From Ukraine with (Brotherly) Love

e Grand Master has many roles to ll during his year in the Grand East. One of those roles is as the Head of State, representing all the Masons in his district when he travels. And when he travels, he usually takes gis to pay respects to those he meets on these ocial visits – a gesture his counterparts oen reciprocate. (Conversely, the same is true when other ocials visit the Grand Master in his home district.) is is a longstanding tradition in not only Freemasonry, but in diplomacy in general. And as such, the Grand Lodge of Washington, D.C. has an extensive collection of gis that have been presented to Grand Masters dating back to our rst Grand Master, Valentine Reintzel in 1811.

Pictured here is an apron presented to Most Worshipful Kenneth D. Fuller, Grand Master of Masons in the District of Columbia, from R.W. Anatoli Dimchuck, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of the Ukraine. e leather apron is hand tooled and decorated, and its case, as pictured, has been custom made to t it.

If you’d like to see the apron in person, this gi and many others like it can be seen in our Grand Lodge museum, located at the Grand Lodge oces on MacArthur Blvd in Northwest D.C., which is open to the public, Monday through Friday, from 10am to 3pm. 