Anders Behring Breivik – the biggest individual mass murderer in Europe since WW II – was a Freemason and a Knight Templar and immensely proud of it.
- He presents pictures of himself in full Freemason regalia.
- His manifesto prominently carries the image of the cross of the Knights Templar.
- He was a member of John Lodge St. Olaus TD Three pillars of the Norwegian Masonic Order. He has the status of the 3rd degree, where the highest order is the 10th degree.
- He styles himself Justiciar Knight Commander, Knights Templar Europe, Knights Templar Norway.
I have always thought of modern Freemasonry as being just another club (albeit an exclusive and secretive club) where the members (Brothers) are charged with providing help and succour to other brethren. Probably for most members that is all it is. Even as a child I was often perplexed by my father’s secrecy over his own membership but also intrigued by the regalia that he and his fellow “Worshipful Brothers” wore. But it never seemed to be anything more than an exclusive club.
But perhaps Freemasonry is more than just another club. Perhaps the extent of the help to be provided between masonic brothers is considered to be above the Law. That would then be somewhat more than one would expect between members of an exclusive country club.
Image via Wikipedia
In all the media coverage of this demented man, there is much written about his being a Christian Fundamentalist, a hater of muslims and a right -wing fanatic but there is remarkably little about his membership of the Freemasons. But I would have expected that his “club memberships” and all his contacts and fellow members would have been the subject of intense media scrutiny (and also police scrutiny but I would expect that to be secret). If this had been in the UK where many senior police officers are known to be Freemasons (with the suspicion that to get to be a senior officer a policeman must be a Freemason), I might have suspected some “cover-up” or at least some down-playing of the masonic connections.
It is only in the recent Murdoch / News Corp hacking scandal in the UK that it has become apparent that some senior newspaper figures were also Freemasons and enjoyed a very cozy relationship with their fellow masons in the Police.
Main lodge building (stamhus) of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons in the centre of Oslo: Wikipedia
The Norwegian Order of Freemasons (Norwegian: Den Norske Frimurerorden) is the Masonic Grand Lodge in Norway. The first lodge (St. Olai Lodge – Later changed to Lodge St. Olaus to the white Leopard) was opened in 1749 and is still working. The Grand Lodge has followed the Swedish Rite since 1818, which requires its members to adhere to Christianity. During the union of Sweden-Norway, the Swedish-Norwegian king was Grand Master of the Order. The sovereign Grand Lodge of Norway was consecrated in 1891. As of 2009, the Order has about 20,000 members.
Perhaps it is not relevant but the lack of mainstream media interest in Anders Behring Breivik’s Freemasonry connections does seem exceedingly strange.
Tags: Anders Behring Breivik, Freemasonry, Justiciar Knight Commander, Knight Templar, mass murder, Norway
The k2p blog 
July 25, 2011 at 3:52 am
I cannot help but feel ( I don’t condone freemasonry, I have denied the opportunites to join myself) that the freemasons have been set up.
This is so egregious that they may be outlawed in Norway
This has very complex dynamics
July 25, 2011 at 4:29 am
He’s a freemason, not a Knights Templar. You don’t automatically become both. Furthermore, he’s been expelled from freemasonry. Go to the grand lodge of Norway’s page (linked on wikipedia).
It’s of Zero relevance. He’s a right wing zelot and violent and that has no place in Freemasonry.
July 25, 2011 at 8:35 pm
To be a mason you must believe in God, There are Christian masons and masons of all faiths that meet as brothers, Yes Muslim brothers as well.. this man based on his action is not a mason in his heart or mined… There is no charity there… The loss of life is so sad…. his path is not the way!
KS
A 32 Degree & Knights Templar
July 27, 2011 at 3:31 pm
Yes, but what god must you believe in? Mahabane? Jabulon? Furthermore, a true Christian would never meet as brothers with a Muslim, because they do not share the same Father. Moreover, a true Christian would never be involved with this type of slaughter, although Masons, with their blood oaths and history of violent deeds, certainly could be.
July 27, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Which God? The God of the Holy Bible placed on their altar. Breivik claimed to be a Christian. Does that mean we can assume all Christians are crazed gunmen? No it does not.
August 1, 2011 at 6:41 am
Jabulon? Oh dear, someones read.watched a quick conspiracy theory book/video and obviously now knows all there is to the Ancient order of Freemasonry. There is potential for good and evil in ANY organisation (Particularly these “true christians” you speak of, refusing to call a man brother- because they do not share the same father? I would pitty members of such a cold group of men as these) And you speak of a history of violent deeds and blood oaths? Before you start condemning Freemasonry, why don’t you cast your eye over the history of the Christian, or beter yet, Catholic church and ITS history of blood, murder, BLOOD OATHS (like drinking the blood of god/christ / being annointed in blood / Passover etc etc) If you like reading about conspiracy theories so much, read some about the Jesuit order.
July 25, 2011 at 9:06 pm
regarding this: “It’s of Zero relevance. He’s a right wing zelot and violent and that has no place in Freemasonry.” ~ it is relevant, though. because in his way of thinking, he regards his views as ‘the freemasons and templars’ way of view on his philosophy’. if not, why would he be so proud presenting himself expressly in masonic regalia? because he wrongly thinks that he represents masonic values. now that he has been excluded from his lodge, he realizes that his views are not the mason’s way. at least, that’s what i hope he’ll realize.
by not showing regret or feeling sorry about his harming actions, he lacks that very essential one thing that defines man: compassion. anders behring breivik is not only anders than others, but he has no true understanding of human compassion, nor masonic values.
eva surga
grandmaster of the society of the cat people
July 26, 2011 at 5:34 am
I don’t know his status as a Freemason, but I doubt he was a 3°.
