Among the “blank spots” of our history, the mysteries covered in legends, Freemasonry occupies a special place. For a long time this topic was closed for study: there was no literature. Now more and more new publications about Freemasonry are appearing, books that were published in Russia even before the revolution are being published. Today in the lesson we will turn to a topic that is closely related to the formation of the worldview of people of past eras and the present. But there are many myths, misconceptions and speculations around Freemasonry both today and in the past.
The theme of Freemasonry is reflected in fiction, so the task is to get acquainted with the basics of the teachings of the Masons, to find out who they are. What is the role of the Freemasons in the destinies of the heroes of the novel “War and Peace”. Real story Freemasonry begins with the construction of St. Paul's Cathedral in London under the direction of the architect Sir Christopher Wren. The cathedral took a long time to build, from 1675 to 1710. It was then that a wonderful idea was born: to attract public attention to this long-term construction and to raise additional funds, to found “artels” of masons who would “build” the cathedral without lifting a single brick, but only thinking about it. This is how “speculative” Freemasonry was born in England.
The word “Mason” translated from English and French means “mason”, and with the definition “Frank” - a free mason. The symbols of Freemasonry were the mason's tools: a trowel, a plumb line, a compass, a square. The cathedral was finally built, but the Masonic artels - lodges - did not disappear, there were more of them. At the head of each lodge was a Master, a Venerable. The manager of an entire union of lodges was called a grandmaster or Great Master. The first theorists of Freemasonry also appeared: Andersen and Daugulier, who provided a philosophical basis for Freemasonry and began to create its theory and structure. On June 24, 1717, representatives of the first Masonic lodges gathered in a beer hall and established the “Grand Lodge of England” - an association of all existing lodges. This is the first and only reliable date for the birth of Freemasonry as an organized movement. Soon, Freemasonry spread to France and flourished, traditions and new symbolism appeared, the Freemasons came up with a solid history for themselves, dating back to the construction of Solomon’s Temple. The chief builder of this temple was Adoniram, who was killed for not revealing the magic word spoken to him by King Solomon. This name of God is “Jehovah.”
This legend of Adoniram is the basis of initiation into the degree of master in Masonic lodges. In Russia, the first lodges appeared in the 30s of the 18th century. Peter I was a “free mason”, Paul I was brought up by Freemasons and surrounded himself with them, Alexander I at the beginning of his reign was a Freemason, and in 1822 he banned Freemasonry, as a result of which this ban contributed to the development of secret societies of the Decembrists, among whom there were also many Freemasons ( Muravyov-Apostol, Pestel, Ryleev, Bestuzhev). Among the Masons there were many famous people Russia.
At the beginning of the 20th century, interest in the Freemasons intensified. By 1910, there were more than 100 people in Russian political Freemasonry. Their composition was mostly cadets, Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, Trudoviks (Kerensky, Chkheidze, Konovalov, Nekrasov, Tereshchenko). Even before the 1917 revolution, a campaign against the Freemasons began. Two arguments were used: 1) the Freemasons have Jews in their ranks, therefore they are enemies of Orthodoxy and autocracy; 2) the Freemasons have socialists in their ranks, which means they are connected with the “International”. Modern followers of this campaign continue to develop the myth of the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy.
The main ideas of the Freemasons. Freemasons are hostile to the monarchy state structure. All members of society are brothers. And neither language, nor rank, nor fortune, nor wealth makes a distinction between them. The ideal of the Freemasons is a democratic republic. The famous formula: “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”; “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen” is a work of Masonic origin.
The ideas of democracy and the theory of separation of powers were discussed in Masonic lodges. The goal of Freemasonry is destruction Christian culture and its replacement by the Masonic world. Humanity is higher than the fatherland. Freemasonry must cross out the past of peoples. It must create an international movement, the consequence of which will be the ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity among peoples. Ideas of national revolutions that will destroy historically established states and lead to the creation of a Masonic superstate.
There were some moments in the activities of the Freemasons of the Alexander era that impressed Tolstoy, and the writer speaks about them very warmly and sympathetically. These are primarily issues of moral self-improvement. The bearer of these ideas is Osip Aleksandrovich Bazdeev, who made a strong impression on Pierre with his passionate preaching.
