince, Colonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza, himself a Freemason. The liberal government led by another Freemason was, Mihail Kogalniceanu, who will implement the first major reforms that will modernize what little was still Romania. He was responsible for creating the first Agrarian Reform Act of 1864, which will give the peasants the land they worked and aspired to for so long... During this period, all the Masonic Lodges constituted on Romanian occupied territory, however, they depended on a foreign obedience to legally operate like: French, German, Italian, etc.
In 1880, Captain Constantin M. Moroiu, will manage to join 6 Romanian Lodges and having as Nas, the Great Lusitanian Orient (modern day Portuguese) which will light the lights of the first Romanian National and Independent Obedience. Capt. Constantin Moroiu then became a Colonel; he was to be one of the most brilliant figures and Leaders of Romanian Freemasonry at the end of the 19th century. He will be the first Great Hierophant, introducing the Rite of Memphis and Misraim in Romania, in 1882, and he received the first patent from the Great Garibaldi. After that, notable historical personalities would visit the Masonic Halls of Romania to fellowship with Constantin Moroiu such as Mihail Kogălniceanu, Titu Maiorescu , Alexandru Vaida-Voievod , Prince George Valentin Bibescu, Loan Pangal , Mihail Sadoveanu, Alexandru Paleologu and honorary members such as King Edward VII of England, Frederic Wilhelm II of Prussia, King Oscar II of Sweden, King Frederic Wilhelm I of Prussia, Albert Pike, and in (1889) Hon. Ill. Henry C. Scott 33 (Colored Mason from the USA) along with others bringing historical references to the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880. Until the First World War in 1914, there were 27 Symbolic Lodges under the Grand Masonic Jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Romania to include the General Grand Masonic Congress and the M.W. Grand Lodge of Washington, D.C. A.F. & A.M. After 1929, the Transylvanian Lodges of Rite Ioanit, were integrated in the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880. In 1930, the United Grand National Lodge of England (UGLE) recognized the Romanian Grand National Lodge and established a treaty of friendship with it. In 1933, the two main Obedients, were the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880 and the Grand Orient of Romania, were united under the leadership of Grand Master Mihail Sadoveanu. Unfortunately, this unity will not last long, and the Romanian Freemasonry will split again, as a sad example of the divisions that tear the Romanian Society apart. In 1937, under the pressure of the Fascist regime of Charles II, the Romanian Freemasonry suspended itself, falling asleep. The leaders of the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880 and of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (A.A.S.R.), make a statement to this effect before Patriarch Miron Cristea who as clergy of the Orthodox Romanian Catholic Church to this affect regarding this period of hiatus. During this period, various untruths were later circulated, among which the fact that the Romanian Orthodox Church, through Patriarch Miron (Cristea) himself was a Freemason but would later condemn Freemasonry in his writings; but the so-called "damn" conviction was never published. The next Patriarch Nicodim (Munteanu) 1939-1948, considered himself to be an initiated Freemason, in a Lodge of the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880, in the years when he was bishop (this was during the time of Communist rule over Romania). However, in 1944, after the communists came to power, the lodges were opened back up, but were immediately penetrated by the communist spies and forced to give a report after each outfit (meeting) to the communist security body. This went on until 1948, when the activity of the lodges became increasingly difficult, being controlled, and supervised by the communist regime. Hence, in 1948, Freemasonry was officially banned in Romania.
