Nowadays, many publications raise the topic of Freemasonry in the pre-revolutionary and modern - “perestroika” - history of Russia.
However, the Soviet period, especially the 20s and 30s, until recently remained like a blank spot for the researchers of Freemasonry. It was believed that in the USSR, Masonic lodges were banned and as if they did not exist at all.
Now, when access to many previously secret archives is open, very interesting and very unexpected facts are revealed that shed light on an unusually ramified network of Masonic and near-Masonic organizations that literally flooded the intelligentsia of large Russian cities.
From the article proposed below by the St. Petersburg researcher of this unsafe topic, Viktor Brachev, the reader will learn about the methods of creating, recruiting and conspiring “brothers” and “sisters” of “order” lodges, about the ideology and ultimate goals of the activities of all kinds of “religious and philosophical circles” and “occult societies”, like a magnet, attracted the cosmopolitan "cultural" intelligentsia, students, scientists and often members of the government.
And here we suddenly learn about the involvement of well-known people in them, as it was said, unjustly persecuted and suffered from “Stalin's repressions”. Among them are the famous Russian philosophers G. P. Fedotov, I. O. Lossky, the writer D. S. Merezhkovsky, the literary critic M. M. Bakhtin, famous actors Mikhail Chekhov, Yuri Zavadsky, among them the recently deceased Academician D. S. Likhachev.
This article, perhaps for the first time, reveals the facts of the artificial creation of Masonic lodges by the OGPU and NKVD organs for "exposing" and tracking the actions, as stated in the investigative documents, "enemies of Soviet power."
On the other hand, from the statements of the leaders of the Masonic lodges, we learn that “the aspirations of communism coincide in general terms with the aspirations of Russian Freemasonry.” This eloquent admission is another stroke in revealing the mechanisms of world governance by a single secret government.
JV Stalin patiently, gradually undermined this insidious backstage system, until, having accumulated strength, he fell upon it with all his punishing might.
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Only now it becomes clear that the numerous trials of the thirties over all kinds of "Trotskyists", "rootless cosmopolitans", "Western agents" and "anti-Soviet organizations" are a crushing blow to Freemasonry in the USSR. This is precisely what the Western and Russian Ziono-democracy still cannot forgive Stalin. Without a doubt, Freemasonry in the USSR was not completely eliminated.
It, having gone deep underground, survived, survived, and in our "perestroika" time threw off its masks, reached open power, reaping its destructive fruits. Its priests are in plain sight, have world fame, wealth, honor, they do not leave TV screens, from the pages of magazines and newspapers, books are written about them. They, as before, teach the profane a "new" life …
The proposed article only lifts the veil over the hitherto hidden truth. Major discoveries and conclusions are yet to come. From the Editors A conversation about Masons and secret Masonic lodges in the USSR is most appropriate to start with the so-called “Kremlin Lodge”.
All sorts of guesses and assumptions have accumulated here. Characteristic in this respect is the dialogue that took place in December 1982 between the Moscow writer Felix Chuev and the former Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR Vyacheslav Molotov.
“Now there is a lot of talk about Freemasonry. They say that in our country there are also Freemasons,”Chuev starts a conversation. Maybe there is. Underground. It cannot but be,”Molotov answers.
"And they say about you that you are also a Mason."
- “Freemason for a long time. Since 1906,”smiles Molotov, referring to the time of his entry into the RSDLP.
“There is an opinion that there are Masons among the Communists as well,” Chuev does not lag behind him.
“There may be,” admits Molotov.
"And now they say that Molotov was the chief Mason in the Politburo."
“In charge,” Molotov responds. - Yes, it was I who remained a communist in between times, and meanwhile managed to be a freemason. Where are you digging such truths!"
(One hundred and forty conversations with Molotov. From the diary of F. Chuev. - M., “Terra”, 1991, p. 267).
There has been a long debate about the Masonic nature of Bolshevism and its connection with international Jewry. Even some professional historians, such as Academician Nikolai Likhachev, were inclined to attribute the victory of Bolshevism in 1917 to the intrigues of international Jewry.
