Grand Lodges
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A Grand Lodge, or Grand Orient, is the usual governing body of "Craft", "Blue Lodge", or "Symbolic"Freemasonry in a particular jurisdiction. The first Masonic Grand Lodge was established in England in 1717 as the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, soon to call itself the Grand Lodge of England. The head of a Grand Lodge is called the Grand Master, and the other officers of the Grand Lodge prefix "Grand" to the titles of Lodge officers. Some Grand Lodges have established Provincial Grand Lodges as an organisational layer between themselves and member Lodges.
There is no central body to oversee all of the Grand Lodges in the world (nor, indeed, all of Freemasonry), and therefore, individual Grand Lodge policies and practices can and do vary, though they have a similar basic framework in common. The lack of a central authority means that Grand Lodges are held together simply by fellowship with one another. Despite this decentralization, many outsiders associate New World Order conspiracy theories with Masonry.
Read more about Grand Lodges: Jurisdictions, Other Bodies
Famous quotes containing the word grand:
“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
—John Adams (1735–1826)