Aims and Relationships of the Craft

  1. The first condition of admission into, and membership of, the Order is a belief in the Supreme Being. This is essential and admits of no compromise.
  2. The Bible, referred to by Freemasons as The Volume of the Sacred Law, is always open in the lodges. Every candidate is required to take his Obligation on that book, or on the volume which is held by his particular creed to impart sanctity to an oath or promise taken upon it.
  3. Everyone who enters Freemasonry is, at the outset, strictly forbidden to countenance any act which may have a tendency to subvert the peace and good order of society; he must pay due obedience to the law of the State in which he resides, and he must never be remiss in allegiance due to the constituted Authority.
  4. While Freemasonry thus inculcates in each of its members the duties of loyalty and citizenship, it reserves to the individual the right to hold his own opinion with regard to public affairs. But neither in any lodge, nor at any time in his capacity as a Freemason, is he permitted to discuss or to advance his views on theological or political questions.
  5. The United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria has always consistently refused to express any opinion on questions of foreign or domestic state policy, either at home or abroad, and it will not allow its name to be associated with any action, however humanitarian it may appear to be, which infringes its unalterable policy of standing aloof from every question affecting the relations between one government and another, or between political parties, or questions as to rival theories of government.
  6. The United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria refuses absolutely to have any relationsis to bodies, styling themselves as Freemasons, which do not adhere to the above mentioned principles.
  7. The United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria is a Sovereign and Independent body practising Freemasonry only within the three degrees and only within the limits defined in its constitution as "pure Antient Masonry". It does not recognize or admit the existence of any superior Masonic authority, however styled.
  8. The United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria will refuse to participate in conferences with so-called International Associations claiming to represent Freemasonry, which admit to membership bodies failing to conform strictly to the principles upon which the United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria is founded.
  9. There is no secret with regard to any of the basic principles of Freemasonry. The United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria will always consider the recognition of these Grand Lodges which profess and practise those principles.
  10. If Freemasonry once deviated from its course by expressing an opinion on theological or political questions, not only would sow the seed of discord among its own members, but could also lose that detachment, from facts that happen in the society, that has always allowed Freemasonry to live peacefully.
  11. The United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria is convinced that by a rigid adherence to these Aims and Relationships that Freemasonry has survived the constantly changing doctrines of the outside world, and is further compelled to place on record its complete disapproval of any action which may tend to permit the slightest departure from the basic principles of Freemasonry. It is strongly of the opinion that if any Grand Lodge does so it cannot maintain a claim to be following the Ancient Landmarks of the Order.