The close connection of Bolshevism with Freemasonry is also noted by the Orthodox Church.
“Under the banner of the Masonic star,” wrote the chairman of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anthony in 1932, “all the dark forces are working to destroy the national Christian states.
The Masonic hand also took part in the destruction of Russia. All the principles, all the methods that the Bolsheviks use to destroy Russia are very close to the Masonic ones. Long-term observation of the destruction of our Motherland has shown the whole world with their own eyes how students imitate their teachers and how the enslavers of the Russian people are faithful to the program of the Masonic lodges.
As for Jewry, Judaism, in his opinion, “is historically connected with Freemasonry by the closest ties in its fierce struggle against Christianity and in Masonic aspirations for world domination” (Nikolaevsky V. I. Russian Masons and the Revolution. - M., “Terra”, 1990, p. 174).
A valuable contribution to the development of this issue was made by Russian historians - emigrants N. Svitkov (F. Stepanov) and V. F. Ivanov, who used confidential sources of information obtained from circles close to French political Freemasonry.
“In 1918,” wrote V. F. Ivanov in his book “From Peter I to the Present Day” (Harbin, 1934, p. 497), “a five-pointed star rises over Russia - the emblem of world Freemasonry. Power passed to the most evil and destructive Freemasonry - Red, led by Masons of high dedication - Trotsky and his henchmen - Masons of lower dedication: Rosenfeld, Zinoviev, Parvus, Radek, Litvinov …
The program of the “builders” struggle boils down to the destruction of the Orthodox faith, the eradication of nationalism, mainly Great Russian chauvinism, the destruction of everyday life, the Russian Orthodox family and the great spiritual heritage of our ancestors."
“For the triumph of Masonic ideals,” he noted, “it was necessary to kill the soul of the Russian people, to snatch God from it, to depersonalize nationally, to trample its great past in the mud, to corrupt the young generation and bring up a new breed of people without God and Fatherland, two-legged beasts who, trained by the tamer, will obediently enter the Masonic cage."
According to VF Ivanov's observations, already at the beginning of the 1930s Russia was turning into "the purest and most consistent Masonic state, which implements the Masonic principles in their entirety and consistency."
International Freemasonry and Socialism, in his opinion, “are children of the same dark force. The goal of Freemasonry and Socialism is the same. They only temporarily diverged in methods of action.” (Ivanov V. F., “Secret diplomacy.” - Harbin, 1937, p. 128).
In fact, it would be possible not to attach much importance to these statements, if the belief in the common goals of the Masons and the Bolsheviks were not shared by the "brothers" themselves.
While working on the materials of the "Masonic case" initiated in January 1926 by the OGPU against the Leningrad "brothers", the author of these lines discovered a very curious document addressed to the government of the USSR. It is dated August 1925 and belongs to the pen of the General Secretary of "Autonomous Russian Freemasonry" (an organization that emerged in 1922) Boris Astromov (dedicated in 1909, the lodge "Ausonia" - "Great East of Italy").
And it said the following: the road and goal of free masons and communists are the same - “the conversion of mankind into a single fraternal family … Pursuing the same goals, recognizing the same views as just and subject to implementation, communism and Russian Freemasonry they should not look at each other suspiciously, on the contrary, their paths are parallel and lead to one goal."
The difference, according to BV Astromov, is only in the “methods of action”, since, in contrast to the revolutionary path followed by the Bolsheviks, “the path of Russian Freemasonry is the path of slow intellectual work, the path of quiet sapa”.
And the enemies of the Bolsheviks and Masons, noted B. V. Astromov, are the same - national and religious prejudices, class egoism, private property.
The essence of the deal, which he proposed to the Bolsheviks, was that in exchange for the "tacit legalization" of the Masonic lodges in the country, the "brothers" would undertake the obligation to assist the "remagnetization" of the Russian intelligentsia to the side of the Soviet regime, since "The aspirations of communism coincide in general terms with the aspirations of Russian Freemasonry."
