I. Lopukhin, a “Spiritual Knight”
A Dialogue with Power and Conscience
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21241402 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Е Е Приказчикова (0000-0001-9018-6213, Ural Federal University, corresponding author), Elena Prikazchikova |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 711-726 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quaestio Rossica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2311-911X • E-ISSN: 2313-6871 |
| Publisher | Ural Federal University (PUBLISHER • RU) |
| DOI | 10.15826/qr.2018.3.323 |
| OpenAlex | W2893718178 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
This article studies the conflict between Moscow Martinists and Catherine II in the second half of the 1780s and early 1790s as reflected in The Notes of Senator I. Lopukhin, a famous Freemason and theorist of Moscow Martinism. The Notes describe the formation of the “spiritual knight” as one of the variations of the “interior man”, a concept of the anthropological Masonic myth whose theoretical foundations were developed by Lopukhin in his treatises Some Characteristics of the Interior Church (1789) and The Spiritual Knight, or Searching for Wisdom (1791). The Notes not only contain a classic example of spiritual knighthood connected with overcoming one’s own ill will but also aim to protect Masonry as a cultural and religious movement from the ungrounded criticism from the authorities. Lopukhin disputes Catherine II’s anti-Masonic works of the 1780s and exposes the mechanisms behind anti-Masonic public opinion in Russia. He maintains that it is possible to morally defeat one’s oppressors by means of one’s own virtue combined with the ruler’s good will, as it is their task to decide the fate of the unjustly convicted spiritual knight. Despite the fact that cases of the ruler acting in accordance with her conscience were singular and did not influence Catherine’s decision concerning the sentences of other Moscow Martinists, for Lopukhin such a demonstration of mercy was symbolic. He argues that any person is capable of spiritual rebirth, be it Samolyubov, a landowner from his The Triumph of Justice and Virtue, or the Good Judge, or an autocratic ruler of a vast empire
Aesthetics · Conscience · Economic Justice · Knight · Mythology · Political science · Ruler · Sociology · Theology · Virtue · Central Asia Education and Culture · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Philosophy · Soviet and Russian History
| Citations per year | 0.71 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |