English masons
There is hardly another topic, besides the Masons, on which such a lot of nonsense is written. Moreover, this nonsense was produced both by the haters of free masons, and by the "brothers" themselves.
Freemasons loved to tell tales about the origins of their society. Some led a genealogy from the Templars, some from the builders of the Temple of Solomon, and some from Adam.
In fact, Freemasonry originated in England at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. In this country there have long been artels of masons. These were skilled artisans who built cathedrals and monasteries.
With the beginning of the church reformation, the artels fell into decay. And they began to take into their ranks nobles and persons of the free professions - architects, lawyers, doctors. Gradually, they ousted the real masons, and the artels turned into a kind of clubs, whose members dined together, held conversations and supported each other in different life circumstances.
In 1717, the Grand Lodge of England was established in London. Gradually, Freemasonry spread throughout Europe. A complex system of rituals and symbols has been developed.
The goal of Freemasonry is moral improvement. At least that's the official goal. You can fantasize endlessly about unofficial ones. And the Masons themselves, who have surrounded themselves with a veil of secrecy, are to blame for this.
One thing is clear: in different places the Masons behaved differently. In Protestant countries, they enjoyed the support of the authorities and were a conservative force, a pillar of the existing order.
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In Catholic countries, the situation was different. Because the church condemned the Freemasons, they were oppressed. And in countries such as France, Italy, Spain, political radicals and revolutionaries took the lead. In particular, almost all the famous figures of the Great French Revolution were Masons, members of the lodges of the Grand Orient of France.
They said a lot, but knew little
Peter I, as you know, cut through the "window to Europe". Through this window, the Masons entered Russia.
It is believed that Peter I himself was a Freemason who was initiated in England. And in Russia the tsar founded a lodge, headed by his favorite Franz Lefort. However, most likely these are only fantasies.
The first reliable mention of Freemasonry in Russia dates back to 1731. Then the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England appointed Captain John Philips as the provincial master of Russia.
And in the early 1740s, the English general in the Russian service, James Keith, opened several lodges in our country. At first, they consisted exclusively of foreigners, but then Russian "brothers" began to appear.
During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, two investigations of the activities of Masonic lodges were carried out. The first gave nothing at all, and the second came to the conclusion that the actions of the Masons "are incomprehensible and reckless in essence."
By the way, somewhere at the end of Elizabeth's reign, Alexander Suvorov was admitted to the Freemasons. It is not entirely clear how the free masons deceived the great commander. It would seem that Masonic mysticism and Suvorov are incompatible things.
The heyday of Russian Freemasonry began under Catherine II. From the second half of the 1760s to the early 1790s, at least 96 Masonic lodges worked in Russia.
Senator and director of the imperial theaters Ivan Elagin received the title of the great provincial master in London. Under his leadership, 23 lodges of the English system operated in Russia.
In addition, many lodges worked according to the Swedish and German systems. For a while, Elagin managed to unite them all.
The Elagin lodges did not leave a noticeable trace in history. They were something like noble clubs. “Gathered, received, dined and had fun; they accepted everyone indiscriminately, talked a lot, but knew little,”Nikolai Novikov recalled.
Bet on Pavel Petrovich
Novikov was a member of the Moscow Masonic organization - the Rosicrucian Order, which was founded by the teacher of the German language Johann-Georg Schwartz.
In fact, the Rosicrucians are occultists who are searching for "secret knowledge." But in Russia they focused on enlightenment. The Rosicrucians - first of all Novikov - published books and magazines, opened educational institutions, created the "Friendly Scientific Society." The order included prominent people such as the architect Vasily Bazhenov and the historian Nikolai Karamzin.
The activities of the Moscow Rosicrucians were quite useful. But they got involved in a political intrigue - they tried to lure the heir to the throne Pavel Petrovich into their networks.
This was a fatal mistake. Catherine II discerned a conspiracy in flirting with the heir. In 1792 Novikov was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison in the Shlisselburg Fortress. And at the same time, the Empress banned all Masonic lodges.
Generally speaking, the Masons, not without reason, relied on Pavel Petrovich. He had a passion for orders of knighthood. But the free masons said that they were descended from the Templars.
Apparently, Paul became a Freemason at age 18, during his first trip abroad. Having ascended the throne, he immediately freed Novikov and returned from exile other "brothers" who had suffered from the wrath of Catherine II.
