In the first half of the 18th century, a few decades after the founding of the Grand Lodge in London and Westminster B24 June 1717G, the first Masonic Lodges will be established in the historical Romanian provinces. The first was the Augustia Lodge in the Orient of Iași, founded on August 30, 1742, a Lodge that is particularly important in terms of its structure and members. In the same century, in Transylvania, the Lodges Zu den drei Säulen in Brașov B1749G and St. Andreas Zu den drei Seeblättern in Sibiu B1767G, are documented. Attracted by its principles and objectives, great personalities of cultural, scientific, military and political life were initiated into Freemasonry, both in the Lodges in the country and those abroad: Nicolae Bălcescu, I.T. Ulic, Vasile Alecsandri, Samuel von Brukenthal, Simion Bărnutiu, Ion Ghica, Mihail Sadoveanu and many others.
The fact that Romania gained its state independence in 1877, boosted Masonic actions for the foundation of a great sovereign Obedience in Romania, because a large number of lodges operated in the country under the Obedience of the Grand Orient of France, the Grand Lusitan Orient or the Grand Orient of Italy. A first attempt was made on June 1, 1859, by founding the "Grand Lodge Steaua Dunării", Ion C. Brătianu becoming Grand Master. The second step was taken on May 7, 1879, at the initiative of Colonel Anton Costiescu, former Worshipful Master of the Lodge of Wisdom in Heliopolis. On May 1, 1879, he promulgated the "Romanian Masonic Constitution", to constitute the Grand Orient of Romania as a "national and independent Sovereign Power". Grand Master was named Theodor Rosetti.
The Grand Orient had a short life B7 May 1879 d 15 December 1880G. The founding of the Romanian National Grand Lodge took place on September 8/20, 1880. Captain Constantin Moroiu was elected Grand Master. A single Constitution was adopted for the entire Romanian Masonic Order, published in Bucharest in 1881. The Grand National Romanian Lodge asserted its status as deistic and regular Freemasonry, being the only Masonic power with an area of jurisdiction over the entire territory of the Old Kingdom of Romania, subject to the "shield and protection of the Romanian Government and the laws of the country".
The Freemasons made a major contribution to the revolution of 1848-49, to the achievement of Romania's state independence, to the achievement of national unity in 1918: Mihail Kogălniceanu, Ion C. Brătianu, C.A. Rosetti, Major George Șonțu, Captain Constantin Moroiu, General Dr. Carol Davila, General Traian Moșoiu and many others. They supported Romania's interests at the Paris Peace Conference (1919-1920) through statesmen such as Octavian Goga, Alexandru Vaida Voevod, Traian Vuia, Ion Lugoșianu and Caius Brediceanu.
On December 20, 1937, King Carol II ordered the closure of Masonic Lodges, banning Freemasonry in the Kingdom of Romania. The Grand National Lodge in Romania will go through a difficult period, but will be reborn for a short period after 1944. Mihail Noradunghian's understanding with the communist leadership to keep Romanian freemasonry active was illusory. Freemasonry proved to remain a real danger for the communists, so on June 18, 1948, the Grand Secretariat of the National Grand Lodge of Romania received a Circular from the Ministry of the Interior, which demanded "the temporary closure of the lodges to allow the members to fulfill their their civic obligations" within the public utility work brigades (!) In this context, in June 1948, the decision was made to enter the dormancy of the Grand National Lodge of Romania.
Then, in May 1950, in the famous "night of dignitaries", more than 1000 Freemasons were arrested. The arrests continued in 1951. Some managed to go into exile and continue their Masonic activity, but many were executed or died in communist prisons after the mock trial in 1953, later called the "trial of the Freemasons" or the "trial Bellu".
With the fall of communism, the Grand National Lodge of Romania rekindled its Lights at the Convent on January 24, 1993, held in the Hall of Mirrors in Casa Vernescu, the first Grand Master being elected the Most Respectable Brother Nicolae Filip. Adrian Dohotaru, Sever Frentiu, Vladimir Boantă, Gheorghe Comănescu, Marcel Schapira, Eugen Ovidiu Chirovici, are names that entered the history of the Grand National Lodge in Romania.
The 18th century, which records the formal consecration of speculative freemasonry, is also the one in which we can focus on the first Romanian memberships in freemasonry and the founding of the first Lodges. Romanian Freemasonry has a long history, its beginnings following, almost three decades, the establishment of the first Grand Lodge in London and Westminster (June 24, 1717). Duke Carol-Filip de Luynes, in his "Memoirs", recorded the year 1737 as the date attesting the beginning of Freemasonry in the Principality, and Jean Baptiste Marie Ragon advanced as the date 1740. It is certain that between 1740-1743 four venerable members of the Lodge in Iasi are recorded , city where in 1742 the "Augustina" Lodge was established.
