Freemasonry and the Orthodox Church

Source: Orthodox History

September 28, 2023

Masonic lodge in Greece, with seats reminiscent of monastery “leaners.” Masonic lodge in Greece, with seats reminiscent of monastery “leaners.”     

If you search the internet for Orthodoxy and Freemasonry, most of what you’ll find will be condemnations of the movement. You might also find my 2012 article on Freemasonry in American Orthodox history. But, as far as I know, there hasn’t been much work done to document the basic history of Orthodoxy and its interaction with the Masonic movement.

Freemasonry seems to have made its first appearance in the Greek Orthodox world in the 1740s. In 1744, a masonic lodge was founded in Constantinople, and a few years later, Ecumenical Patriarch Photius II condemned the movement in one or more patriarchal encyclicals. Some time after this, a prominent teacher in Cyprus named Ephraim the Athenian (who was later Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1766-70) preached against Freemasonry, calling it a “new infidel faith.” In 1793, Ecumenical Patriarch Neophytus VII listed the Freemasons alongside other “organs of perfect impiety and atheism” in an encyclical.

Despite this resistance, Freemasonry spread in the Greek world. Many of the key figures in the Greek War of Independence were Masons, including some bishops and priests.

... Read the rest at Orthodox History.

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Matthew Namee

9/28/2023

See also
The Condemnation of Unauthorized Orthodox Teachers in 19th Century Greece The Condemnation of Unauthorized Orthodox Teachers in 19th Century Greece
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This newly-independent church dealt with many challenges, one of which was the emergence of unauthorized teachers. How Patriarch Athenagoras Was Elected How Patriarch Athenagoras Was Elected
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In these letters, Skouras offers a firsthand account of the events surrounding Patriarch Athenagoras’s election and enthronement two decades earlier, and he appeals, at Athenagoras’s direction, for additional U.S. intervention in selecting Athenagoras’s successor. Dangers of Secret Fraternities, Christianity and the Bible Dangers of Secret Fraternities, Christianity and the Bible Dangers of Secret Fraternities, Christianity and the Bible Dangers of Secret Fraternities, Christianity and the Bible
The origins of fraternities predate the earliest civilisations – their existence span different cultures. In African traditions, for example, traditional secret societies include ruling-class hunting elites societies whose members are taught not only the physical methods, but also respect for the spiritual aspect of the hunt and use of “honourable” magical means to obtain important co-operation from the animal hunted or to remain influential. Members are supposed to have been initiated into, and thus have access to, occult powers hidden to non-members. In the modern west, things are perhaps more refined - these societies hunt for social relevance, recognition and achievement and have equally perfected honourable but mystical means to influence their environment to retain and promote their wealth, gains and noble causes.

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