Martinists and Freemasons in 1920s Petrograd/Leningrad
In the early twentieth century, numerous occult groups and initiation organizations functioned in Russia, including spiritualists, Templars, Rosicrucians, illuminati, and Martinist initiation societies.
Martinism had been revived in France by Augustin Chaboseau and Gérard Encausse (Papus), who were initiated by different people. In 1884, Papus drafted a constitution for the new Martinist Order. In the 1890s, the order’s highest executive organ was created—the Supreme Council—with Papus as its President and Grand Master. Papus’ Martinist Order quickly spread throughout the world. Martinism of that time combined elements of various western initiation traditions: the order’s aim was to return man to the divine source through spiritual enlightenment, which could be attained through the study of the laws of ethereal realms and communication with their spirits. By 1916, the order had 160 lodges in different countries, including Russia. In 1897, Papus initiated Daria Musina-Pushkina, an actress in Russia’s Imperial Theaters and the prototype for one of the sisters in Chekhov’s famous play. In January 1899, Musina-Pushkina became the order’s Grand Legate in Russia and was tasked with organizing a meeting between the order and Russia’s Imperial couple. Her successor in this role was Valerian Muravyov Amursky, the military attaché of the Russian embassy in Paris. Around the turn of the century, Papus made several visits to Russia, which, along with his contacts with Emperor Nicholas II, helped the rapid spread of Martinist ideas in the country.
The formal leader of Martinism in Russia, Muravyov-Amursky was known for his right-wing politics and his fear of the “international Judeo-Masonic conspiracy,” and advised the emperor to create a special organ to monitor the activities of secret societies. In 1906, he published an advertisement seeking new members of the Martinist Order in several Russian newspapers (State Councillor Pyotr Kaznacheev joined the following year). Musina-Pushkina soon drifted away from the order to focus on her theatrical career, while Muravyov-Amursky broke with Papus and Martinists in 1907, denouncing them as “dark forces.”
It was not until 1910 that Count Czesław Czyński was appointed as the new Grand Legate in Russia. He was a hypnotist and chiromancer, who made several attempts to legalize the order in the country. Czyński and his allies published a large number of popular propaganda brochures about “occult sciences.” It was during this period that Grigory (G.O.) Myobes became a follower. He opened the first Martinist lodge in St. Petersburg, named after Apollonius of Tyana.
Myobes, who was of Swedish descent, worked as a professor of mathematics and French in two imperial schools in St. Petersburg and wrote on esoteric subjects under the pen name G.O.M. In 1911 and 1912, he read a lecture cycle titled The Encyclopedia of Occultism in St. Petersburg, to great acclaim. The lectures were later published as a book, which is still read today. They were built around a symbolic interpretation of the Major Arcana in Tarot. The Encyclopedia of Occultism became one of the most influential books for followers of the order.
Martinist initiates tried to develop a more mindful approach to life. They worked on themselves, practiced self-analysis, and explored various aspects of human nature with the help of astrology, chiromancy, and other occult sciences.
Critical of the simplification of rituals under Czyński, Myobes travelled to Paris, where Papus assured him that the Apollonius of Tyana Lodge was completely autonomous. In August 1912, encouraged by his new connections and bypassing Czyński, Myobes declared himself the Sovereign Grand Master Legate and Unknown Superior in Russia. The Apollonius of Tyana Lodge became the Supreme Council of Russia (a Grand Lodge).1 Czyński responded by suspending Myobes from order in St. Petersburg and appointing Kaznacheev the “administrator” of Martinists in Russia. Finally, in late 1912, Myobes officially informed Papus of his decision to create an autonomous Martinist order within the Russian jurisdiction. In response, the Supreme Council of the Order in Paris stripped St. Petersburg initiates of their Martinist titles and transferred the administration of the order to Kaznacheev.2 From then on, all of Myobes’ new initiatives were completely autonomous of the international Martinist Order and continued as independent occult societies. In 1913, some of the former Martinists of St. Petersburg joined the Autonomous Martinist Order of the Russian Rite, which was strongly influenced by Templar and Rosicrucian traditions.
