SUMMARY

SECRETS AND OATHS

Freemasonry, as defined in this work, is the teaching of a way of life based upon
traditions found within the ancient builder’s guilds. As a prerequisite for
membership it requires a belief in Deity and strives to provide spiritual building
elements for men who are interested in self-development. Freemasonry uses old
ceremonies and rituals as a means of teaching and attempts to maintain their
effectiveness by keeping them secret.
Builder’s guilds or operative lodges with a mixed membership consisting of
both professional builders and other individuals have existed with certainty
within the British Isles from the year 1600. Developing from these communities
were the speculative lodges in which discussions were held regarding subjects
relating to the building profession as well as issues relating to man’s develop-
ment and at the same time endeavoring to practice charitable work. In 1717 a
Grand Lodge was founded in London which sanctioned a Presbyterian priest,
Father James Anderson, to undertake the task of preparing a constitution based
on rules, regulations and ethical guidelines of the ancient building guilds. The
Anderson Constitution was published in 1723 though the backing of theology
doctor Theofilus Desagulier, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of London.
This created the basic concept of a moral-philosophical architecture on which to
build.
Since 1686 Freemasonry has off and on been accused and deemed respon-
sible for conspiracies and plots against governments as well as being anti-Christ
and hostile to the church. We can say that already at its birth, the cradle of
Freemasonry was rocked hard. In Finland as well, Freemasonry has traveled
through similar difficulties. The first Freemason’s lodge began its operation in
Finland at the end of the 1750’s and was already presented with a powerful
critique directed at the ideologies and operation of Freemasonry by the diocesan
synod meeting held in Porvoo in 1769.
This work attempts to explain how the time-to-time extreme and often
intense pressure formed in the media has come about and why Freemasons in
Finland have experienced, in what is my opinion, unfair treatment. Also
examined are the questions of how Freemasons themselves have reacted and
have been able to affect this situation and how Freemasons have acted as
members of society in general. The answers to these questions are sought after
from various circles of society as well as from Freemasons and aims to clarify
those influences, which throughout the centuries have struck a damaging mark
on the fraternity.

364 SUMMARY
 Ignited by the age of enlightenment, the all around religious Freemasonry
spread rapidly throughout England and almost simultaneously across the
European continent and onward to the overseas colonies proclaiming the ideals
of freedom of speech and thought as well as brotherhood and humanity. In
France it was especially well received taking on a strict Christian form before
traveling on to Sweden. In Sweden, the first lodge was founded in 1735. The
ground proved to be fruitful and the beginning was made easy as a number of
persons of royal birth were counted among its members. In 1756 a lodge was
founded in Finland. Impetus for this came from work being carried out at the
Viapori Fortress near Helsinki and its garrison. The Finnish St. Johannes Lodge
named St. Augustin operated partly in Stockholm and partly in Turku but later
on mainly in Helsinki. Throughout its entire period of operation the lodge had
460 members consisting of officers 60.6%, legal representatives 12.6%, civil
servants 8.9% and priests 2.8%.
During the operation of the St. Augustin Lodge there were numerous other
secret societies working in Finland which over time have become associated
with Freemasonry through Finnish folklore. Still one hundred years after their
cessation they rise out of the past to cast an extraordinary shadow over
Freemasonry.
As a result of Swedish war losses Finland was joined to Russia in 1809. The
St. Augustin Lodge remained in operation up until 1808 but was only officially
suspended by the Grand Master in 1813. The Russian Czar’s attitude towards
Freemasonry was loyal at the beginning but gradually became more and more
suspicious. The formal injunction on secret societies proclaimed in the years
1822, 1826, and 1848 prohibited Freemasonry throughout entire Russia and
Finland as well.
In 1919 several Finnish immigrants to America set about establishing a
Lodge of Freemasons in the newly independent Finland. Especially active were
Toivo H. Nekton, a lawyer and J.E. Toukola an engineer working in cooperation
with the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, Arthur S. Thompkins.
The restoration of Freemasonry in Finland can be seen as an act of rappro-
chement between the peoples of Finland and the United States of America.
Finland’s independence directly resulted in the founding of Suomi Lodge
No. 1 on the 22nd of August 1922. The 27 men accepted as members came from
the upper social level of society and included Jean Sibelius, several influential
administrators and businessmen, as well as ministers and ambassadors. In 1923
Tammer Lodge was founded in Tampere and Phoenix Lodge in Turku. The
Grand Lodge of Finland was founded in 1924 and by 1939 there were 407
members and 38 foreign Grand Lodges had recognized (approved) the Grand
Lodge of Finland’s sovereignty.
The rekindling of Freemasonry in Finland could perhaps have been more
naturally expected through the aid of Grand Lodges from neighboring western
countries but as Finnish interest was directed mainly towards Denmark,
England and the United States of America cooperation with the Grand Lodge of
Sweden was not productive. At the time Freemasonry was still highly esteemed

