Some Characteristics of the Interior Church

By I.V. Lopukhin

Some Characteristics of the Interior Church - I. V. Lopukhin (Author), Arthur Edward Waite (Introduction), D. H. S. Nicholson (Translator).

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Some Characteristics of the Interior Church, is I.V. Lopukhin's account of his exploration of the "inward spiritual man." Ivan Vladimirovich Lopukhin (1756-1816) was a Russian statesman, writer and philanthropist. He was one of the leading Freemasons and Rosicrucians in Moscow during the late 18th century and published many mystical, Masonic, and alchemical books. The idea of a spiritual "inner church" was a prominent theme in many of his writings. Arthur Edward Waite, provides the Introduction to this book and analyzes Lopukhin's work and his contribution to Hermetic literature.

This book is a carefully created new edition that was transcribed word for word from the original text. It is not a facsimile and does not contain OCR interpreted text.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312077737

Book preview

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SOME

CHARACTERISTICS

OF THE

INTERIOR CHURCH

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I.V. LOPUKHIN

Translated from the French by

D.H.S. Nicholson

With an Introduction by

Arthur Edward Waite

Scriptoria Books

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Some Characteristics of the Interior Church

Copyright © 2009, 2014 by Scriptoria Books

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher.

Transcribed, edited, and formatted for print and digital media by Scriptoria Books. Every effort has been made to preserve the text and language (English – UK) of the original publication. Minor corrections to spelling, capitalization, and punctuation were based on the period in which the work was written.

Originally published in Russia, 1798. The first French translation was published in 1799. A German translation followed in the 19th century. The first English edition was issued by the Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1912. This edition is a reproduction of the 1912 English publication.

Some Characteristics of the Interior Church / by I.V. Lopukhin ; translated by D.H.S. Nicholson ; preface by Arthur Edward White

p. cm.

ISBN 9781442140103 (pbk)

1. Mysticism.

I. Lopukhin, I.V. (Ivan Vladimirovich), 1756-1816.

Scriptoria Books

Mesa, Arizona USA

www.scriptoriabooks.com

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I.V. LOPUKHIN

IVAN Vladimirovich Lopukhin (1756-1816) was a Russian statesman, philosopher, writer, educator and philanthropist. He was a colonel in the Russian army until 1782, and then became Judge of the Moscow Criminal Court. As a member of the Orthodox Church, his Christian faith guided him as he sought to mitigate the cruelties of Russian legislation. When the decree on the free presses was issued by Catherine the Great in 1783, he founded the I.V. Lopukhin Free Press. Lopukhin was not only important as a printer and publisher, he was also a deserving author himself. The idea of a spiritual inner church was a prominent theme in many of Lopukhin's writings, and he believed secular-learning and self-indulgence kept man from following Christ and gaining true Wisdom.

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

By the Translator – D.H.S. Nicholson

INTRODUCTION

On Intimations Concerning the Interior Church in Schools of Christian Mysticism – Arthur Edward Waite

1 - Of the Origin and Duration of the Interior Church

2 - A Plan of the Church Under the Image of a Temple

3 - Of the Church of Antichrist

4 - Of the Signs by which the True Church of God may be Known, and the True Members of its Head Jesus Christ

5 - Of Regeneration, of Falls, of the Errors which may Occur, and of False Spirituality

6 - Of the Way of Jesus Christ in the Soul

7 - Of the Imitation of Jesus Christ

8 - Of the Principal Means of Entering in the Ways of the Divine Life

CHARACTER AND DUTIES OF THE CHRISTIAN

An Abridged Exposition Taken From the Word of God and Set Forth by Questions and Answers

ALLEGORICAL TABLE

EXPLANATION OF THE ALLEGORICAL TABLE

Representing the Temple of Nature and Grace

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The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father; but when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

— John iv. 21-23.

"Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

— Isaiah lxvi. 1, 2.

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PREFACE

By the Translator – D.H.S. Nicholson

IT is a peculiar fact that the period of chaotic change which preceded, and in fact comprised, the French Revolution should coincide with the appearance in various parts of Europe of a number of men the goal of whose activities was the eternal and unchanging. Louis Claude de Saint-Martin in France, Karl von Eckartshausen in Germany, and Ivan Vladimirovich Lopukhin in Russia are all striking examples of detachment from the mental surroundings of their time, and in the lives of Saint-Martin and Lopukhin there may be traced even a certain similarity of incident.

Lopukhin was born in 1756, and at the age of nineteen joined the army, where he remained for some seven years, and resigned in 1782 with the rank of colonel. The reasons of this retirement are uncertain, but it is conceivable that it was prompted by a feeling that prevention in the temporal order is preferable to punishment, for Lopukhin accepted a post as Judge of the Moscow Criminal Court, where he is credited with having held definite views upon the necessity of punishment being corrective rather than vindictive. He was opposed to capital punishment on grounds which show him already a mystic at heart, for he remarks naively: I think it is useless, besides the fact that only the Creator of life knows exactly the moment when that life may be cut off without upsetting the order of the divine creation.

But the interests of the army and the law were not strong enough to withhold Lopukhin from his true work of Mysticism for a much longer time than the law and the army were able to restrain Saint-Martin. When he was twenty-nine years old, and had been occupied with the law for three years, he resigned from the Presidentship of the Criminal Court and gave all his energy to furthering Masonic interests. A body known as Novickoff's Society existed in Moscow for this purpose, and as a member of it Lopukhin began his literary and philanthropic career.

It seems that his approach to Mysticism was by the way of Masonry, and that the end already enlightened the way. One of his earliest writings was known as The Moral Catechism of True Freemasons, and in it he insisted on the non-political character of Masonry at the same time that he pleaded that a universal love of God and one's neighbour, and unceasing efforts towards self-improvement, should be its foundation. It was perhaps inevitable that in spite of such idealistic views a connection with Masonry in Russia at that disturbed period should entail a certain friction with those in authority, and his former office did not prevent Lopukhin from being condemned to exile in 1792, though in the event this sentence was revoked, and he was allowed to remain in Moscow. In spite of this condemnation, however, it is improbable that he indulged in any anti-governmental writings, for (as he mentions in the present book) he regarded obedience to authority as a divine command, and before the date of that book's appearance he had already produced a work in honour of the goodness of the monarchy, besides a violent attack upon Rousseau's Social Contract, of which he saw the results in France.

This period of devotion to Masonic and definitely Mystic literature was interrupted by the accession of Paul I. in 1796, and Lopukhin's appointment as Secretary of State, in which capacity, and later as a Senator entrusted with Government inquiries, he passed sixteen years. During this time his literary production did not cease, but his attention gradually turned to Mysticism alone, to the practical exclusion of Masonic writing. In 1812 he retired, and died four years later in his country house.

In this varied life it is difficult to disentangle the probable forces by which Lopukhin was influenced, though there can be little doubt that Freemasonry had a very real and living influence on his mind. There is a period in Saint-Martin's life during which his movements have not been satisfactorily accounted for by his biographers, and it has been suggested that he visited Russia at some time during these years. His liking for the Russians is well known, and there is no inherent improbability in the suggestion, which would indeed account for the rapid spread of Martinism in that country. Whether this be so or not, it is very probable that Lopukhin was interested in Martinistic teachings, and it is interesting to notice a certain similarity in character between the Unknown Philosopher of the French aristocracy and the Russian government official.

The ideals which inspired the two Mystics must have found themselves in contact with strange companions in those tumultuous days, for their surroundings must have had many points of similarity. It is difficult to imagine Mysticism surviving in the atmosphere of the French salons, or of the arid circles of Russian officialdom, but that it not only survived, but even to a certain extent flourished, is sufficiently evidenced by the writings of its two exponents. Though they were so distantly separated in the physical world, the sphere of their real interests was in a world which is unconcerned with questions of space, and certainly they breathed the same high air above the clouds which hide its goal from mankind. That the veil of orthodox piety which covers the work of Lopukhin should be so much denser than in the case of Saint-Martin (where its absence is perhaps exaggerated) is regrettable, but the light which shines through both this veil and that of the carefully unchristian expression of the Unknown Philosopher comes from a common source.

They both escaped from a most probable danger of their surroundings—the temptation to regard Mysticism from the standpoint of the dilettante and to touch it with the aloof curiosity of one who inquires into the bizarre—and it therefore became for both the object and the motive power of their lives. The schemes of Saint-Martin for the social reform of his country, and the fine gentleness of Lopukhin in his treatment of those with whom his positions brought him into contact, both spring from the fundamental postulate that all human actions are referable to a divine order, the comprehension of which is the aim of humanity.

Before considering Lopukhin in relation to his other spiritual kinsman, Karl von Eckartshausen, it may be of interest to give the history of Some Characteristics of the Interior Church. It was first published anonymously in Russian in 1798, and a second edition appeared in the same language in 1816, the year of the author's death. The French translation was made by Lopukhin himself, and published in 1799, being reprinted in Paris in 1801 with the allegorical plate now reproduced. A facsimile of the 1801 edition was produced at Lyons in 1901, pour quelques amis de la vérité. A translation into German was made by Ewald, and appeared in the