The Romanian Masons will choose 3 paths: The Way of Exile and thus numerous lodges will be established in France, Germany, Israel, Argentina etc.… until we could come back home to Mother Romania. The Way of Faith in the Masonic Ideals where members would continue to illegally practice Masonry underground in secrecy, but if caught will be imprisoned, exiled, and killed in communist prisons. The Way of Betrayal by joining with the likes of Calea Tradarii si Pactizarii and the Communist Regime. Unfortunately, many prominent Masonic leaders were among those who chose this last path (The Way of Betrayal): Mihai Sadoveanu, Mihail Ralea, Horea Hulubei, ND Cocea etc. In (1948), the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880 chose (The path of Exile) in Paris where it began to reorganize; The Grand Loge de France fraternally received us. Then in (1993), The Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880 re-establish itself, return to Bucharest, and reopen its Lodges in Romania. It was our intent and belief that this Obedience would represent true Traditional and Original Romanian Freemasonry in exile and would be recognized as such by the International Masonic powers, including the United States and the U.G.L.E. While in Exile, many Prestigious Masonic personalities were part of the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880, which is the only representative of Traditional Romanian Freemasonry, as the First Obedience founded in 1880. Thus, we can cite Jan Pangal, Marcel Gavrilescu, Nicolae Meta, Alfred Cerchez, Jan Vitianu, Alexandru Chiriceanu, Mihai Musceleanu and especially the Grand Master and Sovereign Grand Commander Marcel Schapira as a part of our lineage. After the Fall of the Communist Regime, in (December of 1989), a period of uncertainty opens, the Grand Romanian National Lodge1880 in exile considers that the conditions to return are not yet met and delays the reopening of the lodges in the country. After several visits made in Romania, by the Sovereign Grand Commander and Grand Master Marcel Schapira; on (May 7, 1993), in Bucharest, the most Illustrious Representatives of Romanian Freemasonry, Marcel Schapira, Lieutenant Grand Commander Dan Amedeo Lazarescu, Grand Secretary Mihai Musceleanu, Grand Chancellor, Vladimir Boanta, Grand Guardian of the Seals, Alexandru Chiriceanu, publishes a protocol in which he solemnly announces that the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880, would return to Romania as an Independent Traditional Masonic Power. However, during the same period, 3 subordinate Lodges were newly established in Romania, (needed to form a Grand Lodge) under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy, which through the person of its Grand Master, Giuliano di Bernardo, will assist in Bucharest with helping to organize a New Obedience, publishing this announcement itself at the same time we did, saying that it is a new Obedience coming to Romania. This New Obedience "lights up ", by announcing its name as, The Grand National Lodge of Romania (note the rearrangement of words), will then tendentiously and grossly falsify the historical data as being the successor of the Original & Traditional Grand Romanian National Lodge founded in 1880. Hence this Bogus Grand Obedience was the one that gained the "regular recognition" from masonic bodies like the U.G.L.E. because they did not recognize or affiliate themselves with Grand Lodges outside the "Mainstream Traditional White Grand Lodges in the United States and Canada." This went against their rule of only being able to recognize one Grand Lodge per State, creating a conflict of interest they did not want to deal with at the time. Not to mention colored Masons were split 3 or 4 different ways amongst themselves with P.H.O., P.H. A., A.F. & A.M., and International Freemasonry.
According to the national records and achieves of Romania, if you do Masonic research starting with the date May of 1993, you will find there were now two Obediences [Grand Lodges], the Traditional one, The Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880, coming from exile from France and other Countries that took them in while in exile; Note this Obedience has the paperwork and lineage to prove they where the only continuators of the Romanian Masonic tradition and the only true representatives in the world for 45 years during the cruel communist dictatorship while in exile. The New Obedience, The Grand National Lodge of Romania tried to imitate them and use their facilities, existing in parallel, while they were absent in exile. In fact, the very ignition of the lights in May 1993 of a new obedience by the Grand Orient of Italy, at that time, was recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England (U.G.L.E.), but later the treaty of recognition was broken and Freemasonry that supported this new establishment, became of a violation of the very Masonic rules, otherwise arbitrarily enacted by the United Grand Lodge of England (U.G.L.E.), which say, "...on a territory where there is a Traditional Grand Lodge, previously recognized by U.G.L.E., a new Obedience cannot be opened." This is the case of the Romanian Grand National Lodge 1880, which had been previouslly recognized in 1930 by U.G.L.E. as the only representative in the world of True Romanian Freemasonry. In 1996, to differentiate between the two obediences, which bore the same name or similar name (M.L.N.R.), the Traditional Romanian Grand National Lodge, the only representative of the Romanian Freemasonry, founded in 1880, will change its name into the United National Grand Lodge of Romania (M.L.N.U.R.), having as Grand Master Titus Nicoara. In July 2000, the United Grand National Lodge of Romania, led by Titus Nicoara and the Grand National Lodge of Romania, the new obedience, Italian American chain, recognized by U.G.L.E., led by Gheorghe Comanescu, will sign a reunification protocol. The new Grand Master of the Grand National Lodge of Romania, Eugen Chirovici, elected in October 2000, will sign in January 2001, the protocol of final unification of the unification of the two obediences. But this was not to the liking of an "evil" couple, Andre Szakvary and Anca Nicolescu, who had practically seized the leadership of the Grand National Lodge of Romania since 1997, when they removed Dan Amedeo Lazarescu, Sovereign Grand Commander and manipulated the Grand Master in practice, Titus Nicoara. They will organize a coup, temporarily appointing as Grand Master the housekeeper of the Szakvary-Nicolescu couple, named Liviu Manecan. He will later be replaced by Professor Stetiu, who in 2005 will resign from his second term, declaring that he cannot lead an Obedience led by a Szakvary-Nicolescu couple, something not found in any other Obedience. In 2005, following his resignation, Dr. Doru Manu will be elected.
