Based in Athens, Alexandros Modiano is our latest Local Secretary. He was Initiated, Passed and Raised (1993) in the Lodge La Tradition Française #125 in Athens (Grand Lodge of Greece), and subsequently served as Master of the Lodge (2003-2005, 2011-2013). He served as a Grand Inspector, Grand Lodge of Greece, from 2014-2015.
Alexandros is also a member of lodges external to Greece including Lodge of Israel #205 in London (United Grand Lodge of England); Stability-Concorde #29/42 in Paris (Grande Loge Nationale Française); and Montefiore Lodge #78 (an Installed Masters Lodge) in Tel Aviv (Grand Lodge of the State of Israel). He is active in the York Rite and Scottish Rite, and is presently Grand Archivist/Grand Historian and TPM of the Research Lodge of Perfection Aletheia in the Supreme Council for Greece.
Alexandros can be reached at alexandros.modiano@gmail.com.
Welcome to Dr Amiram Porath, our new Local Secretary for Israel. Amiram was initiated into freemasonry at Kadima Lodge, No. 34, in September 2008, becoming Master of the Lodge in April 2012. He is active in Royal Arch and Scottish Rite, and has held several positions in the Grand Lodge of Israel.
Amiram was educated at the Israeli Technology Institute and Tel Aviv University, where he read for a PhD in Management. He has over twenty years’ experience in technological business development and innovation management.
Amiram can be contacted at amirampster@gmail.com.
A Mason since 2017, Angel Lee Guerra relocated from New York to Great Falls, Montana, in 2015 and currently works in the medical field. Recently a photograph of Brother Angel was featured on a promotional postcard for the new Masonic board game, “On the Square, the First Three Degrees,” which was reported on in the Scottish Rite Journal’s September–October 2020 issue (published by the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, SJ). In his spare time, Angel enjoys studying the various orders of Freemasonry in the US and overseas, as well as enjoying family time. He can be contacted at qcccmt@gmail.com.
Welcome to Carlos M. Barreto Coreano. Carlos was born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico (2000) and has since completed two MSc degrees in Aeronautics (MSA), Aviation Aerospace Safety System, and Aviation Aerospace Management from the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (2014). Carlos works as an Air Traffic Controller at Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci International Airport (SIG) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Bro. Barreto was raised in 2008 and is a Past Master (2014-2016) and current Historian of the Respetable Logia Centenaria Obreros del Progreso No. 63 within the jurisdiction of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of F&AM. of Puerto Rico. He serves as the Grand Instructor for the Grand Lodge’s 10th District. He was also a founding member of the Al Rai’e Saleh Shriners Temple. He is currently the Personal Representative of the Grand Commander and Sovereign Grand Inspector General of Puerto Rico for the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, US. Bro. Carlos is also a member of the Scottish Rite Research Society, the Grand College of Rites, and the Philalethes Society.
Bro. Carlos can be contacted at barreto.carlosm@gmail.com.
Royal Mail postal services are now largely back to normal and we believe that all or virtually all our UK subscribers have received their copies of AQC. Deliveries to Europe were badly impacted following the announcement from the French government that all air, road, ferry and train travel from the UK to France would be suspended pending COVID testing etc. but these are now back on track. Unfortunately, although packages destined for Europe were mailed out in December, pre-Brexit, some European Customs officials – not least those in Denmark – have demanded Customs Declarations, notwithstanding that books (and other items valued at £30/Eur40) are free of Customs Duty and VAT.
Despite delays to trans-Atlantic traffic, our deliveries are now being received in the US and Canada. Our couriers have also delivered in bulk to Latin America for onward mailing. And we have been informed copies of AQC have received by our members in Asia.
We all hope next year will be less problematic!
Welcome to Brother Marty Cusing. During his early career, Marty was involved in clinical research and therapy in the field of Gerontology and dementia for the Stanford University Department of Psychology, the Veteran’s Affairs Older Adult and Family Center, and the NASA AMES Research Center. He now owns and operates investments in residential and commercial real estate.
Marty is a past master of Burlingame Lodge No. 400 in Burlingame, California, and currently serves as the Personal Representative of the Sovereign Grand Inspector General of California, Valley of Burlingame, for the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction. He also serves as Inspector and Assistant Director of Ritual for various York Rite bodies in California.
Marty can be contacted at martycusing@gmail.com.
Royal Mail announced yesterday that deliveries to Europe have been suspended temporarily:
Following the announcement from the French government to restrict air, road, ferry and train travel from the UK to France from 24:00 December 20 for 48 hours, Royal Mail has temporarily suspended services to Europe other than to the Republic of Ireland. This is a rapidly moving situation and our distribution agents are monitoring the position constantly. They are working to keep as many international mail services running as is possible given the current restrictions around air, road, ferry and train movements. Items already in transit will be processed. Items ready for dispatch will be held temporarily until mail services resume and they are able to reach the relevant destinations. Delays are also occurring to international destinations outside Europe as air capacity has become limited as a result of flight restrictions. Normal distribution services will recommence as soon as possible once restrictions have been lifted.
Welcome to Konstantin Rubakhin, our most recent Local Secretary for the Baltic area. Konstantin is based in Riga, Latvia, where he is developing a Museum of Freemasonry. He is a graduate from the Department of Journalism at Voronezh State University and from the postgraduate training programme at the Social Philosophy Department of Saint Petersburg State University.
Masonically, Konstantin is a MM of Lodge Renaissance, No. 2, Grand Lodge of Lithuania. He can be contacted at kr@masonicmuseum.eu.
AQC 133 has been printed, bound, and is in transit to Lewis Masonic, who will be packing and mailing this year’s volume. The past few months have been difficult for obvious reasons and we are running around ten days behind our normal schedule. Although copies will be mailed out this side of Christmas, with postal volumes high in mid-December it is possible, if not probable, that subscribers may not receive their copy of AQC until late December or in the New Year. We are sorry for the slight delay.
We have an exciting and varied lecture programme for next year, as well as the publication of our latest QC book – Freemasonry on the Frontier. We will be writing to members in January with more details. In the meantime, we wish you and your family a Happy Christmas and a healthy and happy New Year.
Erich Morgan Huhn is a PhD student in History & Culture at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. His research focuses on the historical role of membership as a ‘placing marker’ within society, with a particular interest in the history of Freemasonry in the English-speaking world.
Erich’s upcoming capstone paper will examine the role music has played in Masonic culture. Erich has presented on various Masonic topics, collects rare Masonic texts, and in 2019 published New Jersey’s Masonic Lodges, which provides a photo guide analysis of the development of Masonic architecture from the Colonial period to the present. Erich was raised as a Master Mason in November 2013 and is active within New Jersey Lodge of Research and Education, No. 1786. He has also participated in QC’s North American Conferences, most recently in Alexandria.
Erich can be contacted at erichmhuhn@gmail.com.