SUMMARY 365
in Sweden as the King of Sweden was serving as the Grand Master. The Grand
Lodge of Sweden revitalized the St. Augustin Lodge, which began anew in Hel-
sinki.
The newly begun journey of Finnish Freemasonry during the 1920’s
progressed in a positive way but the arrival of the teachings of the “New World
Order” from Germany stuck its thorns into Freemasonry remorselessly. In this
recently made independent country Freemasonry was gradually placed as the
obverse to aims of patriotism, to national heritage and to the young independent
church. When Freemasonry was claimed to be on the side of international
Zionists, fanatical patriots began to see it as a threat to both freedom and Finnish
culture.
Freemasonry in Finland received a terrible blow when mutilated body parts
were found by accident at Tattarisuo near Helsinki in the early fall of 1930.
Suspected were medical students who perhaps required body parts for their
studies or Freemasons as they were claimed to use body parts in their ritual
ceremonies. The medical students were soon eliminated as suspects but
Freemasons remained in the headlines for almost two years even though not
even a bit of proof was ever presented. It was finally proven in August of 1932
that the murderers were four insane individuals who believed in the super-
natural and had received from “above” the instruction to do the mutilations. The
guilty were sent to prison for various sentences but the campaign against
Freemasonry carried out in the press had left a permanent shadow hanging over
Finnish Freemasonry.
The St. Augustin Lodge in Helsinki could count a large number of military
officers among its members but in the beginning of the 1930’s there were only
22 officers in Finnish Lodges. In connection with the incident at Tattarisuo it
was publicly debated whether or not it was appropriate for someone who has
given an oath of Freemasonry to serve as a military officer. The debate resulted
in having the issue brought before the League of Military Officers in the spring
of 1931. A district captain for the home guard, Lieutenant Colonel Paavo Susi-
taival, presented a statement where the League of Military Officers considered
it improper for Finnish military officers to belong to a lodge of Freemasons. The
handling of the matter took a long time and led to a letter from the Chief of the
Military Forces, Hugo Österman, forbidding his subordinates to belong to
Freemason lodges. Following this ban 18 officers and 2 civilians as well as
officers from the Swedish Lodges were granted exemption from their member-
ship.
During the 1930’s the third attack on Finnish Freemasonry came from the
church. The diocesan synod meeting held in Viipuri in autumn 1932 and the
church assembly the following spring of 1933 also greatly considered the issue
of whether it was appropriate for a servant of the church to belong to a
Freemason lodge. Many priests and parish deacons considered Freemasonry to
be an anti-Christian belief and claimed the oaths to be in opposition to the Bible.
An amendment to the existing Church Law was proposed which would forbid
membership in the order. Though this decision was never actually carried out

366 SUMMARY
the public debate surrounding the issue once again placed Freemasonry into a
bad light.
The political extremes of Germany during the 1930’s were model examples
of the anti-Freemasonry front. The Academic Karelian Society, the Lapua
Movement, the Citizen Patriots, the Viitasaari Patriot Society as well as other
national socialist organizations continuously kept the question of Freemasonry
open by publishing the names of Freemasons and by the financing of anti-
Freemasonry printed material.
In autumn of 1939 there were five lodges operating under the Grand Lodge of
Finland of which one of the lodges was Swedish speaking. Altogether the
members accounted for 407 men. Membership in the Swedish lodges was
somewhat higher. Bitter persecution caused not only military officers to resign
membership but other non-military members as well. The operation of lodges
became somewhat paralyzed, members became passive and new members were
not to be found. Active Freemasons under the Grand Lodge of Finland was
down to 278 by the beginning of the Winter War.
The decade ended as Member of Parliament, Lieutenant Colonel Paavo Susi-
taipale, introduced a motion, which aimed at banning Freemasonry activity in
Finland by law. The motion was never passed and it was thrown out without
discussion on the 23rd of April 1940.
When President Kyösti Kallio left office on the 27th of November 1939 the
Finnish Parliament approved a deviation rule concerning presidential elections;
the strongest candidate was the Prime Minister Risto Ryti who was a member of
Suomi Lodge No. 1. Finnish Freemasons were very concerned about foreign
politics and its effects on Freemasonry in Finland. Since the German position on
Freemasonry was known to be opposing it was feared that the situation could be
seen as though Freemason Lodges in Finland were provoking foreign political
operation.
Prime Minister Ryti suggested in his discussions with other Freemasons that
at some particular political time in the future interruption of Freemasonry
activity could have desirable effects for the country and possibly could be even
considered essential. He emphasized that any motion for interruption should
come from Freemasons themselves. Otherwise the situation could be inter-
preted by the Americans as being an imposed sanction and therefore very
insulting while the interruption of Swedish Freemasonry would be seen as a
direct insult to the King of Sweden himself as he was the Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Sweden. Acting in complete agreement with the Finnish
government, both Freemasonry organizations’ high command interrupted all
activities at the beginning of 1941. When Ryti was elected President of the Fin-
nish Republic the Finnish Freemasons no longer maintained their relationship
with him.
During the World War II only the small elements of the Finnish national
socialists continued to spread hatred for Jews and carry out anti-Freemasonry
activity. The war ended for Finland on the 4th of September 1944 and already by
late fall of the same year planning for resuming activity was taking place. Due