The image of Pierre’s “benefactor”, who convinced him to take the path of orthodox Freemasonry, was based on a real person - Joseph Alekseevich Pozdeev, who was popular among Moscow Freemasons.
Did you like the essay? Bookmark the site; it will come in handy - » Freemasons on the pages of L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”
Based on materials from the book by Y. Vorobyovsky and E. Soboleva “The Fifth Angel Sounded the Trumpet.” Freemasonry in modern Russia. M: 2002.-500 p.
In terms of popularizing the brotherhood of free masons, L. Tolstoy’s epic “War and Peace” probably did no less than the rest historical literature, and made it so that in the circles of the intelligentsia they loved and appreciated the old Russian Freemasonry. The reader could always understand that Pierre's tossing and disappointments are connected with his personal drama, that he himself is partly to blame for the failures and blows of fate he experiences. And more than once, as the author testifies, Freemasonry was not only a source of consolation for his hero, but also provided an opportunity to rise to great spiritual heights. And these pages were written by Tolstoy with such brightness and persuasiveness that the impression from them does not fade, despite subsequent hesitations and doubts.
Leo Tolstoy - cult character Russian intelligentsia.
At the age of 12, one of the authors was taken to Yamnaya Polyana to venerate the grave of the great writer. This grave, a mound without a cross, made a depressing impression. Of course, the pioneer did not know then that Tolstoy himself bequeathed to bury himself without “the so-called divine service, but to bury the body so that it would not stink.” So they buried it. Like a dog. And, as if over a suicide, they did not put a cross.
Well, he was a spiritual suicide. The grave became, of course, a place of worship. Found all the signs religious monument. Soon after the count's death, on August 28, 1911, his faithful student Biryukov and his comrades came here. They laid flowers. Biryukov's ten-year-old son bent down to straighten them and suddenly screamed loudly. The father saw with horror that right hand the child is entwined with a viper that has bitten the boy... Vipers have not been seen in these places, the investigation has established, and the appearance of a gray snake three-quarters of an arshin in length is a mystery. At the same time, a snake hole was discovered in the writer’s grave.
The creeping “wisdom” of this sinner will sting for a long time even from the grave. No, it was not for nothing that Lenin almost affectionately called Tolstoy the mirror of the Russian revolution. In general, there is an interesting connection between these two characters, woven from a whole series of coincidences (?). In “Anna Karenina” there is a prototype of revolutionary demons, “ new person", a suicidal intellectual who finds an "anchor of salvation" in the revolution, bears the last name Levin. This was one of Lenin's first pseudonyms. Too frank, pointing to Levitic roots (like the surname K, Marx - Levi). In the early edition of the novel, this Levin was called Nikolai Lenin. This, as we know, is the next pseudonym of the “leader of the world proletariat” and the future “cadavre”.
School and college curricula have always kept silent about the fact that Tolstoy was not just a writer. He was aiming to create his own religion. Supposedly Christian, but without Christ. What is the volume of various “teachings” he collected - from all religious traditions and from all kinds of philosophers worth? In these completely ecumenical “four menaions” it is prescribed what “wisdom” should be read on this or that day of the year. And here is the entry in the writer’s diary dated April 20, 1889: “A new worldview and movement is maturing in the world, and it seems as if my participation is required - its proclamation. It’s as if I was purposely made for this purpose by what I am with my reputation—made by a bell.”
Truly messianic ambitions! They were developed in Tolstoy by a certain voice. Here is an entry from May 25 of the same year: “At night I heard a voice demanding that the errors of the world be exposed. This night a voice told me that the time had come to expose the evil of the world... We must not hesitate or put off. There is nothing to be afraid of, nothing to think about how or what to say.”
The blasphemer galloped through the outskirts of Yasnaya Polyana on a bay stallion, which he named Bes. And an invisible demon sat behind the count’s back. Like on the ancient seal of the Knights Templar - two riders on one horse. Well, ancient ancestor writer and belonged to the Templar family. Shrugging away from the fire of the Inquisition, he arrived in Rus' in the 14th century. And the terrible cry of Jacques de Molay, his cry from the flames: “Vengeance, Adonai, vengeance!” - resounded centuries later in the soul of the Templar descendant.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Lev Nikolaevich also received specific intellectual training. It began with his desire to learn Hebrew. The teacher became the Moscow rabbi Solomon Moiseevich Minor ( real name Zalkind).