Let us now compare these arguments of the Freemason Astromov, whom it is hardly possible to suspect of “Black Hundreds”, with the statements on this topic by the opponents of Freemasonry - Vasily Ivanov and Metropolitan Anthony. The coincidence of views, as we see, is striking.
Now is the time to return to the conversation between Felix Chuev and Molotov. It arose for a reason, since Vyacheslav Mikhailovich has long been “under suspicion” by researchers.
As for the Freemasonry of the other two Bolsheviks, I. I. Skvortsov-Stepanov and S. P. Seredy (he worked in the Ryazan box), then it is considered indisputable (Startsev V. Masons. - “Rodina”, 1989, No. 9, p. 75).
The fact that Leon Trotsky belongs to Freemasonry was confirmed by the late writer Nina Berberova, who worked with Masonic archives for many years and established the names of 666 Russian Freemasons of the early 20th century. To a direct question asked to her during a visit to the USSR in September 1989: "Was Trotsky a Freemason?" - she replied: “I was, 6 months at 18 years old” (“Komsomolskaya Pravda”, 1989, September 12, p. 4).
For his part, the author of these lines managed to find in the archives of the former KGB of the USSR evidence of belonging to the “Great East of France” A. V. Lunacharsky. Karl Radek and Nikolai Bukharin are “under suspicion”. Finally, one cannot fail to mention the Ar e Travai Masonic lodge, which allegedly included Lenin, Zinoviev and other Bolsheviks”(A. Vinogradov Retouch on white spots. -“Molodaya Gvardiya”, 1991, No. 8, p. 267) …
And although this information has not yet received documentary confirmation, there were no fundamental obstacles to the entry of the Bolsheviks (at least until 1917) into foreign Masonic lodges. After all, like their fellow Mensheviks, they were all Social Democrats, they were part of the same party - the RSDLP, although they belonged to its different factions.
The active participation in the work of the Masonic lodges of the Mensheviks, as well as of the socialists of Europe and America in general, has never raised doubts.
As for the so-called “Kremlin Lodge”, practically nothing is known about it, although in the intellectual circles of the mid-1920s. and they said that there were two Masonic satanic lodges in Moscow - in the Kremlin and in the Kropotkin Museum.
As for the latter (Alexei Solonovich's box), the conversation about her is ahead. The Kremlin Lodge is another matter. It is possible, as Andrei Nikitin believes, that the mention of her contains "hints of real circumstances" (Nikitin A. Templars in Moscow. - "Science and Religion", 1992, No. 12, p. 12).
The emigre historian Vasily Ivanov, who not only answered affirmatively to the question about the existence of the Kremlin Lodge, but also confidently called it the Grand Master: he was, according to his information, Karl Radek, is more definite in this matter. He also cites an excerpt from KB Radek's letter to the Grand Master of the "Great East of France" in the early 1930s. with a request to influence the government of President Roosevelt through the American Masons, prompting him to the earliest diplomatic recognition of the USSR (Ivanov V. F.
Also noteworthy is the fact that M. N. Tukhachevsky visited in the early 1930s. one of the Masonic lodges in Rome, as reported on the basis of Masonic sources by the Yugoslav historian Z. Nenezic in his book “Freemasons in Yugoslavia” (1984).
However, the closest thing to the secret of the "Kremlin Lodge" brings us to the biography of a prominent Soviet security officer - head of the 9th Directorate of the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD Gleb Ivanovich Bokiy. It turns out that back in 1919, when he was the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, Gleb Ivanovich was ordained in the Masonic lodge "United Labor Brotherhood" headed by the student of Satanist Mason Zh. I. Gurdjieff, Dr. A. V. Barchenko.
We will meet with Alexander Vasilyevich Barchenko on the pages of this essay. As for G. I. Bokii, translated at the beginning of the 1920s. to Moscow, to the OGPU apparatus, he became from that time a leading specialist on the "Masonic question" in this department. Since then, not a single Masonic case promoted by the OGPU has passed by him.