In January 2006, Brother Bartolomeu Constantin Savoiu returned permanently to Romania from France (Great Grandson of Col. Constantin M. Moroiu). He was promoted by the President of Romania, Brigadier General (r), for his services to Romania and the lobbying done in France for Romania, from the positions he holds in the Gaullist Party and in the civil society in France. He left for France in 1970, where he has a civil, social career, trade union leader in the French Confederation of Politicians, is elected a member of the Central Committee, Gaullist National Council, 1985-1995, Judge at the Labor Court, Paris, 1993-2002, French Foreign Trade Adviser, 1994-2010. For his merits he will be decorated by President Francois MITTERAND in 1990, with the National Order of Merit in the rank of Knight (only 20 years after his arrival in France) and by President Jacques CHIRAC in 2003, with the order of the Legion of Honor in the rank of Knight. General Bartolomeu Constantin SAVOIU was initiated into Freemasonry on October 28, 1976, in Paris at the Grande Loge De France, Rue Puteaux. Grande Loge De France is one of the oldest French Obediences founded in (1738), merged in 1804 with the Grand Orient of France at the request of Emperor Napoleon I and reopened as an Independent Obedience in 1894. In 2004, Brother Constantin SAVOIU will leave the Grande Loge De France to enter the Grande Loge Nationale de France, Rue Christine de Pisan Paris, where he will remain until 2009 when he will resign, being elected Grand Master of the Grand National Lodge of Romania 1880. It should be mentioned that La Grande Loge Nationale Francaise is in a treaty of friendship and recognition with UGLE. General SAVOIU will be elected in January 2007, together with Brother Horia Nestorescu Balcesti, Deputy Grand Master of (M.L.N.U.R.) and in the Convention of March 29, 2008, Grand Master. He will immediately undertake an action of reconstruction of the Obedience which will result in the elimination of the characters who gravitated around the Szakvary-Nicolescu couple and who had brought MLNUR into a deep impasse. A few months later, at an Extraordinary Congress of MLNUR, he will be unanimously reconfirmed as Grand Master, and the convent will approve the exclusion of the factional group Szakvary-Nicolescu, Manecan. A long legal procedure will follow, completed in 2014, with a final and irrevocable decision of the Bucharest Tribunal confirming the election of General SAVOIU in March 2008 as Grand Master and the exclusion of the group contesting this election. In 2010, the United Grand National Lodge, resumed its original name of the Romanian Grand National Lodge, with the 1880s, to signify the historical continuity of the Masonic tradition preserved by the Romanian Grand National Lodge in exile, returned in 1993 to Romania. A new Supreme Council A.A.S.R. of the 33rd and Last Degree is organized with the patent of the Illustrious Brother and Important Representative of the Romanian Freemasonry, Marcel SCHAPIRA. Characters such as Lucian Cornescu-RING, who had been expelled from French Freemasonry by Grand Master Marcel SCHAPIRA, Bogdan GAMALET, and several of their supporters for behavior contrary to Masonic rules are excluded. He is elected Sovereign Grand Commander to Illustrious Our Brother, Horia Nestorescu Balcesti. In 2012, following an opinion given by the Congress of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Lausanne, Switzerland, there was a call for the continuity of the Rite and for good cooperation between the two Bodies. These Masonic Bodies included the Blue Lodges 1-3, the Grand Council, and the Higher Grades [Degrees] 4-33, and the Supreme Council. Hence, it was desirable that the same person perform the same functions of Grand Master and Sovereign Grand Commander, so General SAVOIU was also elected Grand Master and Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree; with Brother Horia Nestorescu Balcesti becoming Sovereign Grand Commander of Honor. On (December 13, 2014), he signed in Bucharest, within the Winter Convention of MLNR 1880 and the Founding Manifesto of the Great