In 1919, Myobes appointed Boris Kirichenko (Astromov) (1883–after 1941) as the Secretary General of his order. Astromov had fought in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Infected with tuberculosis on the front line and with a head injury, in 1905 he had traveled to Italy to recuperate. There he began studying law at the University of Turin, became a Freemason, and in 1909 was conferred the Second Degree at the Ausonia (Concordia) Lodge. As he had not attained the degree of Master, Astromov, according to Freemasonry tradition, did not have the right to establish a new lodge.
After the revolution, from November 1917 to 1921, Astromov was the deputy head of security and commandant of the Public Bank and studied occultism under Myobes as part of a group named Prometheus. In 1920 or 1921, he was expelled from the order for dishonorable conduct and broke away from Myobes. As well as differences on moral issues, Myobes and Astromov had ideological disagreements: Astromov was particularly interested in Masonic symbolism, which Myobes chose to simplify, believing it to be excessive, overcomplicated, and unsuited to Soviet Russia. In 1921, Astromov established an independent lodge he named Three Northern Stars, and later three more: The Blazing Lion, The Dolphin, and The Golden Colossus. In August 1922, these lodges, none of which boasted large numbers of initiates, joined to form The Grand Lodge of Astrea, announcing the establishment of autonomous Russian Freemasonry. None of Astromov’s lodges were active for long, nor did they leave much documentary evidence, but the few sources that have been preserved testify to Astromov’s great enthusiasm for reviving Masonic traditions in Russia. Among them are carpet designs for different Masonic Degrees, a specially equipped room with Masonic symbols, manuscripts, and numerous drawings.
Astromov had little success in his attempts to adapt to the new Soviet life.3 In 1925, he visited the office of the Joint State Political (OGPU) in Moscow to offer his services as a police informer in exchange for permission to leave the country. Although he never received permission, Astromov drew the attention of the OGPU to quite a few members of various occult societies, including the lodges he had established himself. On January 30, 1926, Astromov was arrested together with 21 members of his lodge.4
Another wave of arrests followed. On the night of April 16/17, 1926, the OGPU searched the flats of the most active members of occult societies. On May 20, 1926, charges were brought against Myobes, his wife, and other occultists. They would be sent to the remote prison camp on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea and later exiled.
This was the end of the occult societies established by Myobes and Astromov, which had no connection to the internationally recognized Martinist and Masonic Orders. Organizations that before the Revolution had been inspired by the nationalist, monarchist black-hundredists, and after the Revolution by provocateurs who sought support from the OGPU, ceased to exist.
The internationally recognized Martinist organizations had continued to function in parallel with the autonomous ones. Kaznacheev became the order’s Legate for Central Russia and was responsible for the Order’s affairs not only in Moscow but across a significant part of the Russian Empire. In 1913, Czyński promoted him to Sovereign Legate, which was confirmed by Papus. The development of the Martinist and, later, Masonic organizations run by Kaznacheev and his associates proved no less eventful than that of Myobes and Astromov’s enterprises, but their initiation tradition has remained uninterrupted to the present day.
Roman Gorodnitsky, Andrei Serkov
1. Russian State Library, Manuscript Section, Ф. 116б K. 1, Ед. хр. 21.—Л. 33-35; K.2, Ед. хр. 4; Ед. хр. 46.
2. Russian State Library, Manuscript Section, Ф. 116, К. 1, Ед. хр. 9.
3. From 1921 to 1923 he worked in the justice department (as a defence lawyer and consultant). In the early 1920s he completed a course at film school and took part in the shooting of The Miracle Maker (1922), Infinite Sorrow (1922), and Red Partisans (1924) under the pseudonym Watson. From 1923, he lived on social benefits as a disabled person.
4. By resolution of the Special Council of the Joint State Political Directorate issued on June 18, 1926, Astromov was sentenced to five years in a labor camp, and in December 1926 he was sent to Siberia. After his release, he settled in Gudauta, in the Abkhazian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where he managed the laboratory of the local tobacco factory. On June 10, 1940, he was again arrested by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD).