Masons are among us. Anyone can turn out to be a "free mason", as they call themselves, from a neighbor in the stairwell to some media personality. In Russia, for 150 years now, talk about their power has not ceased. Is it really? About the life of masons in modern Russia, big money and secret meetings.
Do you want to be a Freemason - ask a Freemason
A tall man in a black coat leads the way through the winding streets of the night capital. “I was once in the lodge for the sake of scientific interest, so to speak,” he throws, without looking back. Now he does not stop communicating with other members of the brotherhood, but does not name the reason for his departure.
“People enter the box for different reasons. Some think, and seriously, that they will decide the fate of the world, while others believe that they will gain secret knowledge. And someone just read Tolstoy's "War and Peace" (the novel describes in detail Bezukhov's dedication to Masons and his life in the lodge. - Ed. Note) ", - says my interlocutor Pavel.
If at the time of Pushkin and Griboyedov (freemasons consider them “theirs.” - Ed.) The principle was: “to be a Freemason, ask a Freemason about it” and it was necessary to make as many acquaintances as possible with members of the lodge, then in the 21st century the opportunity Almost everyone can take advantage of the fate of the world.
“In the same USA there are millions of Freemasons. There are also many in Europe. And we have a continuous turnover. There are few permanent members of the lodge,”laments Pavel. According to him, the whole point is in a rather expensive "entrance ticket" - from 10-20 thousand rubles. Therefore, the budget of Russian Freemasonry - in contrast to foreign secret societies - is not as large as it is commonly believed.
“Several years ago one of the largest lodges in France expelled its great master with a scandal. Do you know why? He bought a personal helicopter with the money of the brotherhood,”he says.
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We approach a small door in an old building next to Tverskaya-Yamskaya, behind it there are steps leading down. The basement is either a bar or a club. “Usually meetings of various secret societies are held in such surroundings. Although at the best of times, the Grand Lodge of Russia (the only Masonic organization recognized abroad in the Russian Federation. - Editor's note) held its meetings in the Metropol, near the Kremlin. There were also Martinists who practice occultism - they have something like Christian Kabbalism,”says my interlocutor.
Are there many Masons in Russia
Freemasonry does not have a single centralized organization, but at the same time it is quite hierarchical. Various Masonic lodges of about 10 people (maximum of 20) can be combined into "great" ones. The first such united lodge appeared in England exactly 300 years ago and since then is considered the most authoritative. In 1740, its adept, general in the Russian service, James (Jacob) Keith, was appointed a great master of Russia. And by the end of the 18th century, all the Russian nobility "fell ill" with Freemasonry: famous statesmen, poets, artists, architects became members of the lodge. This continued until the grandson of Catherine II, Emperor Alexander I, in 1822, unexpectedly for everyone, outlawed Freemasonry. It got to the point that officials gave special receipts about their "non-membership of lodges." And rumors spread among the peoplethat the Masons worship the devil.
Freemasonry was revived only briefly after 1905. But in the first decade of Soviet power, the Masonic lodges were “cleaned out”. There is a story that the Masons tried to cooperate personally with Stalin, but he, having familiarized himself with their proposal, immediately requested the names of all members of the Russian lodge. And in the post-war years, when the campaign to "fight Zionism" was launched, the idea of the Freemasons as a "secret world government" finally took root in the public consciousness.
Once again, Russian Freemasonry revived in 1995 with the emergence of the Grand Lodge of Russia (VLR), recognized by more than 90 Masonic organizations in different countries of the world. Its members call themselves "a club of men who believe in God and want to bring the light of knowledge to society." This organization considers itself the only one that received the official right to exist from foreign lodges. Continuity is an important concept for Masons, because they believe that they have been keeping and transmitting "secret knowledge" for more than one millennium.
The VLR today includes 50 lodges, mostly from Moscow. However, in Russia there are other Masonic organizations with different statutes. But they, unlike the VLR, do not have the official status of a "grand lodge" and are, in fact, representations of foreign Masonic assemblies.
“There are about 1,500 Freemasons in Russia now. Moreover, more than a thousand of them are regular, that is, they are members of the Grand Lodge of Russia,”says religious scholar Dmitry Pedenko.
Most of the lodges operating in Russia require their candidates to believe in God and the immortality of the soul. However, this does not mean that there are no atheist Masons. “A distinctive feature of a number of so-called irregular Masonic organizations is precisely that they accept not only believers, but also atheists. However, the number of such lodges in Russia is insignificant and there are very few participants in them. In this regard, the situation is widespread when the members of two irregular organizations are the same persons,”the expert emphasizes.
Ordered to become a Freemason
"Freemasonry is, first of all, an ancient club of respectable people," assures political scientist Vyacheslav Smirnov, a member of the Grand Lodge of Russia. When asked what prompted him to become a Freemason, he evasively replies: "The Motherland ordered."
Each lodge has three degrees (degrees. - Ed.) Of initiation - apprentice, journeyman, master mason. In addition, there are still many different degrees, however, as they say in the lodges, there is no highest degree of dedication, because a Freemason is a brother to a Freemason.
The rite of initiation into the degree itself is complex and symbolic. For example, before the initiation begins, a candidate for "disciple" is half naked, blindfolded and left for half an hour in the "room of reflection." After that, he is taken to the “temple”, where a number of different symbolic actions are performed: for example, the future Mason solemnly swears on the sacred book of his religion (most often it is the Bible. - Ed.).
"Often the initiation ceremony is performed with musical accompaniment, which enhances the impression of the candidate," says one of the Masonic forums.
At the end of the ceremony, the master mason calls on the members of the lodge to help the newcomer in difficulties, being confident that he will help them in difficult times. It is help to one's neighbor, brotherly love and adherence to the truth that are the main principles of Freemasonry. Freemasons themselves formulate their vocation as follows: "to make a good person better." At the same time, the Masons themselves often cannot answer how intricate rituals, together with the requirement to understand a huge number of abstract terms, really contribute to this.
In turn, Paul argues that the higher the degree, the more you will have to pay for initiation. In addition, according to the already official information on the VLR website, the Freemasons make annual contributions.
For some reason, it is generally accepted that during their rituals, Masons have sex. “Masons are often confused with Thelemites. These are the real marginalized, they initiate through sex. One my acquaintance, Thelemite, said that a master from the USA even came to them for ceremonies in Moscow,”says Pavel. The Thelemites are followers of the teachings of the famous English mystic Aleister Crowley, which is expressed in the principle: "do as you please, let it be law."
We don't give out our own
Masonic lodges have several rules for anonymity. Thus, any member of the brotherhood can declare his membership in Freemasonry without prior agreement with his fellows. But you cannot give others away.
“When meeting with a Russian member of the fraternity, there is no point in giving signs - everyone already knows each other, at least for sure. If I don't know someone, my friends will introduce it. And for foreign brothers there are letters of recommendation with seals or e-mails from their jurisdictions with a photo and a recommendation for communication,”explains Vyacheslav Smirnov.
However, in the early 2010s, Russian Freemasonry was still shaken by an "exposing" scandal: someone published on the Web lists of full members of the lodge. This gave new food to various kinds of conspiracy theories that the Freemasons first destroyed the USSR, and then firmly settled in the Kremlin. “The culprit was found quickly and forced to remove everything. There (on the list. - Ed. Note) there were even some officials and managers of well-known companies,”says Pavel.
However, in recent years, the Masonic ranks, according to him, are thinning. “Let's just say that expectations do not coincide with reality: many people see that it is rather boring to be a Freemason. And we do not like them,”he concludes.
Anton Skripunov