Short History of UGLB
Freemasonry came to Bulgaria when the Grand Lodge of Yugoslavia consecrated the Lodges “Sgovor”, “Svetlina” (A) and “Zarya” and on the 5th December 1992, these Lodges together founded the Grand Lodge of Bulgaria.
Because of some unfortunate disputes within the Grand Lodge of Yugoslavia, it decided to expell certain members and re-named itself the Regular Grand Lodge “Yugoslavia”, currently Regular Grand Lodge of Serbia.
In 1994, the United Grand Lodges of Germany consecrated the Lodges “Zora”, “Svetlina” (B), and “Serdika” and on 20th September 1997, the United Grand Lodges of Germany founded the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Bulgaria
This left the unsatisfactory situation of two regular but rival Grand Lodges in Bulgaria, which was finally resolved on the 23rd of April 2001, when Articles of Union were formally agreed by and signed by the two Grand Masters, MW Bro Yanko Bonev of the Grand Lodge of Bulgaria and MW Bro Borislav Sarandev of the Grand Lodge AF & AM. of Bulgaria, and thus they united under the name Grand Lodge A. F. & A. M. of Bulgaria.
Unfortunately, in November 2000, upon the election of MW Bro. Borislav Sarandev in Sofia, a breakaway group who were in disagreement with the result of the election, left the Grand Lodge and proclaimed themselves “Grand Lodge AFAM in Bulgaria”. This group was considered irregular, spurious, and in no way a Grand Lodge.
On 10th March 2004 the United Grand Lodge of England resolved its recognition to the united Grand Lodge AF & AM of Bulgaria.
During the Annual Communication on the 26th of November 2004 the name United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria was naturally adopted, which solved the confusion with the name of our Grand Lodge and which therefore distinguished Regular Freemasonry within our Grand Jurisdiction.
However, sometime after this, a number of the breakaway Brethren and indeed entire Lodges expressed their desire to rejoin regular Freemasonry.
On the 20th of June 2015, the United Grand Lodge of Bulgaria achieved its longstanding ambition to consolidate Freemasonry in Bulgaria. This process was completed after the official dissolution of the irregular breakaway group of Masons who had expressed a strong desire to return to the folds of regular masonry. It was done under strict rules and the presence of a number of Grand Masters from other Grand Lodges. Currently 4197 Masonsare working within 126 Lodges practicing Masonry in the spirit of Brotherhood and harmony under the Gavel of the current Grand Master of UGLB, MW Bro Iskren Yotov.
To this day, the doors of our Temple are open to everyone who seeks to join or re-join the chain of regular Freemasonry.