Speech of Sovereign Grand Commander for Latvia 

Dear Brethren!
 
I would like to congratulate you on an historical event, that of the establishment of the Supreme Council 33° in Latvia of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

As Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Latvia, I wish to express my thanks to the Supreme Council of Germany in its role as the organizer of this historic achievement and the additional support of the Supreme Council of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the Supreme Council of FranceThe stage that we have reached today has involved a journey of more than a decade. It started with the renewal of Freemasonry in Latvia by the bringing the light of Freemasonry into our Temple in 1996, more than 11 years ago. Today we have reached a new milestone that is beyond that was in Latvia before Freemasonry was snuffed out during the Soviet era. 

11 years is not a very long time. Yet much has been accomplished during this period. Occasionally we seem not to have had time to take a break and reflect upon our progress. But the brisk pace of Masonic developments in Latvia has taught us to make decisions on a timely basis and take responsibility for them. I would therefore like to reiterate our thanks to our German brethren in particular for their long standing support, advice and tolerance in our joint effort in the path towards development of our skills in the Royal Art.

I would like to especially thank our dear Brethren from Bremen, who were the first to help us in our path in the Craft, and who also made possible our first steps in the Scottish Rite. I would also like to especially thank our Brethren from Berlin, where a number of us were privileged to reach the higher degrees in the Scottish Rite. I would also like to thank the Latvian Brethren with whom the path to this day was started briefly before the turn of the century. 

In the path of learning the Royal Art, we have received much: much advice and assistance from abroad, firstly and foremost from our German Brethren. The Grand Architect of the Universe has bestowed his kindness upon us, allowing us to advance quickly to the upper reaches of Masonry.

But as it is sometimes said, ‘from he who receives much, much is expected'. This I wish to express to my Latvian Brethren. To my non-Latvian Brethren visitors I say: We have been granted much, but we hope to give much to Freemasonry in its continued development. 

This day – October, 13 – is a special historic day. It has been precisely 700 years ago in history that the Templars, by order of Philip the Fair, King of France, were surprised and arrested in the darkness of the night. Since that time this day has been considered as a day of complete defeat of Templars and the date 13 has been regarded as the „black day”. Symbolically – today it is Saturday. A new day has started in the construction of the Temple.