The Military Lodge

By W Bro Télémaque Argyriou

“Freemasonry had always been part of my family with my father and grandfather being Masons.

Although they never pushed me into
joining, I always felt I wanted one day to
know more about Freemasonry, and learn
what it was all about. However, I had put
my focus on my career, and pursuing things
on a professional level that never gave me
the time to get into Freemasonry.

I moved to the UK ten years ago while
working for a bank, being sent here to work
on a merger. Five years later, they recalled
me to Paris, but the move left me feeling
personally and professionally unsatisfied. I
resigned from the bank, and moved back
to the UK. Since I was starting a new chapter
in my life, I thought that this might be the
time to deal with the curiosity about
Freemasonry that I had always carried.

As I didn’t have any contacts with any
Freemasons in this country, I started with
the UGLE website, and followed the links
to express an interest in joining. I was then
contacted by Metropolitan Grand Lodge,
and they in turn would introduce me to
Orion Lodge No 4652.

My first meeting with Orion was a very
friendly chat at the pub in August 2015,
followed by a one-on-one meeting with
the Secretary to understand more about
the commitments expected of me. The
Lodge invited me to their Christmas do
in December, and to meet with them for
a drink after their Lodges of Instruction
while they were preparing for their
Installation meeting in March. Finally, in
June 2016, I was initiated. That ceremony
is still the most impressive moment to
date in my life not only as a Freemason,
but in general.

Once I joined the Lodge, I attended as
many Lodges of Instruction as I could, as
well as the regular meetings, and tried to
take as active a role as possible. This was
noticed by the senior members of the
Lodge, and I soon found myself in the
Junior Warden’s chair. I felt I needed to
put in extra time and dedication to show
the Lodge that I took their faith in me
seriously, and two years later was installed
as Worshipful Master.

Everyone wants their Mastership of their
Lodge to be memorable, and mine
definitely will be — but not for the right
reasons! I planned to use my year in the
Master’s chair to help the Lodge to
continue to reform and adapt to meet the
challenges of the 21st Century and beyond,
as well as looking forward to initiating the
three candidates we had waiting. I was
installed in March of this year; within days,
the Grand Master suspended all Masonic
activity as the country was put into national
lockdown.

It has been a very challenging and tough
year. At first, we hoped the pandemic would
only last a few months, so we were regularly
using Zoom to plan for an initiation as soon
as we could, but it became clear that it
would last longer. However, Orion Lodge
has adapted. We use Zoom to have a weekly
half hour chat, and the members will often
phone each other. We were able to meet
in October under the Rule of 6, which was
great for the morale of the Lodge, and we
will be doing our annual Christmas do over
Zoom. The Lodge has also said they will be
happy for me to continue as Worshipful
Master for another year, and I look forward
to putting my agenda as Master into action
next year, to help the Lodge continue to
thrive and grow.”

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This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 43 January 2021 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons – Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 43.