Universal Masonic Alliance - Universal Grand Masonic Alliance (UGMA) In the years following MLNR 1880, he signed treaties of alliance with the Grand Lodges of Serbia, Macedonia, Italy, Brazil, Paraguay, and United States (Attended by Pres. General Illustrious Ollie Spencer Sr. 33rd/98th as a representative of the G.G.M.C.). The Universal Grand Masonic Alliance (U.G.M.A.) first meet in 2017 and consolidated and 2020, which was the year of a Great World Congress, in which the Free and Independent Obediences together with all the other invited Obediences, affirmed the principles of a Freemason involved in the life of the society in the fight for Freedom, Equality, Fraternity and Prosperity. (See pic below)
Captain MOROIU, to General SĂVOIU, Celebrating over 140 years of History and Tradition
Romanian Freemasonry dates from 1732 (17 years after the Grand Lodge of London, in 1717), new documents were found in the achieves that indicate two years later in 1734 the first Lodge was creation and Prince Constantin Mavrocordat was initiation as a Mason in Moldavia; it was well known and often mentioned that the Prince was in Moldavia in 1734 for mysterious reasons. Prince Constantin Mavrocordat was revered as one of the most enlightened rulers of the eighteenth century at that time. The region and territory that he ruled is now known as (present-day Romania); it was divided into three principalities: Transylvania, under the Habsburg Empire, Moldova, and Wallachia - vassals of the Ottoman Empire). In 1734 the Prince's initiation into Freemasonry was bestowed upon him by the preceptor of his sons, the Italian Antonio del Chiaro. Constantin Mavrocordat ruled four times in Moldova and in Wallachia, he completely reformed the administration and finances of the principalities in which he ruled, he also unified the boyar ranks in two classes: the Great Boyars and the Small Boyars and for the first time a constitution was written that would be evoked into action and made public in 1740 by a newspaper in Paris. At that time, it was a rarity in this region of the world to make such a bold move as to put the laws of governance in writing for all to see and require all to abide by them. Until then, the rule of law was the will and pleasure of the Monarchy, and it could change at any time without any checks or balances... The Ruling Class was The Sovereign Commanders of their Jurisdiction.
The Masonic lodges will develop in this period of the 18th century on a large scale in all the 3 Romanian principalities. We will have especially Lodges in the Danube cities, often made up of foreign traders, numerous in this era of flourishing trade relations and which the Romanian Principalities were already known exporters of cereals. The lodges will shape the spirit of the Romanian elite and will allow the extraordinary development of ideas of progress. Precisely because he was a Freemason in a lodge in Vienna, Emperor Joseph II could receive as an audience, great heroes like Horia and later the hero Tudor Vladimirescu who were Freemasons that would lead the liberation struggle against the Ottoman Empire (partially responsible for WW I and a part of the Central Powers). The same generous ideas circulated by Freemasonry will permeate the generations of young Pansophist boyars, provoking a chain of revolutions that in 1848 shook the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Sublime Gate Empires. The Freemasons will be the ones who in 1859 will succeed in the Union of the two Principalities, putting in their head the Prince, Colonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza, himself a Freemason. The liberal government led by another Freemason was, Mihail Kogalniceanu, who will implement the first major reforms that will modernize what little was still Romania. He was responsible for creating the first Agrarian Reform Act of 1864, which will give the peasants the land they worked and aspired to for so long... During this period, all the Masonic Lodges constituted on Romanian occupied territory, however, they depended on a foreign obedience to legally operate like: French, German, Italian, etc.