Among Paul I were prominent Masons - Prince Alexander Kurakin, who became Vice-Chancellor in November 1796, Prince Nikolai Repnin, who was elevated by the Emperor to Field Marshal General, Ivan Lopukhin, who received the post of Secretary of State.
However, the Freemasons did not wait for Paul I to lift the ban on the activities of the lodges. And after a while, the emperor became the Grand Master of the Catholic Order of Malta and seemed to have completely forgotten about Freemasonry. However, no one persecuted free masons during his reign.
Under police supervision
“Everything with me will be like with my grandmother,” said Alexander I, ascending the throne. Indeed, as under Catherine II, Russian Freemasonry began to flourish under him.
It is not known whether Alexander I was a Freemason. There is information that he was dedicated in St. Petersburg. That he was the chairman of a military camp lodge in 1814. That was in one of the lodges of the Great East of Poland.
One way or another, there were enough Masons next to the emperor. In the early years of his reign, the policy was determined by a secret committee. Three and four of its members - Adam Czartoryski, Nikolai Novosiltsev and Viktor Kochubei - were free masons.
In 1810, State Secretary Mikhail Speransky joined the Masonic lodge, in those years - the closest associate of Alexander I. Speransky rushed around with a somewhat crazy idea to transform the Russian clergy by involving him in Freemasonry. Of course, none of this came of it.
In the box "United Friends" was the brother of the emperor - the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. This box also included the Minister of Police Alexander Balashov and the future chief of the gendarmes Alexander Benkendorf.
They began to talk a lot about Masons. Alexander I ordered an audit of the Masonic lodges. And he entrusted this matter to the Minister of Police Balashov, who was himself a Freemason.
As a result, the lodges began to work legally, but under the supervision of the police. As a matter of fact, there was nothing to fear. The freemasons of that time - all the time - were well-meaning and even conservative people.
In 1812, the "brothers" took a completely patriotic position. And how could it be otherwise, if among them was Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, who was admitted to the military field camp in 1813, shortly before his death?
Benckendorf - friend of Chaadaev
Kutuzov is far from the only famous person who became a free mason in the Alexander era. In "United Friends" - together with Balashov and Benkendorf - were Alexander Griboyedov and Petr Chaadaev.
True, both Griboyedov and Chaadaev became disillusioned with Freemasonry. They believed that all the forces of the Freemasons go to ceremonies and rituals, and it would be worth doing something more useful.
“On May 4, I was admitted to the Masons,” wrote Alexander Pushkin in his diary. This was in 1821. The lodge to which the poet was accepted was located in Chisinau and was called "Ovid".
We do not know what kind of Masonic work Pushkin was engaged in and whether he was engaged at all. It is known that the poet wrote poetry on Masonic documents. So he was unlikely to be serious about lodge membership. Although Pyotr Vyazemsky put a glove in Pushkin's coffin - evidence that the Masons considered Alexander Sergeevich theirs.
After the Napoleonic Wars, a radical wing appeared in Russian Freemasonry. The lodges consisted of more than 50 Decembrists, including such prominent ones as Pavel Pestel, Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, Sergei Trubetskoy. And the Decembrists organized secret societies on the model of Masonic lodges.
Can the Decembrist uprising be called a Masonic conspiracy? Hardly. By 1825, almost all the Decembrists, disillusioned, moved away from Freemasonry. In fact, they became revolutionaries just when they broke off Masonic ties.
But Alexander I, like his grandmother, at some point believed that free masons were dangerous conspirators. Moreover, the emperor knew that there were a lot of military men among the "brothers". And in 1822 he - following the example of Catherine II - banned the Masonic lodges.
Freemasons turned out to be law-abiding people. They have blossomed. Someone, of course, continued the secret Masonic work, but so secret that there is nothing to say about it. In general, 1822 is the end of the history of Russian Freemasonry in the 19th century.
Squabbles among the "brothers"
Freemasonry in Russia was revived only at the beginning of the 20th century. But this was already a completely different Freemasonry - political.
Some Russian people joined Masonic lodges in France. For example, the famous scientist and inventor Pavel Yablochkov. But another scientist, sociologist Maxim Kovalevsky, played an outstanding role in the history of Russian Freemasonry.
Expelled from Moscow University, Kovalevsky went abroad. And he founded the Higher School of Social Sciences in Paris; for Russian students. The school prepared future "freedom fighters". At one time, even Vladimir Lenin lectured there.
In 1905, Russia was in a fever. And the emigrant Freemasons who lived in Paris created foreign Russian lodges - "Cosmos" and "Mount Sinai".