Tolstoy, whose family’s founder is considered to be the Knight Templar Count Henri de Mons, archetypally accurately reproduced the Templar appeal to Judaism for “wisdom.” After some time of studying, Minor stated: “He) Tolstoy also knows the Talmud. In his vigorous pursuit of truth, during almost every lesson he asked me about the moral views of the Talmud, about the Talmudists’ interpretation of biblical legends, and, in addition, he also drew his information from the book “Worldview of the Talmudists,” written in Russian.
Teachers' tips can be heard in many of Tolstoy's texts. For example, that it is not Christianity that truly lives, but “socialism, communism, political-economic theories, utilitarianism.” The spirit of Talmudic Christ-hatred, mundane practicality, disguised as the communism of Jewish messianism, blows over these words.
Tolstoy speaks of the demons of the future revolution, the murderers of Alexander II: “the best, highly moral, selfless, good people, what were Perovskaya, Osinsky, Lizogub and many others.” On Freemasonry: “I have great respect for this organization and believe that Freemasonry has done a lot of good for humanity.” But about the “persecuted people”: From a letter to V.S. Solovyov, who compiled the “Declaration against Anti-Semitism” in 1890: - “I know in advance that if you, Vladimir Sergeevich, express what you think about this subject, then you express my thoughts and feelings, because the basis of our disgust from the measures of oppression of the Jewish nationality is the same: the consciousness of brotherly ties with all peoples and especially with the Jews, among whom Christ was born and who suffered so much and continue to suffer from pagan ignorance so called Christians."
And more quotes:
- “The fact that I reject the incomprehensible trinity and ... the blasphemous theory about a god born of a virgin redeeming the human race is completely fair.” - “Look at the activities of the clergy among the people, and you will see that one idolatry is preached and intensively introduced: raising icons, blessing waters, carrying them around houses miraculous icons, glorification of relics, wearing crosses, etc.”
- “In the consecration of oil, as well as in anointing, I see a method of crude witchcraft, as in the veneration of icons and relics, as in all those rituals, prayers, spells.”
He considered all this “the evil of the world.” By the hand of the one who heard the “voices” Tolstoy was seen, apparently, by the same character as in his time by the hand of the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod Melissino, and later by Lenin. Scary words The count wrote about God. But what were the intonations! What an irritation with which all this was said! What were the eyes! In the memoirs of contemporaries we see truly inhuman malice.
Talmudic wisdom is the main thing in Lev Nikolaevich’s attitude to sacred texts.” The methodology for creating heresy is perfectly shown in his article “How to Read the Gospel.” He advises picking up a blue-red pencil and using blue to cross out places you disagree with, and using red to highlight those you like. According to the personal Gospel compiled in this way, one must live.
Tolstoy himself cut off the beginning and end of the Gospel (Incarnation and Resurrection). And in the middle, Christ was forced to humbly ask for the permission of the Yasnaya Polyana teacher of all mankind for every word. Everything - including Jesus, whom Tolstoy essentially takes as his disciple. Lev Nikolayevich forbade Jesus to perform miracles at all.
Why are they all - from Tolstoy to Melissino - so enraged by the very fact of God's miracle? Because they themselves are not involved in it? Because it is not subject to the proud human will? It is strange that Tolstoy, who affirmed universal human solidarity in matters of ethics, insisted that a person closed in his individualism is flawed, insistently wrote that one must agree with the best moral thoughts, expressed by the teachers of all humanity and all peoples, did not extend this solidarity to the area of faith. He could not trust the religious experience of people - even those people whom he included among his teachers.
One day Tolstoy came to Optina Pustyn, but, due to his pride, he never crossed the threshold of the elder’s cell. After the death of the blasphemer, Rabbi Ya. I. Maze said: “we will pray for Tolstoy as a Jewish righteous man.” Kagal did not forget the words of the count: “A Jew is a holy being who took from heaven eternal flame and it enlightened them the earth and those living on it. He is the spring and source from which all other peoples drew their religions and faiths....
