“Skenderbeis” lodge no. 31 in East Athens
Date of establishment 26 May 1900
The Lodge meets every Thursday
Founding members
| Varvoglis N. | Kanavatsoglou Ch. | Bottsaris M. |
| Xenophontos No. | Pazarlis N. | Papazafeiropoulos K. |
| Paschus I. | Rigas Th. | Sakalis A. |
Brief background
The “Skenderbeis” Lodge was founded in Athens on 28 April (11 May in the new calendar) 1900, at a time when the organisational and administrative structure of Greek Freemasonry was not clear. The identification of the High Grand Taxiarch with the Glorious Grand Master was a point of friction, while the lack of a permanent home and suitable space created additional problems.
The beginning of the gestation of the “Skenderbeis” Lodge is in 1882, when members of the “Pythagoras” Lodge No. 8 founded the St. “Athena” No. 9, with the main concern of activating the members of this lodge for the success of the national movements for the independence of the enslaved Greeks of Crete and Macedonia. From the bosom of the St. “Athena”, other lodges were subsequently founded, including St. “Thespis“. In 1900, members of the “Thespis” Lodge, which was now in an inactive state, inspired by a national impulse for the liberation of Turkish-occupied Epirus, proceeded with the descendant of the heroic Souliotian family and the first Venerable of the Lodge as its leader, the late brother Markos Botsaris, an officer of the Greek Army, in the foundation of the new lodge, choosing for it a name that signalled the irredentist message for the enslaved Epirus.
St. “Skenderbeis” No. 31, has travelled from its foundation until today a single, unchanged and continuous route. During its course it has been fortunate to have among its members a large number of eminent Greeks, while from its bosom have come six Grand Masters and twenty-seven Glorious members of the Council of the Grand Lodge of Greece.
Apart from its masonic work and the strengthening of every national effort, the Lodge had during its course also an important social work. Brothers of the Lodge contributed a sum of money to prevent the Zosimaia School from being dissolved in 1903, while later they maintained nurseries and asylums and contributed financially to the aid of refugees from Asia Minor. In 1944 the Lodge founded the association “The Theomitor” , with the aim of helping needy young people.
Lodges established by the St.
| Gallery “Ionia” | No 54 in the East Smyrna (year 1919 – finally silenced with the Asia Minor Catastrophe) |
| Gallery “Themis” | No 57 in the East Athens (year 1921 – inactive) |
| Lodge “Orpheus” | No 69 in the East. Athens (year 1925) |
| Gallery “Renaissance” | No. 27 in East. Athens (year of birth 1927) |
| Arcade “Acropolis” | No 84 in the East. Athens (year of issue 1929) |
| Gallery “Skoufas” | No 5 in the East Chalkidos (year of 1930) |
| Gallery “Korais” | No 89 in the East. Athens (year of issue 1931 – inactive) |
| Gallery “Company of Friends” | No 116 in the East. Athens (year of issue 1964) |
H. of St. who were members of the Grand Lodge of Greece
| Angelopoulos Konstantinos | Maj. |
| Nikolaos Varvoglis | Maj. |
| Vafiades Savas | Maj. |
| Andreas Kalyvas | Maj. (member of the St. by adoption) |
| Maneas Christos | Maj. |
| Perakis Const. | Maj. (member of the St. by adoption) |
| Galanos Spyridon | Add. Maj. |
| Dontas Nikolaos | Add. Maj. |
| Botsaris Markos | Add. Maj. |
| Hadjipanos Pan. | Add. Maj. |
| Vellis Spyridon | B-Major Supervisor |
| Pezopoulos Kir. | B-Major Supervisor |
| Hors George | B-Major Supervisor |
| Cribaas Basil | Maj. Gen. Line. |
| Takis Meletopoulos | Maj. Gen. Line. |
| Hadjipetros Pan. | Maj. Gen. Line. |
| Noah Nicholas | Great Treasures. |
| Pantazis Alexis. | Max Test. |
| Pazzarlis Nikolaos | Grand Master of Ceremonies |
| Terzakis Michael | Grand Master of Ceremonies. |