Although there are a number of data that cannot be verified from several sources regarding the appearance of the first Masonic Lodges in the Principality, and which still raise questions regarding the date of foundation, we can refer to the more certain information about a first Masonic Lodge founded on August 30, 1742 in East Iasi: Augustia (Moldova). In the same decade, the Lodge Zu den drei Säulen (1749) was established in Brașov, and two more decades later the Lodge St. Andreas zu den drei Seeblättern, in Sibiu (1767), and in 1782 the first lodge was established in Cluj. Lodges which at first worked in the Templar Rite of Strict Observance. There is, however, a precursor to the early Enlightenment, prince Dimitrie Cantemir, whom Lucian Blaga assumed "used to establish his ties with people from the West and other means: it is not exactly excluded that such a reason prompted him to enroll in -a secret spiritual order like that of the Rosicrucians who undoubtedly had their Masonry".
From the beginning of the 18th century, the multiplication of Masonic Lodges in the Romanian space is recorded, some of them working in the Rite of Memphis, as is the case of the Memphis Lodge in the East of Iași (1807), and in 1825, in the East of Bucharest a Lodge with same name. Already from this period, among the Freemasons there were notable personalities of Romanian history, among them Prince Constantin Mavrocordat, Sandu Sturdza from Caimacan, Metropolitan Leon Gheuca, Bishop Gherasim Clipa Barnovschi, Iordake Darie Darmănescu, Mitiță Filipescu, etc. The future princes from Moldova and Muntenia, Alexandru Moruzi (in Sibiu) and Alexandru Ipsilanti (in Brașov), as well as personalities of science and culture, including the oculist doctor Ioan Piuariu Molnar, were also initiated in the Lodges of the intra-Carpathian space.
In the first half of the 19th century, the activity of the Masonic Lodges in Iasi intensified. Not only boyars, but also politicians, people of culture, receive the Light in these Lodges and are elected to the leadership structures. Among the venerable Lodges in Iasi is Gheorghe Asachi, the nobleman Teodor Balș, and among the members we find Christian Flechtenmacher and Meletie, the bishop of Roman.
In Bucharest, personalities such as Major Ion Câmpineanu, Iancu Ruset (venerable in 1833) carried out their activities in the Lodge led by doctor Alcibiade Tavernier. Four teachers from the "St. Sava", returned from studies abroad and initiated in the Great East of Italy, including Professor Constantin Moroiu and Eufrosin Poteca. Embracing the ideas of revolutionary romanticism, in the first half of the 19th century many young Romanians, students in Paris, were initiated into Freemasonry in the Lodges of l'Athénée des Étrangers (Republican Lodge founded by Romanian students Ion Ghica, Gheorghe Golescu and Dumitru Brătianu in the capital of France, on the recommendation of Ion Câmpineanu), La Rose du Parfait Silence and Bonne Amitié, among them: Nicolae Golescu, Ion Brătianu, Dimitrie Brătianu, Vasile Alecsandri, Mihail Kogălniceanu, Costache Negruzzi, Constantin Negri, Ion Ghica, Christian Tell, Gheorghe Magheru, Grigore Alexandrescu, Ion Câmpineanu and many others.
Returning to the country, these young people will be very active and will act for the development of Freemasonry in the Principalities, then in Romania. They are the romantic dreamers, "crazy wishers", as Dimitrie Bolintineanu put it. Their destiny as cultural and political militants is illustrated by one of the noblest exhortations of the era: "Follow as you began, the most beautiful title of glory that a poet must aspire to is that of a national and popular poet." Daring Freemasonry was in the vanguard of the European Revolution, enlivening the spirit and deed of the Pashoptist generation, embodied by Nicolae Bălcescu, C. A. Rosetti, Alecu Russo, Cezar Bolliac, C. D. Rosenthal, Ion Heliade Rădulescu, the Golești and de Brătieni brothers.