SUMMARY 367
to the unavailability of the Grand Master, the Assistant Grand Master and the
Deputy Grand Masters operation could only be started by spring of 1945. It
wasn’t an easy task. The lodge meeting facilities had been given up, parts of the
furnishings were lost and lodge assets had been donated to charity.
Connected with the ending of the war was an interesting phase, which as such
had no direct implications to Freemasonry; the war criminal trials which
included three Freemasons: Risto Ryti as the accused, Toivo Tarjanne as the
prosecuting attorney, and Hjalmar Procope as the defense attorney. The trial
was not effected by their membership in Freemasonry and Toivo Tarjanne was
later to be elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Finland.
The 1950’s and 1960’s were periods of enthusiastic building and the Freema-
sonry movement in Finland was able to develop in peace until the later part of
the 1970’s. By the middle of the decade there were altogether 75 lodges
operating in the country. Gradually there began to appear newspaper articles in
which Freemasons were suspected and accused of cronyism and once again the
debate began concerning Freemasonry oaths and the law of the land and also
attention was given to the claim that the rituals were anti-religious. Sensational
articles were written containing suspicions and rumors, as well as claims from
earlier published material. Pictures and drawings from foreign street magazines
were used as illustrations.
Publicity in the 1980’s became almost a complete repetition of the 1930’s for
Freemasonry in Finland. The P2 scandal in Italy brought Freemasonry to the
forefront of the media and even though the P2 lodge was not an approved lodge
of Freemasons it was used as an example for discussions regarding the
suitability of Freemasonry in modern society. With the ambiguity of the
circumstances surrounding the construction of the Helsinki Metro this subject
became emphasized and exaggerated. The Metro administration and manage-
ment was placed on trial charged with misconduct and bribery. Accused were
50 persons among them 2 Freemasons. One of the Freemasons received a
sentence. When the media discovered that the sitting judge was himself a
Freemason the press developed an entire series on the “great trial of Freema-
sonry” and used a good deal of other collected filler material on Freemasonry.
During the years of 1981–90 there were 1411 articles published on Freema-
sonry of which 595 were negative, 633 news items, 56 groundless and irrelevant
and only 127 positive. Subjects other than the Metro trial and the P2 scandal
were municipal politics, the Freemasonry oath in relation to oath of office, the
issue of non-public Freemason membership lists, church and religious questions as
well as general accusations and slander. The electronic media also presented
news on Freemasonry but they handled it in a much more professional way than
did the press. As the result of a libelous article on Freemasons published in Seu-
ra magazine, journalist Eeropekka Rislakki received a 6 month conditional
prison sentence; no other sentences were handed down to journalists. The
Grand Lodge of Finland sent out only 2 corrections during the entire 10 year
period as they had found out earlier that the media was unwilling to publish
them and that the opinion was that responding to false accusations was
generally considered to be unnecessary.

