The Regular Grand Lodge of Romania split off (under the name National Grand Lodge Dacia) from the National Grand Lodge of Romania in 2006. Three Respectable Lodges left that Grand Lodge due to serious irregularities occurring there. The departure was led by the late Brother Nicu Filip, who was also the first elected Grand Master of Romania after the December 1989 revolution. His first mandate as Grand Master lasted six months, during which time the National Grand Lodge Dacia was founded. After this provisional mandate, Brother Dorian Orz was elected Grand Master in October 2006 for a two-year term.
As a unique characteristic, under Brother Nicu Filip’s will, a Respectable Lodge named "Constantin Brancusi" (a world-renowned sculptor, a Mason, and born in the village of Hobita, Romania) was founded — the world’s first village lodge, at the Orient of Hobita, Gorj County, Romania.
In 2008 (February 16), the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania — consisting of 8 Respectable Lodges and 2 Regular Masonic Triangles across Romania — joined the Organization of Regular Grand Lodges of the World (Masonic High Council, the Mother High Council of the World, alongside the Regular Grand Lodge of England). At that time, the name was changed from National Grand Lodge Dacia to Regular Grand Lodge of Romania.
That same year, Brother Nicu Filip passed to the Eternal Orient at the venerable age of 94.
In the fall 2008 elections, Brother Dorian Orz was elected for his final two-year mandate as Grand Master.
In 2009, the Grand Lodge established the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis in Romania.
Between 2008 and 2009, the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania participated in key events of the Organization it had joined: the establishment of the High Masonic Council of Serbia, the formation of the Regular Grand Lodge of the Middle East (covering seven countries), and Masonic events organized by MHC-MHCW in Slovenia, Italy, and Peru. At the General Assembly held September 25–27, 2009, in Lima (Peru), the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania was entrusted with the Vice Presidency (through Brother Dorian Orz) of the World Organization’s leadership.
At the end of 2009, for reasons of honor, the Grand Lodge withdrew from the organization it was affiliated with, standing alongside the European Grand Lodges that had been unfairly expelled.
In 2010, thirteen Brothers from the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania founded the Grand Priory "Mihai Viteazul" of the Civil and Military Order of the Templars, affiliated with Prince Asklepius d'Sparta, a member of the global congregation "Pietà del Pelicano," whose Monarch at that time was Monsignor Adeodato Leopoldo Francesco Luigi Mancini, Patriarch of the Assyrian-Chaldean Church, Marquis of Rossignano, who passed to the Eternal Orient in June 2015.
In February 2010, the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania, alongside seven other Grand Lodges, signed the Treaty of Arezzo under the gavel of Brother Dorian Orz, forming a new organization, the Society of Grand Lodges in Alliance (S.O.G.L.I.A.), where the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania became a founding member. These seven Grand Lodges were:
- Gran Loggia D’Italia della Massoneria Universale — ITALY
- Gran Loggia Regolare di Rito Emulation degli Antichi Massoni d’Italia — ITALY
- Velika Regularna Loza Slovenije — SLOVENIA
- Velika Loza Visokog Masonskog Saveta Srbije — SERBIA
- Gran Logia Regular York de México — MEXICO
- Gran Logia Regular del Estado de Guerrero — MEXICO
- Abraham Grand Lodge AF&AM of Texas — TEXAS
In autumn 2010, elections were held, and Brother Adrian Mihai Ionescu-Miu was elected as the new Grand Master.
In June 2013, the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania hosted the SOGLIA 2013 General Assembly in Mogosoaia, attended by over 150 Brothers from more than 20 Grand Lodges worldwide.
On June 2, 2015, the Brothers of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania received the visit of the Monarch of the "Pietà del Pelicano" Order, Monsignor Adeodato Leopoldo F.L. Mancini, who officiated in one of the Bucharest temples (Unirii) during the World Chapter of the Civil and Military Order of the Templars, consecrating and blessing the Knights of the Romanian Grand Priory "Mihai Viteazul" and the Serbian Grand Priory, installing Brothers Cristian Cazacu and Adrian Constantin Ionescu as Grand Prior and Grand Marshal of the Romanian Grand Priory, respectively.
In summer 2014, at the SOGLIA 2014 General Assembly in Marseille, France, the Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania, Brother Adrian Mihai Ionescu-Miu, was elected President of SOGLIA for the 2014–2016 term. On that occasion, Past Grand Master Brother Dorian Orz and Grand Secretary Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu were elected Vice President and Treasurer of SOGLIA for the same period.
In autumn 2014 (November 22), elections were held, and Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu was elected Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania.
In winter 2015 (February 16), Brother Dorian Orz passed to the Eternal Orient after a long illness.
On December 15, 2015, the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania, together with the National Grand Lodge of Romania, the Scottish Tradition Grand Lodge, the Romanian Symbolic Grand Lodge, and the Grand Lodge of Romania, founded the Romanian Masonic Confederation, an organization whose primary goal was to strengthen Masonic unity in Romania. Unfortunately, the confederation remained merely a formal union and never became truly effective.
In 2015, the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania, in collaboration with two other regular European Grand Lodges, recognized two other Grand Lodges in Romania founded by Brothers who had left the National Grand Lodge of Romania and had operated as "wild" lodges until they were recognized. These Grand Lodges were: the Grand Lodge of Romania (Grand Master Brother Sergiu Protopopescu) and the United Europe Grand Lodge (Grand Master Brother Calin Cosar).