He is also an indispensable member of the boards of the OGPU, which passed sentences in Masonic cases. Bokiy was “removed” in 1937, accusing of organizing, oddly enough, a Masonic lodge, which included more than 20 people, including such representatives of the party-Soviet elite as a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) I. M. Moskvin, Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V. Stomonyakov and others.
The most curious thing is that a check in 1956 of this case confirmed: GI Bokiy really was engaged in the OGPU “studying the structure and ideological currents of Freemasonry”, thus giving, indirectly, to understand that the “lodge” - was (Vaksberg A. Mason, the son-in-law of a mason. - "Literaturnaya gazeta", 1990, December 26).
Of course, this is not yet that mysterious “Kremlin Lodge”, but the solution to the mystery is obviously here. After all, it was not for the sake of idle curiosity that Bokii took up the study of "the structure and ideological currents of Freemasonry." Most likely, his “owner” needed it. If it was JV Stalin, then we will have to admit that the “Kremlin Lodge” ceased its work in 1937.
It is noteworthy that in the lists of prominent Bolshevik Freemasons appearing in the historical literature, Stalin's surname is absent. And this is no coincidence, since repressions that fell in the middle of the second half of the 1930s against the Jewish entourage of V. I. Lenin, were regarded in the right circles of the Russian emigration as the struggle of J. V. Stalin against Freemasonry, his desire to get out of their care.
“Stalin,” noted V. F. Ivanov, - acts as the Scourge of God against the world Freemasonry, which created the Satanic Tower of Babel, called the USSR”. Having destroyed prominent communist Masons, I. V. Stalin, in his opinion, “is chopping down the pillars, and the time is not far off when the fences will fall by themselves” (Ivanov V. F. Secret diplomacy. - Harbin. 1937, pp. 313-314).
Masonic ideology at the beginning of the 20th century took such deep roots among the Russian intelligentsia that even the famous Bolshevik terror of the 1920s. was unable to immediately destroy its fast-growing growth.
Today, at least eleven secret Masonic or semi-Masonic organizations operating in the 1920s in the USSR are known: “United Labor Brotherhood”, “Martinist Order”, “Order of the Holy Grail”, “Russian Autonomous Freemasonry”, “Sunday”,“Khilfernak”,“Space Academy of Sciences”,“Brotherhood of true service”,“Order of Light”,“Order of the Spirit”,“Order of the Templars and Rosicrucians”. The first eight of them were located in Leningrad. The "Order of Light" united Moscow "brothers and sisters" in its ranks.
Closely associated with the Moscow Order of Light, the Order of the Spirit and the Order of the Templars and Rosicrucians were located in Nizhny Novgorod and Sochi, respectively. The subsidiary lodges of the "Russian Autonomous Freemasonry" were the "Harmony" lodge in Moscow and the "Knights of the Burning Dove" in Tbilisi.
This essay is mainly devoted to them, in the preparation of which the author used "Masonic affairs" from the archives of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation. The oldest underground Masonic organization of the 1920s. in Leningrad there was the "Martinist Order", which was a branch of the French Order of the same name.
The first Martinist lodge was organized here back in 1899 by Count Valerian Muravyov-Amursky. The friction that arose between him and the head of the "Martinist Order" in Paris, the famous occultist Papus, led to the fact that about 1905 V. V. Muravyov-Amursky was dismissed from the post of the Order's delegate in Russia.
In 1910, a Pole, Count Ch. I. Chinsky, whose name is actually associated with the creation of the Russian branch of the "Martinist Order". In 1912, a split occurred among them, and the St. Petersburg part of the Order, led by Grigory Mebes, declared its autonomy, or, more simply, independence from Paris.
The Moscow brothers, led by P. M. and D. P. The Kaznacheevs, on the contrary, remained loyal to him and continued their activities under the leadership of their Parisian bosses until 1920. The Petersburg Martinists, on the other hand, formed in 1913 a special autonomous chain with a Templar coloration, which lasted until its defeat in 1926 by the OGPU.