Swedish Rite Freemasonry has no “Knight Templar” degree. His claim, like other claims, is pure fantasy. He was a social isolate who apparently read much but understood little.
Norwegian Freemasonry teaches TOLERANCE and he, apparently, developed little. I suspect he has developmental disorders that were undetected. Only time will tell. Wait and see.
July 27, 2011 at 6:24 am
If he was a 3rd degree Freemason then he knew nothing of the Knights Templar which is a charitable society in the 33rd degree of the York rite. He is a fraud and a freak. George Washington and Ben Franklin were Freemasons. They were noble men who believed in God and aspired to something higher. They were not crazed gunmen and mass murders. Breivik is a lunatic who has broken his Freemason oaths.
July 27, 2011 at 8:48 pm
[…] Is Anders Behring Breivik being a Freemason / Knight Templar of no relevance? (ktwop.wordpress.com) […]
July 30, 2011 at 3:45 pm
A well researched and written article. The Metropolitan Police in UK have apparently been asked to help in the Breivik inquiry. They have many Freemasons amongst them. A Judicial inquiry is being set up to check on the links between the Metropolitan Police and the Phone Hackers. The Judiciary also have many Freemasons amongst them. I don’t think we will get anything but whitewash from the Freemasons, they look after No1 first.
Don’t forget in the two previous big shake ups of the UK police force it was because of Masonic malpractice. I cannot believe the public show such disinterest into Freemasonry and to a Public Register of it’s members.
July 31, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Christian, Knights Templar and Freemason are just misleading labels here. See for example Norwegian scholar and skeptic Egil Asprem’s reflections here.
I would add that, as we know, theories which include elements like Freemasons, New World Order, mind control, Skull & Bones, Illuminati, Jews, Zeitgeit, Bilderbergers and the Dead Sea Scrolls are quite common. However, I’m convinced that this basically are products of creative minds. In fact, the Freemasons’ files are open to scholars. And you could do worse than start with Henrik Bogdan’s book Western esotericism and rituals of initiation.
August 1, 2011 at 12:42 pm
The idea that Freemasons must believe in a Supreme being is obviously dubious as at least one very senior UK mason is a Buddhist.
George Washington was a slave owner – fine upstanding Mason?
Freemasons worry me more and more with thier attempts to lay smokesceens to shield what really goes on. They are seemingly obsessed with the occult , conspiracy theories and incredibly antiCatholic.
August 1, 2011 at 7:18 pm
I am a Buddhist and Freemason. Just because my impression of ‘a supreme being’ does not mesh up – gear to gear – with yours does not make either of us incorrect. Try ‘The Encyclopedia of Gods’ by Michael Jordan. It’s not that Buddhists have no supreme being, it’s just that most have better things to do with their time than explain it to the ignorant. What of the Hindus, Zoroastrians, agnostics, and Rastafarians in the fraternity? TOLERANDE.
As for the New World Order, the local Freemasons can’t even run the Masonic building perfectly, how can they aspire for the larger town, let alone the world? Seriously!
The problem with modern Freemasonry is that too many unreasonable conservatives have infiltrated it. When educated reasoning liberals were the norm, the fraternity must have been a more pleasant place. This odd fellow should have been vetted and kept away from the beginning. He is, therefore, twice a Masonic failure.
January 4, 2012 at 3:46 am
His being a Freemason is of no consequence he is a sick man who should never of been a Freemason.
I am a Mason and he should have been vetted better but as with everything in life you do get lunatics and Freemasonry does attract them. they are normally weeded out quite easily with out being initiated.
Dear chas inca how did you get through your interview and your first degree with out having a believe in a supreme being. I am very interested to know this as I am with United Grand Lodge of England !
If you answer that question wrong in interview you do not go through your first degree.
Please explain I am interested.
Yours Fraternally
Brother Mark P
January 21, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Because Harold Shipman was a doctor it does not follow that all doctors are serial killers. There are so many freemasons (and it has to be remembered that they are human beings like the rest of us), that some are bound to go awry. It is doubtful whether Breivik had any deep or long-term involvement within any lodge. He probably severed any connection he may have had with freemasonry when he discovered they were not white elitists bent on world domination.
I, myself, became quite paranoid about freemasons and thought they were completely corrupt and evil. But, I bothered to sift through the stuff and nonsense and tried to think rationally about the apparent contradiction between the kindness and decency I witnessed in individual masons I have known and the conspiracy theories that abound.
The problem with your average conspiracy theorist is that they are intellectually lazy and see only what they want to see. Also, they like to feel clever and believe they perceive more than we dummies, who are so easily duped.
Freemasons were born out of a time of great religious intolerance, madness and persecution of individuals. The lodge became a sanctuary where enlightened men of different faiths and political beliefs could meet “on the level” and celebrate their common humanity and discuss dangerous ideas, without threat to their very existence.
Also, all lodges are independent of each other, so if corruption occurs in a particular lodge (and I’m sure it does from time to time), it does not mean corruption is endemic to freemasonry. In fact, the case of Dr. Dodd, an 18th c. preacher and theologian who was also a freemason is an indicator of their true nature. After a lifetime of service to others, he found himself in debt and in a moment of weakness forged a cheque. Despite having influential friends in high places, the poor man went to the gallows. His friend Samuel Johnson said of Dr. Dodd: “He was at first what he endeavoured to make others, but the world broke down his resolutions…”
So, we can see that freemasons give each other support and succour, because there was a time when penury meant, at the very least, a jail sentence. Social scientists say that society makes us as individuals, at the same time as we make society. If you believe in this dialectical process, then freemasons make the craft just as the craft makes freemasons.