In June 2016, during the St. John the Baptist Summer celebration, the Grand Masters of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania (Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu 33°) and the Grand Lodge of Romania (Brother Sergiu Protopopescu 33°) signed a protocol whereby, after elections that fall, the two Grand Lodges would unite under the gavel of the elected Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania.
At the June 24, 2016, St. John the Baptist celebration, on the initiative of incumbent Grand Master Adrian Constantin Ionescu, the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania established the "Dorian Orz" Order in recognition of the exceptional Masonic work of Past Grand Master Brother Dorian Orz. This order is awarded annually to both Regular Grand Lodges worldwide and to Respectable Lodges and Brothers distinguished by their contributions to the promotion and consolidation of the Masonic Order.
In October 2016, at the SOGLIA 2016 General Assembly in Santiago de Chile, the incumbent Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania, Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu 33°, was elected SOGLIA Vice President for Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa for the 2016–2018 term.
In November 2016 (November 19), at the Election Convention, Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu was entrusted with a new two-year mandate (2016–2018) as Grand Master.
On December 3, 2016, through the will of the Brothers of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania and the Grand Lodge of Romania, the two Grand Lodges united under the gavel of Grand Master Adrian Constantin Ionescu 33°, recently reelected. This act was the first union between two regular Grand Lodges in modern Romania. According to the protocol agreed six months earlier, Brother Sergiu Protopopescu 33° was appointed Deputy Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania.
On December 17, 2016, Grand Master Adrian Constantin Ionescu 33°, a member of the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the 33rd and Last Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Romania, was appointed Honorary Member of the Supreme Council of the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the 33rd and Last Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Unified Scottish Grand Orient of Italy.
In September 2017, the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania organized in Bucharest the SOGLIA 2017 General Assembly, attended by Brothers from over 30 Grand Lodges worldwide. By autumn 2017, the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania maintained cooperative and friendly relations with over 40 Grand Lodges worldwide.
The Regular Grand Lodge of Romania was a multi-ritualistic Grand Lodge, with most Brothers working in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis.
The organization of the September 2017 SOGLIA General Assembly revealed unacceptable practices inconsistent with Masonic principles and the Constitution and Regulations of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania.
These reprehensible acts, committed by the former leadership of the Grand Lodge of Romania, were brought to the attention of the Brothers of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania by the incumbent Grand Master, Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu, during the October 2017 ritual meeting at the Orient of Deva.
Following the disclosure of these irregularities stemming from “profane habits” practiced by the former leadership, the incumbent Grand Master, Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu, dismissed Brother Sergiu Protopopescu from his post as Deputy Grand Master, summoning him before the Masonic judicial bodies of the Grand Lodge.
As a result of these events, in November 2017, several Respectable Lodges from the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania — originating from the former Grand Lodge of Romania and incorporated after the previous year’s unification — broke away from the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania. This split materialized through an illegal convention called by Brother Sergiu Protopopescu (dismissed from the Deputy Grand Master position), where these lodges, through identity usurpation, self-proclaimed themselves as the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania.
The usurpation of the name was immediately communicated to all collaborating Grand Lodges worldwide by incumbent Grand Master Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu, Vice President of SOGLIA for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
In 2018, the Convention of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania designated Brother George Radu Serafim 33° as Grand Master.
In autumn 2018, at the Orient of São Paulo, Brazil, the SOGLIA 2018 General Assembly took place, where the leadership for 2018–2020 was established. The Presidency went to Brother Massimo Criscuoli Tortora 33°, Grand Master of Serenissima Gran Loggia d’Italia, while the Vice Presidency for Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East went to Past Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania, Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu 33°.
Unfortunately, just hours after the SOGLIA General Assembly elections in São Paulo, the General Assembly’s decisions were overturned, and the entire leadership was replaced by a group of Grand Masters from the USA and some Grand Masters from Europe (Romania and Serbia).
This overturning was immediately condemned by Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania, Brother Radu George Serafim 33°, and by the newly elected SOGLIA Vice President, Past Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania, Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu 33°.
Supporting the position of the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania against the illegality of the events at the São Paulo SOGLIA General Assembly was the outraged Ideator and Founder of S.O.G.L.I.A., Brother Carmelo Antonino di Bella, Emeritus Grand Master of Gran Loggia d’Italia della Massoneria Universale da Palazzo Giustiniano, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Principii di Edimburgh 1804.
During Brother Radu George Serafim’s mandate as Grand Master (who passed to the Eternal Orient in autumn 2022), due to the decision of some Brothers from certain Respectable Lodges to join the faction that had usurped the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania’s name in autumn 2017, a group of three Respectable Lodges decided, in autumn 2020, to leave the Regular Grand Lodge of Romania.
These three lodges elected Brother Adrian Constantin Ionescu 33° as Grand Master Pro Tempore and adopted the name Regular Grand Lodge Phoenix.
In 2021, at the General Assembly of Elections, Brother Alexandru Costachescu 33° was elected Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge Phoenix.
I have spoken.
Adrian C. Ionescu
Past Grand Master of the
Regular Grand Lodge of Romania