
                  SOUND NO UNCERTAIN TRUMPET

                   C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33 
                  Sovereign Grand Commander


   ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1991, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 
a trumpet was sounded. It did not waiver or wane. It was 
clear and certain. It was a call to action which I am 
confident will be answered by many, even thousands as the 
years progress. 

   On that historic day, at the requests, respectively, of 
Ill Jiri (George) Syllaba, 33, and Ill Zoren Nenezic, 33, 
I was honored to conduct a ceremony of restoration for The 
Supreme Councils, 33, of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. 
Emotion ran so high that even now I find it hard to describe 
the scene. 

   Nearly 100 Brethren gathered at the ancient and beautiful 
Convent of St. Agnes in Prague. Each had made an effort to 
attend, for times are hard in these two countries only 
recently liberated from Soviet domination and struggling 
toward economic and political stability. In the case of the 
Yugoslavian Brethren, they came despite the real danger posed 
by the brutal civil strife afflicting their country. 

   But they came, greeting each other with warm embraces and 
sincere affection. Most knew each other. For decades past, 
they had sustained, discreetly and privately, their devotion 
to Freemasonry, to freedom, and to the ideal that only 
through liberty can a man fulfill his highest potential. 
Glad, at last, to be free of the yoke of Communism, they came 
to Prague ready to greet a new dawn for themselves, their 
countries, and their Craft. 

   Curiously, perhaps significantly, for the first two days 
the American Masonic delegation and I were in Prague, the 
weather was rainy and overcast. On the day before the 
ceremony of reestablishment, we went through dreary streets 
to Prague's Hradcany Castle to extend our official greetings, 
through the Chancellor of the Czech government, to President 
Vaclav Havel whose father was a well-known Freemason. 

   Yet on the day of the rekindling of Scottish Rite in 
Eastern Europe, the dawn was clear, and by that afternoon at 
2:30 when the ceremony began, this new day for international 
Freemasonry was bright and invigorating. The assembled 
Brothers, in fact, reflected this circumstance, for on 
average the Brethren and officers of the new Yugoslav Supreme 
Councils are relatively young men, talented professionals, 
such as teachers and doctors, men who can make a difference 
for the better - and will! 

   In attendance for this momentous occasion were: Ill Lauri 
Sarkia, Sov Gr Cmdr of Finland; Ill Elvio Sciubba, 33, 
GC, Past Sov Gr Cmdr of Italy; R W Hugh Black, 33, 
Grand Master, and Ill Jess Minton, Grand Secretary, of the 
American Canadian Grand Lodge; Ill Robert W. Woodward, 
Deputy, NATO Bodies; Ill Arthur L. Kile, Orient Personal 
Representative, NATO Bodies; and Bro Arnold Hermann, 32, 
KCCH, as well as the new Sovereign Grand Commanders and 
Active Members to be installed as officers in the restored 
Supreme Councils of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. 

   Once all were assembled, the dramatic ceremony was 
conducted with great dignity and beauty, so much so that many 
shed tears of joy. A particularly moving moment came when I 
presented to the assembled Brethren a legacy from the past 
which had been prepared during World War II by Ill Felix A. 
Lenhart, 33, an Active Member of The Supreme Council, 33, 
of Czechoslovakia. Seeing that the freedom of his beloved 
homeland and, therefore, the existence of Scottish Rite 
Freemasonry were threatened by the forces of tyranny, Ill 
Lenhart prepared a full-text translation of our Scottish Rite 
Degrees into the Czech language and in the mid-1960s placed 
these documents for safekeeping in the Archives of The 
Supreme Council, 33, in Washington, D.C. Ill Lenhart's 
foresight assured the survival of this portion of 
Czechoslovakian Scottish Rite, and it was with great emotion 
and a realization of the significance of this historic tie 
between our Supreme Councils that I returned this legacy to 
the hands of Ill Jiri Syllaba, 33, Sovereign Grand 
Commander of the now restored Supreme Council of 
Czechoslovakia. 

   At the end of the ceremony, each of the participants was 
given the opportunity to share his thoughts. At this point, 
I, too, expressed my feelings, and I would like to close this 
historic and heartfelt message by sharing with the readers of 
The Scottish Rite Journal my words to the officers of the 
restored Supreme Councils, 33, of Czechoslovakia and 
Yugoslavia: 

  "Dear Brethren, never have I been more confident of the 
importance of Freemasonry than today. For four decades, 
nearly two generations, the people of Eastern Europe and, in 
particular, of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, have been 
subject to Russian tyranny. Strangled by foreign political 
oppression and the economic stagnation of the Communist 
system, you, my Brethren, survived. You preserved the flame 
of Freemasonry. In the dark of oppression, often meeting in 
secret, you sustained our Fraternity and looked with hope to 
a brighter future. 

  "My Brothers, that future has arrived. The light of freedom 
bursts forth, and you are here, today, in Prague to feed that 
flame. You bring the light of your personal perseverance to 
the Light of Freemasonry. It grows bright. It brings with it 
the promise of abundant growth and great accomplishments. 

  "The Supreme Council, 33, of the Scottish Rite of 
Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, USA, is proud to have 
assisted you in this epic achievement. We moved quickly to 
encourage recognition by the Grand Lodges of America of your 
reconstituted Czechoslovakian and Yugoslavian Grand Lodges. 
We are here now to advance you even more by opening to you 
our Scottish Rite ranks. United in mutual support, we can 
institute a new era in the history of world Freemasonry. We 
are, together, founders of a unique Fraternal harmony that 
will never falter. 

  "I am proud, my Brothers, to be with you at this fresh dawn 
of Masonic Light. May the rays of freedom and Freemasonry 
burn brighter than ever before. And may you, the guardians of 
the Light of our Fraternity for so many years, be the bearers 
of Freemasonry's precious flame to your countrymen today and 
for generations yet to come!" 

