The Supreme Council, Order of the Knights of Pythagoras, is a Youth Organization dedicated to The Fatherhood of God and the Universal Brotherhood of Man. The organization accepts boys between the ages of 9-20 and helps to develop them into young men. The Knights of Pythagoras promotes family values, provide educational scholarships, and plays a significant role in the uplifting of humanity.
Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher and a students of knowledge, especially religion, music and geometry. He lived about 2,500 years ago. He formed a religious brotherhood whose members lived according to strict rules. He taught that after men died their souls went into other bodies, and sometimes into the bodies of animals.
Very little is known about the life of Pythagoras. He was born on the Island of Samos, near Greece, and later lived in Crotona, in the Southern part of Italy. This idea, called transmigration of the soul, appeared in many early religions. As a philosopher, Pythagoras taught that numbers were the essence of all things. He, therefore, associated numbers with various colors and ideas. It is still the belief of many of the Hindu sects of India. Pythagoras may have obtained some of his ideas during his travels in the East.
Those who knew him were suspicious of the Brotherhood because its members were generally aristocrats. Many of them were killed in a political uprising. Historians do not know whether Pythagoras left the city before the outbreak of violence and escaped death, or whether he, too, was killed. The Brotherhood was finally destroyed in 400 B. C.
Prince Hall Grand Masters, under the leadership of Grand Master Amos T. Hall, selected the name Order of Pythagoras instead of the Chivalric Order of Knight Companions during their Annual National Conference, May 8-10,1951, in Denver, Colorado.
Then Grand Master P. G. Porter of Kansas was elected the first Supreme Master Knight of the International Supreme Council of the Order of the Knights of Pythagoras, August 17, 1958, at the National Supreme Councils of the Knights, in Chicago, Illinois. Operating under the banner of Pythagoras offers a challenge to both the youth and their Masonic leaders. In the early years, Grand Masters and representatives of 20 Prince Hall Masonic Jurisdictions worked to promote the Order. Today, a majority of the 45 Prince Hall Grand Lodges have Knights of Pythagoras Councils and continue to strive for high attainment.
A Knight is a male youth between the ages of 9 -20. One objective is to guide members to becoming responsible enough to interact in a global society. It has been said that "The Youth of a nation are the trustees of posterity" and this principle guides the focus of the organization.
The principles and truths of Masonic teachings date back to the beginning of time, and they provide the guidance, advice and counsel by which Pythagoreans grow and develop. By imparting these lessons, the leaders believe that young men learn to be better citizens and leaders, thereby providing a better world for tomorrow.