In 1880, Captain Constantin M. Moroiu, will manage to join 6 Romanian Lodges and having as Nas, the Great Lusitanian Orient (modern day Portuguese) which will light the lights of the first Romanian National and Independent Obedience. Capt. Constantin Moroiu then became a Colonel; he was to be one of the most brilliant figures and Leaders of Romanian Freemasonry at the end of the 19th century. He will be the first Great Hierophant, introducing the Rite of Memphis and Misraim in Romania, in 1882, and he received the first patent from the Great Garibaldi. After that, notable historical personalities would visit the Masonic Halls of Romania to fellowship with Constantin Moroiu such as Mihail Kogălniceanu, Titu Maiorescu , Alexandru Vaida-Voievod , Prince George Valentin Bibescu, Loan Pangal , Mihail Sadoveanu, Alexandru Paleologu and honorary members such as King Edward VII of England, Frederic Wilhelm II of Prussia, King Oscar II of Sweden, King Frederic Wilhelm I of Prussia, Albert Pike, and in (1889) Hon. Ill. Henry C. Scott 33 (Colored Mason from the USA) along with others bringing historical references to the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880. Until the First World War in 1914, there were 27 Symbolic Lodges under the Grand Masonic Jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Romania to include the General Grand Masonic Congress and the M.W. Grand Lodge of Washington, D.C. A.F. & A.M. After 1929, the Transylvanian Lodges of Rite Ioanit, were integrated in the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880. In 1930, the United Grand National Lodge of England (UGLE) recognized the Romanian Grand National Lodge and established a treaty of friendship with it. In 1933, the two main Obedients, were the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880 and the Grand Orient of Romania, were united under the leadership of Grand Master Mihail Sadoveanu. Unfortunately, this unity will not last long, and the Romanian Freemasonry will split again, as a sad example of the divisions that tear the Romanian Society apart. In 1937, under the pressure of the Fascist regime of Charles II, the Romanian Freemasonry suspended itself, falling asleep. The leaders of the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880 and of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (A.A.S.R.), make a statement to this effect before Patriarch Miron Cristea who as clergy of the Orthodox Romanian Catholic Church to this affect regarding this period of hiatus. During this period, various untruths were later circulated, among which the fact that the Romanian Orthodox Church, through Patriarch Miron (Cristea) himself was a Freemason but would later condemn Freemasonry in his writings; but the so-called "damn" conviction was never published. The next Patriarch Nicodim (Munteanu) 1939-1948, considered himself to be an initiated Freemason, in a Lodge of the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880, in the years when he was bishop (this was during the time of Communist rule over Romania). However, in 1944, after the communists came to power, the lodges were opened back up, but were immediately penetrated by the communist spies and forced to give a report after each outfit (meeting) to the communist security body. This went on until 1948, when the activity of the lodges became increasingly difficult, being controlled, and supervised by the communist regime. Hence, in 1948, Freemasonry was officially banned in Romania.
The Romanian Masons will choose 3 paths: The Way of Exile and thus numerous lodges will be established in France, Germany, Israel, Argentina etc.… until we could come back home to Mother Romania. The Way of Faith in the Masonic Ideals where members would continue to illegally practice Masonry underground in secrecy, but if caught will be imprisoned, exiled, and killed in communist prisons. The Way of Betrayal by joining with the likes of Calea Tradarii si Pactizarii and the Communist Regime. Unfortunately, many prominent Masonic leaders were among those who chose this last path (The Way of Betrayal): Mihai Sadoveanu, Mihail Ralea, Horea Hulubei, ND Cocea etc. In (1948), the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880 chose (The path of Exile) in Paris where it began to reorganize; The Grand Loge de France fraternally received us. Then in (1993), The Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880 re-establish itself, return to Bucharest, and reopen its Lodges in Romania. It was our intent and belief that this Obedience would represent true Traditional and Original Romanian Freemasonry in exile and would be recognized as such by the International Masonic powers, including the United States and the U.G.L.E. While in Exile, many Prestigious Masonic personalities were part of the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880, which is the only representative of Traditional Romanian Freemasonry, as the First Obedience founded in 1880. Thus, we can cite Jan Pangal, Marcel Gavrilescu, Nicolae Meta, Alfred Cerchez, Jan Vitianu, Alexandru Chiriceanu, Mihai Musceleanu and especially the Grand Master and Sovereign Grand Commander Marcel Schapira as a part of our lineage. After the Fall of the Communist Regime, in (December of 1989), a period of uncertainty opens, the Grand Romanian National Lodge1880 in exile considers that the conditions to return are not yet met and delays the reopening of the lodges in the country. After several visits made in Romania, by the Sovereign Grand Commander and Grand Master Marcel Schapira; on (May 7, 1993), in Bucharest, the most Illustrious Representatives of Romanian Freemasonry, Marcel Schapira, Lieutenant Grand Commander Dan Amedeo Lazarescu, Grand Secretary Mihai Musceleanu, Grand Chancellor, Vladimir Boanta, Grand Guardian of the Seals, Alexandru Chiriceanu, publishes a protocol in which he solemnly announces that the Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880, would return to Romania as an Independent Traditional Masonic Power. However, during the same period, 3 subordinate Lodges were newly established in Romania, (needed to form a Grand Lodge) under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy, which through the person of its Grand Master, Giuliano di Bernardo, will assist in Bucharest with helping to organize a New Obedience, publishing this announcement itself at the same time we did, saying that it is a new Obedience coming to Romania. This New Obedience "lights up ", by announcing its name as, The Grand National Lodge of Romania (note the rearrangement of words), will then tendentiously and grossly falsify the historical data as being the successor of the Original & Traditional Grand Romanian National Lodge founded in 1880. Hence this Bogus Grand Obedience was the one that gained the "regular recognition" from masonic bodies like the U.G.L.E. because they did not recognize or affiliate themselves with Grand Lodges outside the "Mainstream Traditional White Grand Lodges in the United States and Canada." This went against their rule of only being able to recognize one Grand Lodge per State, creating a conflict of interest they did not want to deal with at the time. Not to mention colored Masons were split 3 or 4 different ways amongst themselves with P.H.O., P.H. A., A.F. & A.M., and International Freemasonry.