Soon Kovalevsky received permission from the Grand Orient of France to open lodges in Russia. In Moscow, a "Renaissance" lodge was created, headed by psychiatrist Nikolai Bazhenov, in St. Petersburg - "Polar Star".
Initially, there were only 9 people in both boxes. Then the number increased to 45. And in 1908, the Convention of all Russian Masons of the French model was held in St. Petersburg. The governing body was elected - the Supreme Council.
If at the beginning of the 19th century they entered the Masonic brotherhood in search of the meaning of life, then at the beginning of the next century it was solely for the sake of politics. Mainly liberals signed up for the lodges. They were attracted to Freemasonry, firstly, by the discipline that the liberal community has never been distinguished by, and secondly, by the idea of solidarity, which made it possible to overcome party differences in order to achieve
Although the Freemasons preach brotherhood, squabbles began among the "brothers". And in 1910 a kind of Masonic "coup d'etat" took place. Younger and more radical free masons, headed by Nikolai Nekrasov, a deputy of the State Duma from the Cadets, decided to dissolve - "put to sleep" in Masonic terminology - the lodges.
In fact, the lodges continued to work and actively accept members. But the imaginary "lulling" allowed to get rid of unnecessary people.
They didn't chase the numbers
In the summer of 1912, a new organization was created - the Great East of the Peoples of Russia (VVNR), which united several lodges. It was a completely independent structure, independent of the French Masons. Ritualism was reduced to a minimum, so that some historians believe that VHNR does not at all apply to regular, that is, real Freemasonry.
VVNR was a strictly conspiratorial organization. No minutes were kept, the “brothers” knew only the members of their lodge, and only the venerable (chairman) of the lodge communicated with the general secretary of the WWHP.
The political goal of the WWHP was the establishment of a democratic federal republic in Russia. It is clear that this goal could only be achieved in a revolutionary way. Therefore, the organization began to accept representatives of the revolutionary parties - the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. Even the Bolshevik Ivan Skvortsov-Stepanov was accepted.
The organization was headed by the Secretary General and the Supreme Council. Over time, provincial lodges were created, as well as lodges organized on a professional basis.
The largest was the Duma Lodge, which included Masons - Duma deputies. Among them are the leaders of three factions: Ivan Efremov - progressives, Alexander Kerensky - Trudoviks, Nikolai Chkheidze - Mensheviks.
In addition, there was a Military Lodge headed by Colonel of the General Staff Sergei Mstislavsky and a Literary Lodge, which mainly brought together journalists.
According to Nekrasov, the Freemasons "did not pursue the organization's membership, but selected people who were morally and politically clean, and, moreover, who enjoyed political influence and power." And most importantly, the Freemasons "gave obligations to put the directives of Freemasonry above the party ones."
On the eve of the February Revolution, in fact, two opposition centers were formed - the Progressive Bloc in the Duma and the VNR.
At the head of the government
The progressive bloc united moderate oppositionists, who relied on a legal parliamentary struggle. And in the VVNR radicals of all stripes ruled - left-wing cadets, progressives, Mensheviks, who dreamed of overthrowing Nicholas II and sought connections with the revolutionary underground. In the summer of 1916, a young energetic deputy Alexander Kerensky became the general secretary of the VVNR.
Masons participated in all conspiracies against the emperor, made plans for a palace coup.
The most active conspirator was Alexander Guchkov. Nina Berberova, who wrote the book People and Lodges in exile, considered Guchkov a freemason. Moreover, according to her information, he ordained generals Mikhail Alekseev and Nikolai Ruzsky as masons. These people played a decisive role in the story of the abdication of Nicholas II.
It turns out that renunciation is the work of the Freemasons? May be. But there is one small problem. Apart from Berberova, no one confirms that Guchkov was a Freemason. On the contrary, all the “brothers” denied it.
In any case, during the February Revolution, freemasons found their bearings faster than others and took key posts both in the Provisional Government (at least four Masons were in its first composition) and in the Council of Workers' Deputies, headed by the freemason Chkheidze.
And in July 1917, the general secretary of the WWHP Kerensky headed the government. The number of Freemason ministers increased dramatically. But by this time, free masons no longer had the same influence. Previously, the "brothers" were united by a common goal - the fight against autocracy. Party differences have now come to the fore.
And then the Bolsheviks seized power. Most of the Freemasons ended up in exile. In 1970, the last Russian lodges in Paris were closed. In connection with the death of almost all of their members.
Boris SARPINSKY