Ivan Vladimirovich Lopukhin (russian: Ива́н Влади́мирович Лопухи́н) (February 24, 1756,

Oryol Governorate Oryol Governorate (russian: Орловская губерния, ''Orlovskaya guberniya'') or the Government of Oryol, was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the early Russian SFSR, which existed from 1796 to 1 ...

–June 22, 1816, Oryol Governorate) was an Imperial Russian philosopher, mystic, writer and humanitarian. Born to the wealthy

Lopukhin family The Lopukhin family was a noble family of the Russian Empire, forming one of the branches of the Sorokoumova-Glebov family. Eudoxia Lopukhina married Peter the Great. When Pyotr Lopukhin's son died childless, the family's princely title passed t ...

in 1756 in Voskreskenskoye, Lopukhin joined the

Preobrazhensky Lifeguard regiment The Preobrazhensky Life-Guards Regiment (russian: Преображенский лейб-гвардии полк, ''Preobrazhensky leyb-gvardii polk'') was a regiment of the Imperial Guard of the Imperial Russian Army from 1683 to 1917. The Pr ...

in 1775. He retired a colonel 7 years later due to health concerns. After serving as a counselor and later court president on the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Criminal court between 1782 and 1785, he was introduced to

rosicrucianism Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its ...

martinism Martinism is a form of Christian mysticism and esoteric Christianity concerned with the fall of the first man, his state of material privation from his divine source, and the process of his return, called 'Reintegration'. As a mystical traditio ...

and

freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

Raffaella Faggionato ''A Rosicrucian Utopia in Eighteenth-Century Russia'' Springer, the Netherlands 1997 through his friend

Nikolay Novikov Nikolay Ivanovich Novikov (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Новико́в) (, Moscow Governorate – . Moscow Governorate) was a Russian writer and philanthropy, philanthropist most representative of his country's Russian Enlighten ...

and began a career as a writer and printer, while entering civil service. He became

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1798. In 1801, Tsar

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

asked Lopukhin to investigate complaints by the

Doukhobors The Doukhobours or Dukhobors (russian: духоборы / духоборцы, dukhobory / dukhobortsy; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are one of many non-Orthodox ethno-confessional faiths in Russia an ...

, his reports in 1802 leading to their resettlement on the Molochnaya River, along with other religious minorities.

Selective bibliography

* 1790 'Nravouchitelnyi Katezhizis Istinnykh Franmasonov' * 1791 'Catechism of the True Freemason' Нравоучительный катехизис истинных франкмасонов * 1791 'The Spiritual Knight or searching for wisdom". Духовный рыцарь или ищущий премудрости * 1794 'The effusion of the heart of the man of Desire" * 1795 'The description of several pictures and tableaus based on some fragments, which are located in the archives of Internal Affairs explaining the motives, actions and downright blindness of the corrupt Frenchmen' * 1795 'Improvisations to songs by Davydov' * 1796 'The image of the dream of equality, and the violent freedom being the fruits thereof' * 1798 'Some Characteristics of the Interior Church'

References

* Berg, A. 'Ivan Lopukhin and the Development of Mystical Historiosophy in Late Eighteenth-Century Russia' ''The Yearbook of the "Gheorghe Şincai" Institute for Social Sciences and the Humanities of the Romanian Academy'' XI, (2008): 44–57

External links

Ivan Vladimirovich Lopukhin, His Life and Role in Doukhobor History
Doukhobor Heritage website, by Jonathan Kalmakoff.
Translation of excerpts from 'Some Characteristics of the Interior Church'

Excerpts from Lopukhin's Rosicrucian catechisms
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopukhin, Ivan Vladimirovich 1756 births 1816 deaths

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic languages, Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John (given name), John) from Hebrew language, Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. T ...

Martinism Russian Freemasons Doukhobors Mystics Russian humanitarians Russian Imperial Guard officers Military personnel of the Russian Empire 18th-century people from the Russian Empire 19th-century people from the Russian Empire Lawyers from the Russian Empire Philosophers from the Russian Empire Politicians of the Russian Empire Writers from the Russian Empire