368 SUMMARY
 Queries surrounding Freemasonry were introduced several times in the
parliament during the 1980’s. The most active of those submitting inquiries and
motions were members of the Finnish Left, Heli Astala and Paula Eenilä and the
representatives of the small Finnish Rural Party, Heikki Rinne and Sulo
Aittoniemi. Each of the respective Minister of Justice’s responses to the
inquiries emphasized that Freemasonry in Finland is a controlled civic activity
based on Finnish Law and that nothing has ever been demonstrated which
would present cause for intervention in its activities.
A discussion within church circles initiated from the Oulu diocese meeting in
autumn of 1981. Anti-Freemasonry addresses presented at the meeting forced
Finnish Freemasons to find an open forum for discussions with representatives
of the church. These discussions led to an examination directed by the Church
Research Center. Theology Doctor Harri Heino’s first research report,
“Freemasonry and Chrisianity”, opened understanding of the religious beliefs
of Freemasons and demonstrated that Freemasonry is not a religion or an insti-
tution competing with the church. Doctor Heino continued his research and
again published a report in 1995 entitled, “What Does A Freemason Believe?”.
The report examines the values of Finnish Freemasons, their ethics and their
faith. It demonstrated that Finnish Freemasons deeply respect both Christian
and societal values more than Finnish men of the same age do in general.
When comparing the pressure placed on Freemasonry during the 1930’s with
the events of the 1980’s one can find a good deal of similarity. Despite the rapid
rise in general knowledge and the explosive development of the media the
prevention and control of prejudices and negative attitudes continued to be
extremely difficult. Within the media some continued to seek financial gain and
sensationalism, certain church circles still had considerable distrust and
suspicion, and some politicians seemed to grab anything which might help them
to build a political career; these remained everyday occurrences but they were
unpleasant events for Freemasons.
One important difference from the 1930’s has to be said: the Finnish military
establishment did not present a single suspicion or accusation against Freema-
sonry during the entire period of sensationalism of the 1980’s. Freemason
military officers had convincingly shown that patriotic overall well being and
defending one’s country were every Freemasons absolute duty.
The two most forefront issues of the conflict between Freemasonry and Fin-
nish society described in this work are “secrets and oaths”, the secrecy of the
rituals of Freemasonry and the oaths of silence which are given in order to
ensure their perpetuation and effectiveness. Disharmony between the more
openly developing society and the supposed Freemasons’ secret society of old
conventions and traditions is still present despite the fact that Freemasons have
been more visible in the media than ever before. Despite the abundant amount
of material generated by the Finnish media it has not been able to clarify
understanding of the organization but has even made the subject more
confusing. Since Freemasons do not have an equal opportunity to rectify on
their behalf an understanding of their values and activities, the situation has not
been corrected.

SUMMARY 369
 In the mind of the Freemason, their promise (obligation) should not be
expressed by using the term “oath”, as an oath binds its giver outwardly,
towards other individuals whereas the obligation of Freemasonry is a promise to
oneself. The obligation of Freemasonry does not conflict with an oath of office
or a military oath. Open discussion on this subject has been effected by claims
from the media that in addition to the ritual there exist other things that are also
considered secret. A good deal of attention has been given to the claim that
Freemasons pledge in their obligation to submit to terrible punishment should
the obligation be broken. The Finnish legal authorities previously mentioned
have not found any basis for these charges.
Like the claim concerning the Freemasonry obligation, the issues
surrounding the rituals are still open despite the fact that discussions about the
rituals have become more candid. The media has been reluctant to accept the
explanation that the secret is such that one must undergo the ritual in order to
understand what it is, and it becomes exposed only through one’s own
experience. Therefore, it cannot be published in printed material nor presented
in a play or television performance.
Research shows that Freemasonry in Finland has become the final bogeyman
used to frighten the citizens of a society seeking the intimacy and the protection
of minorities and, moreover, this slander and abuse has gone unpunished. It has
been impossible for Freemasons to maintain balance or defend themselves from
this media crossfire. The most ferocious combatant of Freemasonry, Paavo
Susitaival, declared in 1932 that “Freemasons have partially admitted or at the
very least, by not disputing, allowed public claims that they demand their
members to swear oaths containing the threat of death”. In 1985 a journalist
from Savonlinna announced that “the slandered and the defamed make it easier
on themselves by not demanding redress to their honor because the press will
write what it wants to anyway”. Silence has been interpreted to mean that the
claims are true while defense and redress is seen as an admission of guilt.
The creation of outsider’s attitudes has been greatly affected by the Freema-
son’s reluctance to a larger openness. Research shows that openness is
gradually improving due to pressure from society over the past decade. A total
American-like public exposure for Finnish Freemasonry remains a long ways
away.
During the process of clarifying the reasons for this conflict the motives for
joining a Lodge of Freemasons, the age structure of its membership, the
distribution of professions, the basis of education, the ethics and religious
values as well as Freemason activities in society have also been researched. The
most important motive for joining is considered to be the need for self-
improvement and for expanding one’s circle of friends; the secrecy associated
with Freemasonry or the possible potential financial advantages arising from
joining the organization mean very little to candidates or even long term
members. The age of joining as well as the median age of its members has
continuously risen; the current joining age is on the average 42,2 and the medi-
an member age is 52,3. The general professions are managing director,

370 SUMMARY
engineer, doctor, lawyer, bank director, school dean or teacher, sales manager,
forester, and architect. 59,8% of its members are found within the 25 most
general professions. The research shows that 54,1% have an academic degree
from an institution of higher education and 32,2% are university or college
level. Out of the entire male population of age 24 years and above the
corresponding figures are 12,5 % and 43 %.
The Finnish fraternity of Freemasonry has developed admirably despite all
adversity and setback; there have been many that have found a wealth of
knowledge contained in Freemasonry and have reinforced the values of the
organization and have deeply absorbed the teachings. Supplementing their
work have been good builders, organizers and leaders. Since 1922, about 12000
men have joined Finnish Freemasonry lodges, in 1996 the total membership
was greater than 7000.

Translated by Louis Handley

SUMMARY 371