The Jew is the pioneer of freedom. Even in those primitive times, when the people were divided into two classes, into masters and slaves, the Mosaic teaching forbade keeping a person in slavery for more than six years.
The Jew is a symbol of civil and religious tolerance. In the matter of religious tolerance, the Jewish religion is far from only recruiting adherents, but, on the contrary, the Talmud prescribes that if a non-Jew wants to convert to the Jewish faith, then it must be explained to him how difficult it is to be a Jew, and that the righteous of other nations will also inherit the kingdom of heaven ... The Jew is eternal. He is the personification of eternity." Oh, soon, very soon, the “eternal Jew” will show Russia his holiness, his culture, and his religious tolerance...
To the question How does Tolstoy describe Freemasonry in the novel "War and Peace"? given by the author Overdue the best answer is L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” was published at a time when Masonic societies in Russia had long been banned. But the events of the novel take us to the first decades XIX century, when Freemasonry flourished in Russia. It is known that Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov was a Freemason; he sought in the brotherhood an opportunity to comprehend and comprehend the world. His Masonic history begins in 1779: in the German city of Regensburg he became involved in the sacraments of the order. Later, traveling around Europe, Kutuzov entered the lodges of Frankfurt and Berlin, and upon returning to Russia in 1783, he was recognized by the lodges of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Mikhail Illarionovich enjoyed great authority among Masons of various degrees. Upon initiation into the seventh degree of Swedish Freemasonry, Kutuzov was given the order name Green Laurel and the motto “Glorify yourself with victories.” The life of the commander fully corresponded to this motto.
Kutuzov devoted more than 30 years to the brotherhood, it was he who stopped Napoleon, the demon of violence and lust for power in the understanding of the free masons, thereby realizing the main goal of the order - achieving peace and tranquility. In Tolstoy's novel, Kutuzov is already a man with established convictions; he is not tormented by doubts as much as it happens with Pierre Bezukhov, who is precisely concerned with issues of moral self-improvement. The bearer of these ideas in the novel “War and Peace” is Joseph Alekseevich Bazdeev, who made a strong impression on Pierre with his passionate preaching. The image of Bazdeev is based on a real person - Joseph Alekseevich Pozdeev, very popular among Moscow masons. This circumstance, apparently, forced us to leave the character’s name and patronymic unchanged and make minor changes to his last name.
Favorite heroes of L. N. Tolstoy go through difficult spiritual path in a painful search for the truth. They get carried away by false ideas, get mistaken, change internally and ultimately approach the ideal of simplicity.
Pierre Bezukhov's entry into the Masonic society occurred during a difficult period of his life, associated with his marriage to Helen Kuragina. He suffers, realizing that he was not only deceived, but also deceived others. He considered himself guilty for marrying without love - this plunges Pierre into a deep crisis. “What's wrong? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why do you need to live and what am I? What is life, what is death? What force controls everything? “- he asks himself. These reflections on the meaning of life are characteristic of goodies Tolstoy.
Pierre's arrival to Freemasonry became important event, because this will help find a way out for his internal tossing. He “thought and thought and thought and thought,” the author reports. But the more he thought, the “darker, more confusing and more hopeless the past, future and, most importantly, the present seemed to him.”
During such reflections, when Pierre was immersed “in the highest mentality that a person can achieve,” at that moment he entered the room stranger. It was the old Mason Bazdeev, who came to Pierre to convert him. He immediately started talking about Freemasonry and suggested introducing Pierre to the “brotherhood of free masons,” where he would find peace. In the penetrating gaze of the freemason, Pierre “felt hope and reassurance.” A week later, Bezukhov’s reception was scheduled “at the St. Petersburg Northern Lights Lodge.” Pierre was accepted into the lodge in compliance with all rituals. The new life instilled new strength in Pierre, and after initiation into the Freemasons he was “cheerful and restrained, as if making fun of the whole world, knowing the truth.”
From the day of his admission into the “brotherhood of Freemasons” began “ new life– activity and self-satisfaction.” Soon Pierre, supported by his fellow Masons in his long-standing intentions, went to the estates “with a very clearly defined goal: to benefit his twenty thousand souls of peasants.”