According to the national records and achieves of Romania, if you do Masonic research starting with the date May of 1993, you will find there were now two Obediences [Grand Lodges], the Traditional one, The Grand Romanian National Lodge 1880, coming from exile from France and other Countries that took them in while in exile; Note this Obedience has the paperwork and lineage to prove they where the only continuators of the Romanian Masonic tradition and the only true representatives in the world for 45 years during the cruel communist dictatorship while in exile. The New Obedience, The Grand National Lodge of Romania tried to imitate them and use their facilities, existing in parallel, while they were absent in exile. In fact, the very ignition of the lights in May 1993 of a new obedience by the Grand Orient of Italy, at that time, was recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England (U.G.L.E.), but later the treaty of recognition was broken and Freemasonry that supported this new establishment, became of a violation of the very Masonic rules, otherwise arbitrarily enacted by the United Grand Lodge of England (U.G.L.E.), which say, "...on a territory where there is a Traditional Grand Lodge, previously recognized by U.G.L.E., a new Obedience cannot be opened." This is the case of the Romanian Grand National Lodge 1880, which had been previouslly recognized in 1930 by U.G.L.E. as the only representative in the world of True Romanian Freemasonry. In 1996, to differentiate between the two obediences, which bore the same name or similar name (M.L.N.R.), the Traditional Romanian Grand National Lodge, the only representative of the Romanian Freemasonry, founded in 1880, will change its name into the United National Grand Lodge of Romania (M.L.N.U.R.), having as Grand Master Titus Nicoara. In July 2000, the United Grand National Lodge of Romania, led by Titus Nicoara and the Grand National Lodge of Romania, the new obedience, Italian American chain, recognized by U.G.L.E., led by Gheorghe Comanescu, will sign a reunification protocol. The new Grand Master of the Grand National Lodge of Romania, Eugen Chirovici, elected in October 2000, will sign in January 2001, the protocol of final unification of the unification of the two obediences. But this was not to the liking of an "evil" couple, Andre Szakvary and Anca Nicolescu, who had practically seized the leadership of the Grand National Lodge of Romania since 1997, when they removed Dan Amedeo Lazarescu, Sovereign Grand Commander and manipulated the Grand Master in practice, Titus Nicoara. They will organize a coup, temporarily appointing as Grand Master the housekeeper of the Szakvary-Nicolescu couple, named Liviu Manecan. He will later be replaced by Professor Stetiu, who in 2005 will resign from his second term, declaring that he cannot lead an Obedience led by a Szakvary-Nicolescu couple, something not found in any other Obedience. In 2005, following his resignation, Dr. Doru Manu will be elected.
