BATHAM.TXT      P 52

     RUSSIAN FREEMASONRY
     1731-1979, PART I


by C. N. BATHAM, Master Mason
Reprinted from the Transactions, Lodge of Research No. 2429 (E.C.),
Leicester, England.

     Note: This three-part essay will be continued
     in the June and July issues.


AT THE OUTSET, I WANT TO
emphasize that there is no
Freemasonry in Russia today. It
exists only in exile, and let there
be no misunder-
standing about
that. What I
propose doing,
therefore, is to
detail the times
when there was
Freemasonry
there and, after-
wards, to give a
brief description
of its continu-
ance in exile.
           In Russia, as
in other coun-
tries where
Freemasonry
exists or existed, there are ro-
mantic stories about the early
days. There are stories of how
Peter the Great was Initiated in a
London Lodge
by Sir Christo-
pher Wren, pre-
sumably in what
is now the
Lodge of Antiqu-
ity No. 2, of
which Wren was
supposed to
have been Mas-
ter.
  After his re-
turn to Russia,
Peter the Great
is said to have
introduced Free-
masonry into that country, and, so the story goes, there was a Lodge in St.
Petersburg of which he was Junior Warden!
           I have been in a Lodge in which the Senior Warden was a 
Bishop, but I have never known one in which the Junior Warden
was a reigning monarch. It must have given the Master quite a thrill.
Fancy being able to tell Peter the Great what to do!
           There are stories that Peter III was Worshipful Master of a Lodge
in Oranienbaum and that he presented it with a house to be used
as a Masonic Hall.
           There are anecdotes of how Catherine the Great
would manifest chagrin on finding there was but one
chamberlain in attendance on her because the 
others had gone to a Lodge meeting. Can you really
imagine that happening to Catherine the Great?
           Nevertheless, so the story goes, she remained well 
enough disposed towards the Craft to have her son,
Paul I, Initiated as soon as he became of age, and
some reports say that she actually witnessed
the ceremony.
           In spite of this, Paul outlawed Freemasonry
when he ascended the throne, but this, we
are assured, was only because he al-
lowed himself to be influenced by some
dastardly schemers.
           His successor, Alexander I, renewed
the ban but, after ordering an enquiry
into the nature of the Craft, he canceled
it and, supposedly, was himself Initiated.
           It would be nice to think that at least
some of these stories were fact, but
there is not a word of truth in any
of them.
           The first authentic record we have
of anything connected with Russia
(and it is far more mundane) is in
the minutes for 24th June 1731 of
the Premier Grand Lodge of England,
where it is recorded:

