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Birth of Ivan V. Lopukhin, Russian statesman, publicist
February 24 (March 6), 1756 was born Ivan Lopukhin, Russian statesman, essayist, memoirist, privy councilor, one of the prominent representatives of Russian Freemasonry.
Lopukhin was born in the village of Voskresenskoye, Belgorod Province. He descended from an ancient noble family, was the grandson of a cousin of Tsarina E. F. Lopukhina, the first wife of Tsar Peter I.
Lopukhin was educated at home; from 1775 he had served as an ensign of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. However, after serving several months, became seriously ill. After leaving military service Lopukhin worked in Moscow Criminal Chamber, becoming first its senior adviser, and soon the Chairman of the Chamber. In his youth, he was also fond of the works of the French Enlighteners, read Voltaire and J.-J. Rousseau, had translated the final part of the "System of Nature" by P. Holbach. Later Lopukhin was carried away by the works of L.-K. Saint-Martin and J. Arndt; had translated from French "The triumph of faith over love" (1780) by E. Young, and "About the bliss" (1781) by Rousseau.
From the early 1780s Lopukhin became friends with the book publisher, N. I. Novikov, and in 1782, he joined the Masonic Order of the Rosicrucians. Two years later he became head of the "Shining Star" lodge, translated a number of masonic treatises. In 1783 Lopukhin founded his own print shop, which was joined by a Masonic secret printing press, that later published the "Freemasonic Shop” Masonic magazine. Lopukhin often delivered speeches at Masonic meetings, was in charge of several lodges in St. Petersburg, Orel, Vologda, and Kremenchug. Among the most famous Lopukhin’s works are: "Moralizing Catechism of true Freemasons", "Seeker of Wisdom, or the Spiritual Knight (devoted to the summary of hermetic science)."
In 1785 began the persecutions of Russian Freemasons, which led to the resignation of Lopukhin. In 1792 he was arrested and questioned in relation to the Novikov’s case. In 1796 Lopukhin, taking part in a court case of Old Believers, wrote "A cry of the ancient judge ..." to the Empress, where he talked about the need for a more humane justice and tolerance for dissenters.
At the beginning of the reign of Emperor Paul I, Lopukhin returned to political life: he became privy councilor, senator of the Moscow department. In 1802 Lopukhin was elected a judge of the provincial court in Moscow. His social views had always been conservative - he was a consistent supporter of absolute monarchy and advocated the preservation of serfdom, criticized the European Masons for their participation in the revolutionary events in France. In his essay "Discourse on the abuse of reason by some new writers and refutation of their harmful rules" (1780) Lopukhin seriously criticized rationalism.
In 1812, during the invasion of the French army, Lopukhin moved from Moscow to Yuryev-Polsky, then to the village of Savinskoye and, finally, to Voskresenskoye, the Orel Province, where he spent his last years.
Ivan Lopukhin died in the village of Voskresenskoye June 22 (July 4), 1816.
Lit.: Кочеткова Н. Д. Лопухин Иван Владимирович // Словарь русских писателей XVIII в. Вып. 2. СПб., 1999; То же [Электронный ресурс]. URL: http://www.pushkinskijdom.ru/Default.aspx?tabid=1136; Лопухин И. В. Духовный рыцарь или ищущий премудрости. 1791; Он же. Записки сенатора И. В. Лопухина. М., 1990; Он же. Излияние сердца чтущаго благость единоначалия и ужасающагося, взирая на пагубные плоды мечтания равенства и буйной свободы: С присовокуплением нескольких изображений душевной слепоты тех, которые не там, где должно, ищут причин своих бедствий. Калуга, 1794; Он же. Нечто для размышления о молитве и сущности христианства. Орел, 1814; Пиксанов Н. К. И. В. Лопухин // Масонство в его прошлом и настоящем. М., 1991. Т. 1; Суровцев А. Г. И. В. Лопухин. Его масонская и государственная деятельность. СПб., 1901.
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