In January 2006, Brother Bartolomeu Constantin Savoiu returned permanently to Romania from France (Great Grandson of Col. Constantin M. Moroiu). He was promoted by the President of Romania, Brigadier General (r), for his services to Romania and the lobbying done in France for Romania, from the positions he holds in the Gaullist Party and in the civil society in France. He left for France in 1970, where he has a civil, social career, trade union leader in the French Confederation of Politicians, is elected a member of the Central Committee, Gaullist National Council, 1985-1995, Judge at the Labor Court, Paris, 1993-2002, French Foreign Trade Adviser, 1994-2010. For his merits he will be decorated by President Francois MITTERAND in 1990, with the National Order of Merit in the rank of Knight (only 20 years after his arrival in France) and by President Jacques CHIRAC in 2003, with the order of the Legion of Honor in the rank of Knight. General Bartolomeu Constantin SAVOIU was initiated into Freemasonry on October 28, 1976, in Paris at the Grande Loge De France, Rue Puteaux. Grande Loge De France is one of the oldest French Obediences founded in (1738), merged in 1804 with the Grand Orient of France at the request of Emperor Napoleon I and reopened as an Independent Obedience in 1894. In 2004, Brother Constantin SAVOIU will leave the Grande Loge De France to enter the Grande Loge Nationale de France, Rue Christine de Pisan Paris, where he will remain until 2009 when he will resign, being elected Grand Master of the Grand National Lodge of Romania 1880. It should be mentioned that La Grande Loge Nationale Francaise is in a treaty of friendship and recognition with UGLE. General SAVOIU will be elected in January 2007, together with Brother Horia Nestorescu Balcesti, Deputy Grand Master of (M.L.N.U.R.) and in the Convention of March 29, 2008, Grand Master. He will immediately undertake an action of reconstruction of the Obedience which will result in the elimination of the characters who gravitated around the Szakvary-Nicolescu couple and who had brought MLNUR into a deep impasse. A few months later, at an Extraordinary Congress of MLNUR, he will be unanimously reconfirmed as Grand Master, and the convent will approve the exclusion of the factional group Szakvary-Nicolescu, Manecan. A long legal procedure will follow, completed in 2014, with a final and irrevocable decision of the Bucharest Tribunal confirming the election of General SAVOIU in March 2008 as Grand Master and the exclusion of the group contesting this election. In 2010, the United Grand National Lodge, resumed its original name of the Romanian Grand National Lodge, with the 1880s, to signify the historical continuity of the Masonic tradition preserved by the Romanian Grand National Lodge in exile, returned in 1993 to Romania. A new Supreme Council A.A.S.R. of the 33rd and Last Degree is organized with the patent of the Illustrious Brother and Important Representative of the Romanian Freemasonry, Marcel SCHAPIRA. Characters such as Lucian Cornescu-RING, who had been expelled from French Freemasonry by Grand Master Marcel SCHAPIRA, Bogdan GAMALET, and several of their supporters for behavior contrary to Masonic rules are excluded. He is elected Sovereign Grand Commander to Illustrious Our Brother, Horia Nestorescu Balcesti. In 2012, following an opinion given by the Congress of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Lausanne, Switzerland, there was a call for the continuity of the Rite and for good cooperation between the two Bodies. These Masonic Bodies included the Blue Lodges 1-3, the Grand Council, and the Higher Grades [Degrees] 4-33, and the Supreme Council. Hence, it was desirable that the same person perform the same functions of Grand Master and Sovereign Grand Commander, so General SAVOIU was also elected Grand Master and Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree; with Brother Horia Nestorescu Balcesti becoming Sovereign Grand Commander of Honor. On (December 13, 2014), he signed in Bucharest, within the Winter Convention of MLNR 1880 and the Founding Manifesto of the Great Universal Masonic Alliance - Universal Grand Masonic Alliance (UGMA) In the years following MLNR 1880, he signed treaties of alliance with the Grand Lodges of Serbia, Macedonia, Italy, Brazil, Paraguay, and United States (Attended by Pres. General Illustrious Ollie Spencer Sr. 33rd/98th as a representative of the G.G.M.C.). The Universal Grand Masonic Alliance (U.G.M.A.) first meet in 2017 and consolidated and 2020, which was the year of a Great World Congress, in which the Free and Independent Obediences together with all the other invited Obediences, affirmed the principles of a Freemason involved in the life of the society in the fight for Freedom, Equality, Fraternity and Prosperity. (See pic below)
Ill. Ollie Spencer 33/98 @ 1st Congress of International Federation of Patriotic Masonic Powers in Transylvania, Romania
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The Current G.M. Bartolomeu Constantin Savoiu of (M.L.N.R.)..... Gen. Constantin who re-issued our G.G.M.C. Warrant in Romania (Col. Constantin's Great Grandson)
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1st G. M. of (M.L.N.R.) Col. Constantin M. Moroiu
issued our G.G.M.C. Warrant in 1896
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