Pierre finds the meaning of life in the philosophy of moral self-improvement as a means of eliminating evil in oneself and the world.
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Tolstoy wrote about the historical truthfulness of the main characters in his work: “When I write historical things, I like to be true to the smallest details of reality.” “In those days they also loved, envied, sought truth, virtue, were carried away by passions; the mental and moral life was the same, sometimes even more refined than now...”
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Who are the Masons, where and when did they appear? According to the most common of them, the emergence of Freemasonry dates back to the times of King Solomon, who entrusted the coppersmith (architect) from Tire, Hiram Abiff, with the management and supervision of the construction of the temple in Jerusalem.
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The first version also echoes the idea that the ancestors of the Lodges of Freemasons (originally a lodge was simply a place for storing working tools and rest) were the Roman Colleges of Craftsmen or Comatians.
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The following legend indicates that Freemasonry comes from the Order of the Templars (Templars), which was defeated by the French king Philip IV and Pope Clement V for “Satanism, defamation of Christianity and money-grubbing”
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The way out of the impasse was for Pierre to meet Osip Alekseevich Bazdeev “What is bad? What is good? What should we love, what should we hate? Why live and what am I? What is life and death? What force controls everything?” he asked himself. And there was no answer to any of these questions." “No matter what he started to think about, he returned to the same questions that he could not resolve and could not stop asking himself. It was as if the main screw on which his whole life was held was twisted in his head. The screw would not go any further , did not come out, but spun around, not grabbing anything, still on the same groove, and it was impossible to stop turning it.”
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Rite of Initiation “Taking a handkerchief from the closet, Vellarsky placed it over Pierre’s eyes.” Pierre’s gaze stops at the robes of the Masons. They have "closed" leather gloves hands". Gloves ( white) in Masonic symbolism denoted purity of morals, “purity of hands.” The Mason wears a "white leather apron". This is a cufflink made of lamb skin, which in Masonic symbolism denoted purity of thoughts and innocence. The Mason "had something like a necklace on his neck."
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Rite of Passage “As a sign of obedience, I ask you to undress. - Pierre took off his tailcoat, vest and left boot as directed by the rhetorician. The Mason opened the shirt on his left chest... gave him a shoe for his left foot." The sword in Masonic symbolism meant justice as one of the strictest laws in the world; if injustice is hidden in the heart of the initiate, its fruits will find him in the future. At the same time, this is a reminder of God’s punishment awaiting the initiate if in the future he breaks the oaths given to the order and betrays its secrets.
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Initiation rite Bezukhov hears the “Masonic knocking of hammers.” The knocking of hammers symbolized the trials that befall the initiate, the new brother. A hammer is a tool of spiritual labor in Masonic symbolism, used to cut off “unnecessary material”; An ordinary Masonic hammer is a mason's hammer with the non-working side of the butt, which serves as a wedge for splitting stone. Symbolized conscience, the spark of Divinity in man. Bezukhov is walking “on some kind of carpet.” This item was also in Freemasonry symbolic meaning. “For greater clarity of the ritual, the chief spread a carpet on the floor in front of the newcomer, on which were depicted all the symbols that contained hidden meaning degrees"
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Rite of Initiation Symbolic in Freemasonry are also the “sun, moon... plumb line... wild stone and cubic stone, pillar, three windows” mentioned below. The sun in Masonic symbolism meant truth, courage, justice, effective force in the world, the all-vivifying spirit, the Masonic order; the moon meant pure love, matter, nature, as well as Christ and truth. Plumb meant equality; wild stone - rough morality, chaos; cubic - “processed” morality. A pillar in Masonic symbolism could mean wisdom, strength, beauty. The number three in Masonic symbolism means faith in Christ, hope for salvation, love for all humanity; improvement of the heart, mind, spirit; spirit, soul, body; Holy Trinity; three degrees of initiation in Johannine Freemasonry.
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Pierre's conversations with Prince Andrei in Bogucharovo Outside of Freemasonry, Bezukhov asserts, “everything is full of lies and untruths, but in the world, in the whole world there is a kingdom of truth, and we are now the children of the earth, and forever the children of the whole world.”