On September 24, 1856, Auguste Carance founded the Star of the Danube Lodge (Etoile de Danube) in Bucharest, under the obedience of the Grand Orient of France, with patent no. 23,540. Some names of Venerables from this period are suggestive for the future of Romania: Petrache Poenaru (Bucharest, 1856), D. Iancu (Bucharest, 1857), D. Gusti (Iași, 1858), C. Negruzzi (1850, Iași), Scarlat Roset (1856), Vasile Alecsandri (1857). On September 26, 1859, the actor Matei Millo was initiated in the "Steaua Dunării" lodge. On June 1, 1859, the Steaua Dunării Lodge became the "Grand Lodge Steaua Dunării". Its first Venerable, considered Grand Master, was Ion C. Brătianu. The growth of brothers with higher degrees determined the establishment of the Steaua Dunării Chapter (with degrees 4-18).
The Grand Lodge Steaua Dunării, showed the tendency to come out from under the obedience of the Grand Orient of France, many of the militants having high degrees: C.A. Rosetti – 18:. I. Eliade Rădulescu – 18:. Cesar Boliac – 18-41:. Ion Brătianu – 27:. Constantin Moroiu – 18:. Dimitriu Brothers – 18:. In this context, the proclamation of Romania's state independence in 1877-1878 boosted Masonic actions for the foundation of a great sovereign Obedience, because a large number of Lodges operated in the country under the Obedience of the Grand Orient of France, the Lusitan Grand Orient or of the Great East of Italy. After a first attempt, by founding the "Grand Lodge Steaua Dunării", the second important step was taken on May 7, 1879, when Colonel Anton Costiescu acted to establish a Grand Lodge in Romania. On May 1, 1879, the Romanian Masonic Constitution was promulgated, thus establishing the Grand Orient of Romania as a "national and independent Sovereign Power". Theodor Rosetti was appointed Grand Master, and General Carol Davilla was appointed Deputy Grand Master. The Grand Orient operated from 7 May 1879 to 15 December 1880.
Under King Charles I, no less than 12 of the 19 Prime Ministers were Freemasons, as were a great many other political men. In this context, Romanian Freemasonry was able to move definitively from the stage of fragmentation in foreign obediences, to that of the National Grand Lodge - Unique and sovereign power. The founding of the Romanian National Grand Lodge took place on September 8/20, 1880, with the contribution of the Brothers from Steaua Dunării, Ilovul and Steaua Dunării Lodges. Captain Constantin Moroiu was elected Grand Master. In 1881, he also founded the Supreme Council of the Ancient Primitive Rite of Memphis and the Supreme Council for Romania, and on November 22, 1882, the Grand Chapter Royal Arch. The Supreme Council of the 33rd degree was established in 1881, thanks to the contest given by the Grand Italian Orient of Naples and mentioned in this way on August 1, 1881 in the international Masonic press.
Constantin Moroiu sought to preserve the sovereignty and unity of Romanian Freemasonry, for which a single Constitution was adopted for the entire Masonic Order, which included the Grand Lodge and the Rites with the workshops of perfection under their subordination. The drafting of the Constitution (320 articles) was completed on November 5/17, 1880, being published in Bucharest in 1881. All the Masonic workshops of the Romanian Masonic Order, both the blue ones and those of the high degrees, were "linked together by an authority central" called the Romanian Grand National Lodge. It was stated that N∴G∴L∴R∴ he placed himself "under the shield and protection of the Romanian Government and the laws of the country".
The constitution stipulated that the N∴G∴L∴R∴, as the only regular Masonic power, had as jurisdiction the entire territory of the Old Kingdom of Romania. In the hierarchy M.L.N.R. there was an accumulation of dignities, the Grand Master being at the same time Sovereign Grand Commander, and the Grand Lodge conducting "the affairs of all rites". In 1905, the MLNR included: the Romanian Supreme Council 33o (AASR), the Sovereign Romanian Shrine of Memphis, the Sublime Areopagus 30∴, the Sovereign Chapter "Star of the Danube", the Sovereign Chapter "Hiram" and 30 symbolic Lodges, of which 9 outside the country . Until 1911, Constantin Moroiu held the positions of Grand Master and Sovereign Grand Commander, then he divided the Grand Lodge into two sections, he kept only the position of Sovereign Pontiff for Romania, and Grand Master of the MLNR for the Scottish, French, Royal Arch and Swedenborgin, was elected with unanimous votes, Prince George Bibescu 33o – 90o – 95o.
