Mediafax, Bucharest, June 22, 20120 - We return with details about the disturbances and turmoil in Romanian Freemasonry. At the moment, the Grand Master of MLNR (Grand National Lodge of Romania) Radu Bălănescu, in his third term, is suspended from office. The information reached us only after two weeks, the organization being known for its discretion.
Bălănescu's recent decisions have sparked a massive wave of discontent among members of the organization. The accusations of dictatorial drift are doubled by serious suspicions of financial fraud. Many lodges across the country have protested violations of the Constitution and secular traditions. The claims were summarized in a document entitled "Romanian Masonic Memorandum", to which the Masons have already adhered by the hundreds. Using an article of the Constitution, which provides for such a situation, a Special Commission has been set up (see full document HERE), a kind of JRC with executive powers, which analyzes the situation created, identifies the right solutions to the crisis and implements them. . The commission, which includes prominent and undisputed personalities of the fraternity, is headed by the author of the MLNR Constitution.
The first measure taken after the establishment was the suspension of the Grand Master from office, in order to stop the abuses and to be able to investigate them. Informed, Radu Bălănescu not only refuses to recognize the suspension, but uses all the means still available to prevent the spread of information among Freemasons, especially since the international reactions are devastating. Four Grand Lodges wrote to Bălănescu, warning him that his actions were irregular, unprecedented in centuries of Freemasonry and could lead to the loss of MLNR recognition worldwide. It is about the recognition of all Romanian Freemasons, not only of Bălănescu, which would give the Romanian Freemasonry a North Korean status. His camp mocks the situation, claiming there are only four negative messages. But he forgot to say that he did not receive a single message of support, even from a lost island in the Pacific.
In the current MLNR leadership, everything has meanwhile become a state secret and this paranoid silence leads to a gossip and scenario inflation. It is rumored that Bălănescu's team is already preparing his successor, while he is still officially and ardently supporting his leader.
The question is: are we dealing with a revolution? If we look at dissatisfaction, appeals, claim documents and "foreign agents", it would seem so. Reading the demands with a cold mind, however, we find that the Masons do not demand a change of order, but a return to normalcy in the organization. We could talk about one then
"Conservative revolution", but Bălănescu's opponents do not overthrow the existing Constitution, but apply it. The establishment of the Special Commission is a sign that their fundamental law works and is respected. There is only one possible conclusion: the struggle of the Masonic memorandists is part of the struggle of the entire Romanian society to strengthen the rule of law and prevent the installation of a small avatar of Ceausescu. In this sense, it concerns us all.
The full article is on the Mediafax website: The Romanian Masons suspended their Grand Master. For two weeks
