Introduction
As the District Grand Master I thank you for your interest and welcome you to this web site.
Freemasons, and those who are not members of the Craft, should find something of interest in the following pages, particularly about Freemasonry in Cyprus. If you are not already a Mason you will receive information about who and what we are and our objectives. This will assist you in deciding whether to make a serious inquiry about becoming a member of our Fraternity.
At one time, it was common practice for men to think that they had to wait to be asked to become a Freemason. In consequence, many who may have enjoyed a fruitful Masonic life from earlier years, made no approach and were thus denied the privilege of belonging to our Fraternity. This stemmed from the fact that Freemasonry did not go out of its way to solicit members and waited for a serious inquiry from a prospective candidate, perhaps made to a friend or relation before anything actually happened.
Times have changed, and today, there is nothing wrong in a Freemason taking the initiative and ‘sponsoring’ a new member whom he thinks will be a suitable person to enjoy our company and can live up to our high ideals and obligations. If you know a Freemason, who is quite free to acknowledge the fact, do not hesitate to ask for advice and guidance about the way forward.
Undeniably, there are some men who become Freemasons for the wrong reasons, such as for what they believe will result in social or business advantages, or as insurance against misfortune. We try to avoid such applicants by careful scrutiny, and are mostly successful. Those in such a category who slip through the screening process, soon find out for themselves that Freemasonry is about giving not taking, about sharing and caring, about upholding the law and being a responsible member of society. Above all, it requires a belief in one God, the God of the individual concerned, whom we refer to as the “Great Architect of the Universe”.
The fact that any man of any faith, colour, creed or ethnic origin can become a Freemason shows the universality of our appeal. We are not and do not seek to be a religion, a pressure group to confront government, a self-interested benefit society or a dining club for the social elite. We do seek to inculcate in our members a lifestyle which is just and upright, morally responsible and law-abiding. We hope that, when a man is known to be a Freemason, he will be seen as a credit to himself, to his family and to the community in which he lives and works.