At the heart of the teachings of the Martinists lies occultism - a special direction of religious and philosophical thought, striving to cognize the deity by an intuitive way, through mental experiences associated with penetration into the other world and communication with its essences.
Unlike its “brothers” from the “Great East” of France, Italy and the “Great East of the peoples of Russia” (A. F. Kerensky and Co.), who pursued purely political goals, Martinism orients its members towards inner spiritual work on themselves, their own moral and intellectual improvement. This allows the Martinists to be classified as a special one, the so-called. the spiritual or esoteric branch of the World Brotherhood.
The hallmark of the Russian Martinists was a circle with a six-pointed star inside, the main colors: white (ribbons) and red (cloaks and masks). Initiations were made following the example of the Masonic ones with a somewhat simplified ritual. In 1918 -1921. lectures on the Zohar (part of the Kabbalah) were read by G. O. Mebes, on the history of religion, with a pronounced anti-Christian bias, his wife Maria Nesterova. Boris Astromov introduced the audience to the history of Freemasonry.
In addition to purely theoretical studies, the “school” also carried out practical work to develop in its members the chain of abilities for telepathy and psychometry.
In total we know the names of 43 people who went through the “school” of G. O. Mebes in 1918-1925, including the famous military historian G. S. Gabaev and the poet Vladimir Piast.
However, on the whole, the composition of the Order was quite ordinary: lawyers, accountants, students, housewives, failed artists and journalists - in a word, an ordinary Russian intelligentsia, disillusioned with life and falling into mysticism (St. Petersburg Martinists 1919-1925 - "Patriotic History", 1993, No. 3, pp. 180-182).
Boris Viktorovich Astromov (real name Kirichenko), who was already discussed at the beginning of the essay, played an unattractive role in the fate of the Leningrad Martinists. Coming from an impoverished noble family, he left in 1905 for Italy, where he entered the law faculty of the University of Turin. Here he becomes a student of the famous criminalist Mason Cesare Lombroso.
In 1909 he was consecrated to the Brotherhood (Lodge "Ausonia", belonging to the "Great East of Italy"). In 1910 BV Astromov returned to Russia, but, according to him, did not take part in the work of Russian Masonic lodges.
He was consecrated to the “Martinist Order” only in 1918, after meeting H. O. Mebes. In 1919 G. O. Mebes appoints B. V. Astromov General Secretary of the Order. The friction that arose between them leads to the fact that in 1921 BV Astromov was forced to leave the Order. It would seem that the paths of the unlucky general secretary and the Martinists parted forever.
However, it turned out that this is far from the case. In May 1925 B. V. Astromov unexpectedly appears in the reception room of the OGPU in Moscow and offers his services in covering Freemasonry in the country in exchange for permission to leave the USSR.
B. V. Astromov did not receive permission to emigrate, but his proposal to cover Freemasonry in the USSR interested the Chekists, especially since, as it turned out, they had been following him since 1922. After interrogations and conversations with "specialists" BV Astromov arrived in early June 1925 in Leningrad, where he began to "work" under the control of the OGPU.
The increased interest of this institution in B. V. Astromov understands it, since he “laid down” not only the Martinists, but also his own underground organization “Russian Autonomous Freemasonry”, the secretary general of which he introduced himself to the Chekists.
It was started back in 1921 by the institution of B. V. Astromov from dissatisfied G. O. Mebesom Martinists of his own, independent from him Masonic lodge "Three Northern Stars".
Its members were: engineer-architect P. D. Kozyrev, track engineer M. M. Petrov, former attorney V. P. Osten-Drisen, artist N. G. Sverchkov, film actor S. D. Vasiliev, former adjutant of the commander of the Leningrad Military District D. I. Avrova, ARA employee in Leningrad R. A. Kuhn, film director G. V. Aleksandrov, former inspector of the conservatory G. Yu. Bruni, ballet dancer E. G. Kjaksht. B. V. Astromov managed to organize four dissident martinist lodges - “The Burning Lion” (chair master BP Osten-Drizen), Dolphin (chair master MM Petrov, local master AN Volsky), “Golden Ear” (local masters N. A. Bashmakova and O. E. Nagornova).
