The Masonic brotherhood has been around for several centuries. Some secrets of free masons have become common property, but something is still hidden from prying eyes …
Masons workshop
It is strange to imagine that the Masonic lodge, to which many rich and influential aristocrats belonged, owes its origin to the people of physical labor. In medieval Europe, artisans united in guilds and fraternities - in the shops of bakers, millers, butchers, and masons. Every year the workshops played an increasing role in the life of countries and had more and more weight. Some workshops became truly huge formations with authority, their own cash, real estate. And the most respected representatives of one or another workshop also had real political power - they took part in parliamentary elections, sat in city councils.
The bricklayer's workshop was not one of the most influential, but it had a number of privileges inherent in the people of this profession - in particular, free movement around the country. Not only true bricklayers could enter the workshops, but also people of other professions. And many preferred the masons' workshop because of the freedom of movement. For example, this allowed notaries to increase their clientele throughout the country.
Freemasonry arose precisely in the lodge of masons - as a special education, which was not engaged in professional activities, but by helping the participants in trouble in the workshop, kept traditions and passed them on. Members of the brotherhood called themselves free masons - both because of their freedom of movement and because a lot of people of free professions - artists, sculptors, poets - joined the society …
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Passwords and principles
In any secret society, it is customary to immediately create a conventional language, a system of passwords and symbols inaccessible to the uninitiated. Masons were no exception. Only during the ceremony of initiation into the fraternity did the newcomer recognize all the secret signs and tasks of the society. This is how the Freemasonry initiation ceremony is described in War and Peace. “The first main goal and foundation of our order, on which it is established, and which no human power can overthrow, is the preservation and surrender of some important sacrament to posterity … From the most ancient centuries and even from the first person who came down to us, from which the sacraments maybe the fate of the human race depends …
Principles to be taught and practiced by Masons: “Beware of making any distinction that might violate equality. Fly to the help of your brother, whoever he may be, instruct the erring one, lift up the falling one and never harbor anger or enmity against your brother. Be gentle and friendly. Arouse the fire of virtue in all hearts. Share your happiness with your neighbor, and may the envy of this pure pleasure never disturb. Forgive your enemy, do not take revenge on him, unless by doing good to him."
In addition, the Mason had to maintain seven virtues: modesty and observance of the secrets of the order, obedience to the highest ranks of the order, good nature, love for humanity, courage, generosity and love of death.
The material symbols of free masons were: compasses, swords, white leather aprons - symbols of strength and purity, spades reminding of the need to work and cleanse your heart from vices, as well as a carpet with the image of the sun, moon, hammer and plumb line on it …
And the spirit of Freemasonry was defined by the Russian writer Mikhail Osorgin: “Freemasonry is not at all a system of moral principles, and not a method of cognition, and not a science of life, and even, in fact, not a teaching. Ideal masonry is the state of mind of a person who actively strives for truth and knows that truth is unattainable … The Brotherhood of Freemasons is an organization of people who sincerely believe in the coming of a more perfect humanity. The path to the perfection of the human race lies through self-improvement through fraternal communication with the elect and bound by the promise of the same work on themselves. So - know yourself, work on yourself, help another work on yourself, use his help, multiply the ranks of supporters of this lofty goal. Otherwise - the union of moral mutual assistance."
Famous names
Although the society of Masons became more and more mysterious over the centuries, many considered it their duty to get into the brotherhood of free masons. Because the Freemasons were gaining more and more influence, and many rich and noble people became members of the brotherhood. For example, in England, sixteen princes were members of the lodge, four of whom later became kings. But mainly the representatives of the intelligentsia, philosophers, and poets belonged to the Masons. All of them firmly believed that it is possible to build a just society based on the achievements of science and reason.
The number of people who wanted to make the world just was so great that in 1717 four Masonic lodges united, and a Grand Lodge was created, designed to coordinate and direct the work of all Freemasonry.
Freemasonry has become even more organized over the years. In 1723 the Book of Rites was published in England, written by the Scottish priest James Anderson.
At the end of the 1830s, lodges existed throughout Europe - in Belgium, Russia, Italy, Germany, Switzerland. In 1735, there were 5 lodges in Paris, by 1742 their number had increased to twenty-two, and forty-five years later, on the eve of the French Revolution, the number of Freemasons reached 100 thousand.
The names of the famous Masons command respect. The brotherhood of free masons included: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Liszt, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Niccolo Paganini, Jacob Sibelius, writers Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Rabindranath Tagore, Walter Pop Scott, Oscar Wilde, Alexander Mark Twilight Rudyard Kipling.
Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, John Jacob Astor and Henry Ford were Masons. The brotherhood of Charles Lindenberg, who made the first solo flight across the Atlantic, was the polar explorers Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, and Admiral Richard Byrd. American astronaut Edwin Aldrin, who set foot on the lunar surface on July 21, 1969, carried a banner with Masonic emblems in his pocket.
Russian masons are also widely known: Pushkin, Suvorov, Kutuzov, Sumarokov, Novikov, Zhukovsky, Griboyedov, Voloshin, Gumilyov, Aldanov …
In our time, Freemasonry also flourishes, but because of the veil of secrecy, we cannot know which of the greats of the world belongs to this brotherhood …
Author: Natalia Trubinovskaya