  Then the Grand Master
  [Lord Lovel of Minster Lovel, created
Earl of Leicester, 1721] and his General
Officers signed a Deputation for
our Rt. Worshipful Brother John Phillips
Esqr. to be Grand Master of free
and accepted Masons within the Empires
of Russia and  Germany and Dominions
and Territories thereunto belonging,
and his health was drank wishing
Prosperity to the Craft in those parts.
   The appointment in those
days of a Provincial Grand
Master (for that is what he
was, in spite of the reference
to "Grand Master") did not
necessarily indicate the exis-
tence of a Provincial Grand
Lodge, or even the existence
of a single Lodge within the
Province.  Indeed, we have no
reason to think that Brother
Phillips had any Lodge in his
Province, gigantic as it was.
   Certainly there is a record of
a Lodge constituted in the free
city of Hamburg in 1733, but
there is no certainty that John
Phillips was in any way con-
cerned with it, or even that it
was within his jurisdiction.
   No other Lodge is recorded
during his term of office, either
in Germany or Russia, though
that is by no means conclusive
as continental Provincial Grand
Masters at that time did not
always report events to Grand
Lodge. Further, it is known that
Lodges were formed on occa-
sions, without any authority
whatsoever, Lodges that did not report their existence or delayed
applying for recognition, sometimes for many years.  An obvious
example of this is the English Lodge at Bordeaux that was founded
in 1732 but did not apply for a Warrant until 1766.
   The identity of this John Phillips is a mystery. In the list included
in the minutes at the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge on
27th November 1725, a John Phillips is shown as a member of the
Lodge meeting at the Sun Tavern, near St. Paul's, and also of the
Lodge meeting at the Three Tunns in Newgate Street.
   On the other hand, in the 1738 edition of his Constitutions, Dr.
Anderson refers to him as Captain John Phillips, and records his
appointment as being Provincial Grand Master for Russia only.
   In the list I have previously mentioned, there is a Captain Phillips
shown as being a member of the Lodge meeting in the Rummer
Tavern at Charing Cross, and he is also included as a member of
this Lodge in an earlier list of 1723, the year in which Grand Lodge
records commence.
   Whether these two were one and the same person, what was the
reason for his appointment, and
what connection, if any, he had
with Russia are matters of conjec-
ture.  Certainly there is no record of
his presence in that country, nor of
any activity on behalf of Freema-
sonry there.
   we come to 1740, howev-
er, we are on somewhat firmer
ground.  At the Quarterly Communi-
cation of 28th March 1740, John,
3rd Earl of Kintore, was proposed
for election as Grand Master, and
among those present at this meet-
ing was his cousin, James Keith, "a
Lt. General in the service of the
Empress of Russia."
   Although there is no reference to
it in the minutes, the Grand Master
appointed him Provincial Grand
Master of Russia, though what had
happened to his predecessor, Cap-
tain Phillips, is unknown.
   James Keith came of a noble Scottish family and, from an early
age, exhibited outstanding military talents.  He fought for the Pre-
tender in the 1715 Stuart uprising and, after its collapse, he fled to
Spain where he entered the service of Philip V.
   In 1728 he moved to Russia, where he had an outstanding
military career.  Numerous victories on both land and sea were due
to his leadership, and in 1740, the year in which he became Pro-
vincial Grand Master, the Empress Anna appointed him as her ruler
in the Ukraine.
   As so often happens in such cases, his outstanding success in
these various fields aroused the enmity of some of the Russian
generals and also of some influential courtiers.  Their schemings
caused him to leave Russia in 1747 and transfer his allegiance to
Frederick the
Great.
   His military
career in Prussia
was probably more
outstanding than
in Spain or Russia,
not only in the
field, but as advis-
er to the king.  He
was appointed
General Field-
Marshal and, final-
ly, on 14th October
1758, at the age of
62, was killed in the battle of Hockirchen when the Prussians were
defeated by the Austrians.
           It is said that Keith was Master of a Lodge in St. Petersburg in
1732-34, several years prior to his appointment as Provincial Grand
Master, but there is no proof of this.  The first Russian Lodge to be
mentioned in the English records was certainly at St. Petersburg,
the Lodge of Perfect Union, but it was not Warranted until nearly
forty years later, on 1st June 1771.
           What seems to be certain is that the early Lodges in Russia were
founded by foreigners, mainly from the British Isles and from Germa-
ny, though obviously it would have been necessary for them to work
in complete secrecy, by reason of the uncertainty as to the attitude
of court and government.  Thus there are no records of these
Lodges, only reminiscences.
           Russian Lodges that appear in the English register are eight in
number and are as follows:

  1. Lodge of Peace and Union, No. 414, St. Petersburg, 1st
           June 1771.
  2. Lodge of the Nine Muses, No. 466, St. Petersburg, 1st June
           1774.
  3.. Lodge of the Muse Urania, No. 467, St. Petersburg,
           1st June 1774.
  4. Lodge of Ballona, No.  468, St. Petersburg, 1st June
           1774.
  5. Lodge of Mars, No. 469, Yasay, 1774.
  6. Lodge of the Muse Clio,  No. 470, Moscow, 1774.
  7. Phoenix Lodge, No. 451, Helsinfors (Finland), 1777.
           (Warranted 9th November  1767Finland incorporated in
           Russia, 1777.)
  8. Lodge Astrea, No. 504,  Riga, 21st August 1787.

           In addition, the Lodge of In-
tegrity, a military Lodge in the
Fourteenth Regiment of Foot,
worked in both Sebastopol and
Balaclava in 1856, but this, of
course, was a travelling Lodge
and met wherever the regiment
was stationed, being directly
under the authority of the United
Grand Lodge of England.
            That five Lodges, three in St.
Petersburg, one in Yasay and
one in Moscow, were all War-
ranted in 1774 could mean that
they had been in existence prior
to that date and were only then
seeking official recognition.

["Russian Freemasonry, 1731-
1979" is reprinted from The
Transactions of the Lodge of
Research, Leicester, No. 2429
(English Constitution), to whom
acknowledgement is made.]    `

To be continued in June issue.