In August 1922, representatives of these lodges established the so-called. lodge-mother “The Great Lodge of Astrea” and announced the creation of a new organization, independent of the Martinists, “Russian Autonomous Freemasonry”. The General Secretary of the “Grand Lodge of Astrea” was B. V. Astromov.
As for the position of the Great Master, which was announced by the former director of the imperial theaters V. A. Telyakovsky (1861-1924), it, apparently, remained vacant, since during the investigation Astromov was forced to admit the fact of the mystification of the “brothers” in this question and forging the signature of Telyakovsky on the official documents of the lodge.
On the basis of patents issued by B. V. Astromov, two lodges were opened outside Leningrad: “Harmony” in Moscow, headed by the former Martinist Sergei Polisadov, and “Knights of the Blazing Dove” in Tiflis, headed by B. V. Astromov's brother Lev Kirichenko -March. The initiation ceremony for the junior degrees of the Order was as follows.
Kneeling before the altar, the neophyte read out a passage from the dedicatory notebook corresponding to his degree, after which the presiding officer in the white robe of the magician gave him a short instruction. The ceremony ended with the swearing-in of the neophyte, sealed by his signature with blood from a punctured finger.
According to M. N. Sevastyanov, whom B. V. Astromov consecrated to the 30th degree, during this sacrament he had to not only put an imprint of the index finger in blood at his signature under the text of an oath with a vow of silence, but also kiss the hilt of the ritual sword and the six-pointed star on B. V. Astromova.
In addition, in accordance with occult tradition, Astromov also painted on his forehead an image of the sacred pentagram, i.e., a five-pointed star. Among the Leningrad occultists, the “school” of B. V. Astromova was considered magical, as it allowed, according to the general opinion, those who passed through it to “subjugate” the environment, however, not resorting to the services of dark, satanic forces, unlike black magic.
Such was, in general terms, the organization of B. V. Astromov, whose members found themselves drawn into a major political game by their leader.
Some idea of it is given by a special report prepared by B. V. Astromov and his colleague in the Order M. M. Sevastyanov on August 15, 1925 at the request of the OGPU (it was already mentioned at the beginning of our essay), entirely devoted to possible cooperation between the Bolsheviks and Freemasons … With the help of the OGPU, the report was typed on a typewriter and sent in two copies to Moscow, and a copy was presented in Leningrad to the local branch of the OGPU.
B. V. Astromova was not his personal improvisation on the "Masonic" theme. It was a Masonic answer to specific questions of interest to the "specialists" of the OGPU. First of all, it was, of course, about the possibility of using the Masonic organization in the interests of building communism in the USSR.
Developing this idea, B. V. Astromov emphasized in his report that “of course, the Freemasons do not pretend to open legalization, since it will be more harmful than good for work.” And then, he noted, they would be able to accuse them of “chekism” or “reptilianism,” which will certainly alienate the Russian intelligentsia from Freemasonry.
The role of Freemasonry was mainly to convince the best part of it of the "regularity of the experienced events, and therefore their inevitability."
Here, according to B. V. Astromov, the “real work” of “Autonomous Russian Freemasonry” could be expressed primarily “in strengthening the ideas of internationalism and communism in the legal consciousness of the Russian intelligentsia, as well as in the struggle against clericalism”.
Ultimately, B. V. Astromov proposed the following “modus vivendi” to the Soviet government: the Soviet government tolerates the existence of Masonic lodges and cells belonging to the Union of the “General Lodge of Astrea”, without persecuting its members, and the “General Lodge of Astrea”, in turn, undertakes the obligation "not to have any secrets from the government of the USSR and not to be in contact or in alliance with any foreign Masonic Order."
The document is - to be sure - remarkable. But what or who is behind it? Did B. V. Astromov himself come up with the idea of Masonization with the tacit support of the government, if not the entire country, then at least the Russian intelligentsia, or was this idea suggested to him during conversations with the "specialists" of the OGPU, one of whom - G. I. … Bokia - do we already know?
The answer to this question is not easy. The fact is that, while stating during the investigation that he did not pursue any other goals in creating his organization, except for “self-improvement and self-discipline” of its members, B. V.
In any case, BV Astromov's attempts to contact the English Freemason Lombart Derit, a former pastor of the Anglican Church in St. Petersburg, as well as the rector of the University of Turin, Freemason Gorrini, suggest that his plans went a little further than the work of the members community. The persistent efforts of B. V. Astromov, undertaken by him since 1923, about obtaining a foreign visa, also speak of this.
As you can see, B. V. Astromov was by no means going to sit on the banks of the Neva. And yet the very idea of the possible cooperation of the Freemasons with the Soviet regime belongs, apparently, not to B. V. Astromov. Here, as it seems to the author of these lines, other forces were most likely involved.
Some light is shed on them by the testimony of the freemason N. N. Beklemishev, who testified that already at the end of 1925 B. V. Astromov told him about his desire to set up in Moscow “a box with the knowledge of the Political Administration, in order to work together for rapprochement with the Western powers”.
“I remember,” he showed on March 3, 1926, to investigators of the Leningrad OGPU, “that first Astromov attributed this idea to a certain Barchenko, and then he began to speak for himself and, it seems, traveled to Moscow on this issue”.
Thus, it turns out that the idea of using Masonic channels for rapprochement of Soviet Russia with the Western powers was thrown to B. V. Astromov by A. V. Barchenko, who, as we already know, in 1919, in the Masonic lodge of G. I. Bokia (it could, however, be the other way around) and was undoubtedly associated with the OGPU.
BV Astromov's right hand was the local master of the Moscow lodge "Harmony" Sergei Palisadov, with the help of whom he managed to "get out" to his colleague from the "Great East of France" VI Zabrezhnev, who worked in the mid-1920s. in the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
Encouraged by this, BV Astromov instructed SV Polisadov to contact AV Lunacharsky and Izvestia editor Yu. S. Steklov (Nakhamkis) by means of medal insignia. Astromov himself also did not sit idly by and managed to interest in Freemasonry the head of the department of international settlements in Leningrad, a member of the All-Union Higher School of Economics) A. R. Riks and persistently sought meetings with the former investigator of Petrograd Gubchek K. K. Vladimirov.
This essentially provocative activity of B. V. Astromov continued for seven months, until, finally, the Chekists who worked with him realized that their ward was clearly not a figure with whom one could have a serious business. A disabled person of the second group (a consequence of the shell shock he received in the Russo-Japanese War), BV Astromov enjoyed an unenviable reputation among the Masons not only as an unbalanced, but also as a deceitful, morally unclean person. There could be no question of any respect for him from the students.
The entire authority of BV Astromov among the “brothers” rested on the inherent power of hypnotic influence on the interlocutor. In this regard, a belief even spread among some of the brothers that Astromov's entire magical power lies in seven long hairs on his bald skull under the academic cap, the direction of the ends of which supposedly regularly changes with a change in the direction of astral influence.
Especially a lot of criticism was caused by BV Astromov's practice of forcing his students to have sexual intercourse with him in perverted forms - the so-called "threefold initiation", allegedly widespread in some esoteric lodges of Western Europe.
The “brothers” did not approve of BV Astromov’s contacts with the Chekists, rightly suspecting him as a provocateur. The turmoil that arose in connection with this in the “fraternal” environment, ended in the end with the fact that on November 16, 1925, the Astromov box of the “Cubic Stone” was closed by the “brothers”, which meant his de facto exclusion from the organization he had created. On November 22, B. V. Astromov was presented with an ultimatum to resign from himself the title of general secretary of the community, which he was forced to accept under the circumstances.
On December 12, 1925, after long delays, BV Astromov announced the official withdrawal from himself of the “title” of a member of the “General Lodge of Astrea” and of the general secretary. This was the end of B. V. Astromov, because as with a private person, the OGPU could no longer speak of any cooperation with him. Now he could be of interest to the Chekists only as a suspect.
Indeed, on January 30, 1926 BV Astromov was arrested. While already in the House of Pretrial Detention, on February 11, 1926, he wrote a letter to JV Stalin, where we develop the idea of using “Red Freemasonry” not only as an association of communist-minded intellectuals, but also as “a form and disguise that could Comintern”.
The unlucky general secretary of “Autonomous Russian Freemasonry” saw himself as “an advisor-consultant” under I. V. Stalin (Leningrad Freemasons and the OGPU. - “Russian Past”, 1991, book 1, pp. 275-276). Life, however, decided otherwise. Immediately after the arrest of B. V. Astromov, the same fate befell in February-March 1926 the members of the “Russian Autonomous Freemasonry” and the “Martinist Order” headed by Mr. O. Mebes.
June 18, 1926 by the resolution of a special meeting at the UGPG board B. V. Astromov, G. O. Mebes, M. A. Nestyarova, V. F. Gredinger, A. V. Klimenko, S. D. Larionov and other “brothers” and “sisters” - a total of 21 people - were convicted, and the unusually mild sentence against the leaders of these organizations B. V. Astromov and G. O. Mebesa - only three years of exile. As for the very idea of using the “Masonic card” and “Masonic channels” to establish unofficial contacts with the true masters of Western democracies, this idea, as the already mentioned letter from K. B. Radek to the master of the “Grand Orient of France” shows, has not died.
Among the Masonic occult lodges named by BV Astromov during the investigation was the Order of the Knights of the Holy Grail, headed by Alexander Gabrielovich Gosheron-Delafos, who served as the controller of the financial control department of Gubfo.
The oldest members of the Order were close friends of Delaphos: Nikolai Tsukanov and Mikhail Bitutko, who together with him formed the leading "triangle" of the organization. Among other "brothers" and "sisters"; artist M. Poiret-Purgold, theater artist A. I. Vogt, student of Leningrad State University Natalia Tarnovskaya, musician A. A. Kinel, archaeologist G. V. Mikhnovsky, composer and musicologist Yu. A. Zinger.
In fact, the Order arose not earlier than 1916, although AG Delafos made the first initiations into it back in 1914 (poet Dmitry Kokovtsev and Nikolai Tsukanov). The fact is that by this time Delafos had returned from a trip to France, where he was apparently initiated, although during the investigation he denied this fact.
The officially declared goal of the Order - to "improve the mental and moral abilities" of the knights of the Holy Grail as they move up the ladder of degrees (there were seven in total) - was not distinguished by originality and was akin to the goals declared by other Masonic communities of all times.
The legend of the Grail - the bowl into which the blood of the crucified Christ allegedly flowed after the Roman centurion Longinus pierced his chest with a spear - is as revered by the Masons as the myth of Adoniram, the builder of the Solomon Temple. AG Delafos himself spoke to his students about the existence of a certain ideal center of the Holy Grail in a dilapidated knight's castle in Brittany, France.
The mystical-religious philosophy preached by Delaphos is rooted in medieval sectarianism, known in literature as Manichaeism, a doctrine professed by the heretical movements of the Cathars, Waldensians, and Albigensians.
In addition to the chalice, a cross and a luminous pentagram were also present in the Order's symbolism. On May 15, 1927 A. G. Delaphos and 9 other knight brothers were arrested. The investigation over them did not last long, and on July 8 of the same year they were convicted. The most severe punishment was borne by the leaders of the Order: A. G. Gosheron-Delafos - ten years in camps, and five - M. M. Bitutko and N. I. Tsukanov.
Victor Brachev