Frequently Asked Questions

To build oneself, and to take pleasure in existence – in thought as much as in deed. To live is to think and to act, to conceive and to understand, to give, to build meaning into one’s own life and to contribute to the positive evolution of the world around us. Meaning can at times be found in dogmatic beliefs and reductive ideologies. We, however, wish to rise above the norms and received ways of thinking of every kind and every provenance. To those who seek to give shape to their thought and to find meaning, the Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia offers initiation into the Masonic Order, through which they will:

- build themselves, in order to build meaning in their lives.

The purpose of Freemasonry, and of the Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia, is to offer a space for reflection and action to men who wish to build meaning into their lives – complementing, but never contradicting, what they build in their family, professional or social spheres.

- do so in the exercise of their freedom of religious and civic conscience, respecting the freedom of others.

This freedom of religious and civic conscience is absolute: the Grand Lodge neither requires – nor forbids – belief in, or the practice of, any particular religion, philosophy or ideology. Nor does it lay claim to any particular political position. It therefore respects all religious and political sensibilities.
Within our own ranks we reject the religious proselytism of those who would press others towards a faith of any kind, for we respect the conscience of every one of our members. Equally, we reject any anti-religious proselytism by our members that would curtail freedom of civic conscience. At the political level we accept the expression of every idea that respects the freedom of civic conscience of our members, to the exclusion of extremism of every kind, which is incompatible with our fundamental principles of respect for the dignity of human beings, whatever their ethnic or cultural origin.

- work within an ordered space, according to ethical values.

This is not a school of uniform thought, but a space of freedom ordered by humanist and spiritual values, where men of every ethnic origin and social circumstance, of every philosophy and every religion, may come together. Through an original and specific initiatic method we teach them how to build and better themselves, and how to think and to act – individually and collectively at once, in their Temples and in society – with mutual respect and tolerance.

The Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia is affiliated to no political party.
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We decline to engage in political activity – which has its own legitimacy – or to intervene directly in that sphere. In so doing we respect the freedom of civic conscience of every member, who may, as he chooses, be active in a political party or not.

We do, however, stand for the liberty, respect and dignity of human beings, and our principles are opposed to political extremism in every form.

On the other hand, we devote ourselves to ethics and morals – individual as well as social – since the great questions of contemporary society lie precisely in these broader fields and bear significantly upon the present and future of humankind.

Freemasonry is not a religion. It neither requires nor forbids anyone to believe in, or to practise, a particular faith.

Such matters belong to the freedom of each individual. The Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia wishes to gather within its Masonic Temple men who seek individual and collective reflection, respecting the sensibilities and convictions of every person and holding diversity to be a richness and a condition of progress for all. The Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia therefore practises no anticlericalism of any kind – wishing to maintain peaceable relations with all religions – and leaves to every member his freedom of religious conscience. We practise a tolerance rooted in the design of our traditional founders, receiving men of good faith and good will from every background, united by a shared desire for exchange and progress, while adherence to any particular religious or philosophical path remains within the province of each individual’s freedom of conscience.

No particular training or qualification is required to join the Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia. Initiation is open to any individual who wishes to advance in knowledge and awareness through an original method of learning – at once personal and collective – founded on ritual, on the quality of relations between Brethren and on the perfecting of one’s abilities.
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The Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia regards the diversity of its members as a richness and a prerequisite for the advancement of each individual. To that end, its Lodges are not reserved for particular social categories, but bring together men from every walk of life. The Brethren of the Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia come from a wide range of social and professional backgrounds – employees, executives and managers in the private sector, members of the liberal professions, merchants and craftsmen. A clean criminal record is, of course, indispensable.

Masonic work is characterised by the performance of a specific ritual laid down by the Rite in use within the Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia – the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
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The practice of this ritual lends an original support to reflection, founded on the use of particular symbols, with the aim of perfecting each individual and furthering his growth in knowledge and awareness.
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This work of reflection, individual and collective, shapes the life and organisation of the Lodge. It consists chiefly of a paper delivered by one or two Brethren on a given subject, which may be drawn from the Masonic, symbolic, spiritual, historical, ethical, philosophical, scientific, literary or any other artistic field. The whole remains directed towards the aspiration to intellectual, moral and spiritual elevation.
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The exchange of views that follows is governed by particular rules, designed to encourage every member to speak freely and to ensure respect for his judgement – ideally marked by moderation of expression and balance of argument.

There are, in essence, two kinds of Masonic “secret”.
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- The first is the secret of membership.
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It forbids a Freemason to disclose the identity of other Freemasons. Any Freemason may, however, disclose his own membership if he so wishes, and many do so openly. This secret has its roots in the founding texts of modern Freemasonry (which date from the 17th and 18th centuries), but it also springs from the historical persecution of Freemasons by various regimes – Nazi and Communist alike – whose nature is irreconcilable with our principles of liberty and human dignity.
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- The second is the secret of initiation.
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This secret concerns the personal and intimate experience of entering Freemasonry. It cannot be conveyed outside the setting of initiation, and in truth it touches only the conscience of each individual.
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- There is no need to hide.
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In reality, Freemasons have no need to hide. They wish to pursue their initiatic progress away from the clamour of the world, while remaining fully part of their family, professional and civic lives. Membership of the Craft may be likened to membership of a religion, or of a philosophical or ethical society for reflection – and no one is obliged to make his religious or philosophical convictions public. This testifies to the recognition of Freemasonry as an institution that develops in keeping with the principle of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”.

Although the Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia does not require belief in “God and His revealed will”, the belief in a Supreme Being that we do ask for refers to the creative and ordering principle of the universe – some sublime, universal cosmic force that binds together man and the physical world in which we live and which we partly understand (the microcosm), and the visible and invisible universe that surrounds us (the macrocosm). It is the point of origin, or the Creator: God (the Logos, the Source, Nous – the universal or supreme intelligence, the Supreme Being, the Cosmos, and so on). We call it the “Great Architect of the Universe”, and the name has been preserved in this form out of respect for the founding texts of Freemasonry.
In the annex to the resolutions of the General Convent of Lausanne (1875), and in keeping with the principles of traditional Freemasonry, a Declaration was adopted which states: “Freemasonry proclaims, as it has always proclaimed, the existence of a creative principle, under the name of the Great Architect of the Universe.” The Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia invokes the Great Architect of the Universe.

The Great Architect of the Universe: principle and symbol.
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The principle is comparable to what scientists today describe as “the principle of unity of the physical world, by which this universe holds together despite the opposing forces that run through it”. For Freemasons the Great Architect of the Universe is not an anthropomorphic, theological or religious definition, but a universal principle and the creative force within the universe. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite proposes a search for meaning free of prohibition, revelation and dogma – one that opens us to enquiry and invites debate – and a spiritual quest founded upon the higher principle evoked as the Great Architect of the Universe.
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The symbol remains open to the individual interpretation of every Freemason. In unfailing respect for freedom of conscience, each Freemason is free to sublimate this principle into a symbol of his own choosing, according to his own sensibility. The symbol may thus become transcendent or immanent, reflecting a man’s own religious dimension without compelling other members to make the same choice.
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Freedom of conscience
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The search for Truth can be subject to no boundary and no dogmatic constraint. It follows that every Freemason working in the Lodges of the Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia has both the right and the duty to interpret the principle of the Great Architect of the Universe, and its symbols, according to his own conscience.