History of Freemasonry in Russia

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Freemasonry in Russia started in the 18th century and has continued to the present day. Russian Freemasonry pursue humanistic and educational purposes, but more attention is given to ethical issues. It was a spiritual community of people united in an effort to contribute to the prosperity of the Motherland and the enlightenment of the people living in it.

Freemasonry was brought to Russia by foreign officers in service to the Russian military. Russian Freemasonry dates its foundation to the activities of Franz Lefort, Jacob Bruce and Patrick Gordon in the German Quarter of Moscow.^[1] James Keith is recorded as being master of a lodge in Saint Petersburg in 1732–34.^[2] Several years later his cousin John Keith, 3rd Earl of Kintore was appointed provincial grand master of Russia by the Grand Lodge of England.^[2]

Catherine II's factotum Ivan Yelagin succeeded in reorganizing Russian Freemasonry into a far-reaching nationwide system that united some 14 lodges and about 400 government officials. He secured English authorization of the first Russian Grand Lodge and became its provincial grand master.^[3] He favoured an archaic ritual of blood initiation which involved a symbolic commingling of blood.

Yelagin's chief rival was George von Reichel from Braunschweig who championed a different system introduced by Johann Wilhelm Kellner von Zinnendorf, the grand master of the Grand Landlodge of the Freemasons of Germany. At least seven lodges founded in 1772-76 acknowledged Reichel's authority. The Yelagin-Reichel feud was ended in 1776 by the unification of all the Russian lodges under the auspices of the Minerva zu den drei Palmen Lodge in Berlin. The following year Gustav III of Sweden went to St. Petersburg to initiate Grand Duke Paul into Masonry.^[4]

In 1781, Nikolay Novikov and Ivan Schwarz, two professors of the Moscow University, set up the Learned Society of Friends in that city. They were dissatisfied with the Swedish Rite that was practised in St. Petersburg. Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel as the grand master of the lodges in Germany invited Schwarz to take part in the Wilhelmsbad Masonic Congress (1782) where Russia was recognized as the 8th autonomous province of the Rite of Strict Observance.^[5] A schism developed between the lodges of Moscow and St. Petersburg as the former drifted toward a form of Rosicrucianism.^[6]

Catherine the Great suspected the Masons of turning her son Paul against herself, of being a tool in the hands of her enemy King of Prussia, and viewed their attitude toward women as backwards. In 1785, she clamped down upon Novikov's printing house and had some 461 titles confiscated. When she saw her new palace in Tsaritsyno adorned with ornamentation suggestive of the cryptic symbols of Freemasonry, Catherine had it pulled down. Novikov was later jailed, and other leading Freemasons had to flee Russia.

Anti-Masonic measures were revoked as soon as Paul ascended the Russian throne in 1796. Increasingly haunted by the spectre of the French Revolution, Paul came to distrust Freemasonry and Martinism.^[7] Within three years of his reign all secret societies were suppressed, and the lodges closed of their own accord. Two years later Paul was assassinated. The lodges flourished under his successor Alexander I, although it remains unknown whether Alexander himself was an initiate. The most influential figure of this period was Alexander Labzin.

The Grand Lodge Astraea was formed in 1815. It united nineteen smaller lodges and counted 1404 members. Its rival was the Swedish Provincial Lodge of Russia, with seven smaller feuding lodges under its umbrella and 230 members. Leo Tolstoy describes some of the rituals in his novel War and Peace and mentions Fyodor Klyucharyov, a noted Masonic poet. According to Filipp Vigel, Freemasonry did little but to provide a fashionable pastime for bored nobles.^[9] As Emperor Alexander grew increasingly conservative, the Masonic-style political clubs were outlawed in 1822. This interdict was extended by Nicholas I in the wake of the Decembrist revolt, since the Decembrists had sprung from the Masonic lodges.^[10]

Freemasonry was legalized and enjoyed a brief revival after the Revolution of 1905. The Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples seceded from the Grand Orient de France, with Nikolai Vissarionovich Nekrasov and Alexander Kerensky as its main leaders. In 1922, in the wake of the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks had all the lodges closed.

In 1992 and 1993, on the territory of Russia, the Grande Loge Nationale Française, created the lodge: "Harmony" (Moscow), "Lotus" (Moscow), "New Astrea" (St. Petersburg), "Gamayun" (Voronezh).^[11]

• Lodge "Harmony" was established on January 14, 1992, in Paris. This Lodge was created through the regularization of brothers from the lodge "Astrea» No. 100 GNLF.^[12]
• Lodge "New Astrea" was established on June 24, 1993, in St. Petersburg.
• The Voronezh-based lodge "Gamayun" was established on June 24, 1993, in St. Petersburg.
• Lodge "Lotus “ was established on October 12, 1993, in Moscow.^[11]

The Grand Lodge of Russia was established 24 June 1995 in Moscow. The founders of the Grand Lodge of Russia are made up by the Grande Loge Nationale Française and the four lodges previously created on the territory of Russia ("Harmony", "Lotus", "Astrea", "Gamayun"). The first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Russia, through election, was Georgiy Dergachev.

On the 2nd of July 2016, the GLoR counted near of 700 freemasons united over 33 Lodges. The current Grand Master of the GLoR is Andrei Vladimirovich Bogdanov.^[13]

The Grand Lodge of Russia is an integral part of most of the represented Masonic bodies in the world - the regular Freemasonry has mutual recognition with the United Grand Lodge of England (1996) and more than 100 Grand Lodges in the world.^{[11][14][15][16]}

In March 2001, about 100 Freemasons left the Grand Lodge of Russia. The reason for the exit was: the disagreement of the brothers with the domestic policy pursued by the then leadership of Grand Lodge of Russia. From the three-volume book on the history of Russian Freemasonry in the 20th century by the historian of Freemasonry Andrey Serkov it follows that the following lodges have left: Harmony No. 1, Lotus No. 2, Astrea No. 3, Jupiter No. 7, Quatuor Coronati No. 8 and the Orion No. 15.^[17]

On April 16, 2001, a constituent assembly was held, after which it was announced the creation of the “Russian Grand Regular Lodge” (RGRL).

In 2007, after the GLR assembly, a group of Masons, members of the Harmony, Lotus, Phoenix, left GLR. After the release of the members of the GLR, they held a meeting with the members of the Russian Grand Regular Lodge, during which it was decided to unite and choose their name - the Grand Lodge of Russia. A clarification was added to the new name, led by the Grand Master A. S..^[18]

In June 2008, some members of the association decided to establish relations with the Grand Lodge of France.

On October 11, 2008, at its solemn assembly, under the patronage of the Grand Lodge of France, the United Grand Lodge of Russia (UGLR) was established. The United Grand Lodge of Russia was granted a patent of the Grand Lodge of France for the right to carry out work on the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The United Grand Lodge of Russia was included in the establishment of 11 lodges.^[19][20]

On the 2nd of July 2019, the UGLR counted near of 200 freemasons united over 11 Lodges. The current Grand Master of the UGLR is Yuri Arkhangelsky.

• Grand Lodge of Russia - 700 members in 33 lodges;
• United Grand Lodge of Russia - 70 members in 5 lodges;
• Grand Orient of France - 100 members in 4 lodges;
• Grand Lodge of France - 10 members in 1 lodge;
• Women's Grand Lodge Of France - 30 sisters in 1 lodge;
• Le Droit Humain - 20 members in 1 lodges.

• History of Freemasonry
• List of Masonic Grand Lodges

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