En: Freemasonry in Lebanon

Freemasonry in Lebanon

Source: Wikipedia

Freemasonry in Lebanon started with the charter of a Lodge by the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1861, and has expanded to include Lodges working in multiple languages (including Arabic and French) and chartered under multiple jurisdictions and streams.

History

The first Masonic Lodge to be erected in Lebanon was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1861 and was given the name Palestine Lodge No. 415. This lodge was operating in Beirut but then it became dormant in 1895. Four other Scottish lodges were chartered in Lebanon prior to the First World War. The Grand Orient of France chartered a lodge in 1869, working in Arabic. Two further lodges followed, but none survived the First World War.

Other new lodges formed prior to World War I were a lodge at Beirut under the Ottoman Grand Lodge (later the Grand Lodge of Turkey), and a lodge under the National Grand Lodge of Egypt, erected about 1914. A number of other Egyptian-warranted lodges were chartered thereafter, and after the First World War these were formed into a District Grand Lodge. By the end of World War Two, these lodges were extinct, merged, or had changed jurisdictional authority.

One lodge was chartered in Lebanon under the Grand Orient of Italy called Fraternità Italo-Libanse, erected at Jounieh in 1989, but this lodge lost its charter in the 1990s.

The first Grand Lodge of New York-chartered lodge was the Syrio-American Lodge #1, formed in 1924 by returning American-Lebanese immigrants, Several further lodges were erected prior to World War II, and subsequently. After the war, Turbol Lodge No.9 was erected in 1949, Lebanon Lodge No.10 in 1955, and Ani Lodge No.11 in 1960. A research lodge, Veritas, was chartered in 1993. With the exception of one lodge originally erected in Syria, all New York chartered lodges in its Syria-Lebanon District (eleven in total) have operated in recent times.

During the Lebanese Civil War, most lodges became dormant, although at least Syrio-American Lodge No. 1 continued to meet intermittently and still exists today. Since the cessation of the civil war, all five Scottish lodges have re-commenced work, as did the New York lodges.

In October 2010, the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia chartered Phoenix Lodge 1001 in Al Fanar, Beirut, and on June 2014, the newest Lodge under the Grand Lodge of Scotland was chartered, Lodge Pythagoras 1841, raising the number of regular Masonic Lodges in Lebanon to 18 Lodges divided among three Grand Lodges: the Grand Lodge of NY (11) Grand Lodge of Scotland (7) and Grand Lodge of Washington, DC (1).

See also

• Libanon
• En: District Grand Lodge of Syria-Lebanon (under the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York)
• En: District Grand Lodge of Lebanon under the Grand Lodge of Scotland)

Links

• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry_in_Lebanon
• Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry_in_Asia
• District Grand Lodge of Lebanon (under the Grand Lodge of Scotland) http://www.grandlodgescotland.com/grand-lodge-171/structure/district-grand-lodges/534-district-grand-lodge-of-lebonan
• District Grand Lodge Of Syria-Lebanon (under the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York) https://nymasons.org/2016/districts-lodges/district-grand-lodge-syria-lebanon/

Further

• Supreme Council of Freemasonry A.A.S.R. for Lebanon and Arab Countries http://www.fm-lb.org/content/grand-lodge-lebanon
• Masonic High Council of the Middle East http://www.rgle.org.uk/MHC_Lebanon.htm
• FREEMASON LB http://www.freemasonlb.net/Lodges.html
• See “FREEMASONRY IN LEBANON: AN OVERVIEW” by Gerard Fuguie, Rita Sayegh and Riad Abou Jaoude: http://www.ahlebanon.com/images/PDF/Issue25-Winter2007/Freemasonry%20in%20Lebanon%20an%20Overview.pdf