In Romania from the period before the world war, Freemasonry had strengthened. But, from 1913 MLNR will become practically inactive, although for a while Moroiu tried to maintain the organization. At the beginning of the First World War, there were only 4 active Lodges in Romania, 3 of which were founded by the Grand Orient of France. Only two of these Lodges will survive the war: Les Disciples de Pythagoras and the Union. The situation became critical after the death of the first Grand Master of the Romanian National Grand Lodge, Constantin Moroiu (April 27, 1918). Personal rivalries and internal disputes caused small schisms, a situation exploited by the German, French and Italian Obediences, who created their own Workshops in Romania. In 1917, German Freemasonry took steps to establish Field Military Lodges (Feldloge) in the occupied territory of Romania. On March 14, 1917, a Campaign Lodge was established with the distinctive name Carmen Sylva zur Deutschen Treue ("Carmen Sylva to German Loyalty"), under the obedience of the Grand Lodge of Berlin. The Carmen Sylva lodge created in Focșani the so-called Kränzchen (Crown) / Feldkränzchen, which operated until the beginning of the summer of 1918.
Until 1919, Romanian freemasonry was not reborn, so that at the Paris Peace Conference it could only be represented by brothers who, there and then, were initiated in the Parisian Lodge Ernest Renan, among whom Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, Caius Brediceanu and Traian Vuia -18o. With the approval of King Ferdinand I, who became Grand Protector, the National Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Romania was reborn in January 1923, regular and sovereign, the only one that will administer the first 3 degrees of blue freemasonry. On April 15, 1934, the United Romanian Freemasonry, Sovereign and Perfect Obedience, was solemnly and officially established, which incorporates by federation the Grand National Lodge of Romania with the Grand Orient of Romania (Grand Master Em. I. Papiniu), under the Federal Grand Master Mihail Sadoveanu, who showed signs of an unwanted split.
Due to the radicalization of the anti-Masonic movement in the country, as proof of the attachment to the monarchy and at the suggestion of King Carol II, on February 27, 1937 a delegation of the Grand National Lodge from Romania led by Ioan Pangal made a statement to the Patriarchate regarding self-dissolution. Then, on December 20, 1937, King Carol II ordered the closure of Masonic Lodges and banned Freemasonry in the Kingdom of Romania. In the same year, for this decision, Ioan Pangal was dismissed from among the Supreme Grand Commanders by the Convent of Supreme Commanders of the Council. Next, the radicalization of the anti-Masonic movement took place in Romania, documents were confiscated and anti-Masonic exhibitions were organized.
After August 23, 1944, Constantin Bellu, Mihail Noradunghian, George Grigoriu, Paul Brătășanu and other freemasons began the steps to reopen the Grand National Lodge. The event took place in September 1944, and 1945 would be the year in which the Supreme Grand Council and the Grand National Lodge in Romania would resume their activity officially, with the consent of the authorities, the Allied Control Commission and the Patriarchate of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
However, Freemasonry proved to remain a real danger to the Communists. The Romanian Freemasons who managed to emigrate founded under the obedience of the Grand Lodge of France the Lodges "Romania" and "United Romania", thus ensuring the continuity of Romanian Freemasonry at the level of the symbolic Lodges. Most of the freemasons from the "Pangal Group" founded in 1948, in France, the Lodge "Free Romania" with no. 717, under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of France.
In the country, there were arrests, sentencing and sentencing of the "Bellu lot", a group of 17 freemasons, in a mock trial later named "the trial of the freemasons", by the Bucharest Territorial Military Court, by Sentence no. 1270 of November 19, 1953.
After the fall of the communist regime, the National Grand Lodge of Romania rekindled its Lights at the Convent on January 24, 1993, held in the Hall of Mirrors in Casa Vernescu, with the Most Respectable Brother Nicu Filip as Grand Master.
A period of development of Freemasonry followed, until 2010 the National Grand Lodge had as Grand Masters the Most Respectable Brothers Adrian Dohotaru, Sever Frentiu, Vladimir Boantă, Gheorghe Comănescu and Eugen Ovidiu Chirovici.
During the period 2010-2020, deviations from the fundamental principles of Freemasonry occurred in the National Grand Lodge of Romania, which determined the establishment of the Special Commission, according to the Constitution in force at that time.
The Special Commission organized the Extraordinary Convent on October 17, 2020, which elected the Most Respectable Brother Manole Iosiper as Grand Master Pro Tempore and excluded Radu Ninel Bălănescu, the former Grand Master, from Freemasonry.
In the Convent of April 17, 2021, attended by representatives of over 4,200 brothers and over 230 Symbolic Lodges, a new Constitution was adopted, and the Most Respectable Brother was elected as Grand Master of the National Grand Lodge of Romania George Ivascu.