have received instructions not to intervene ) that it was no more than a gathering of friends around a table decorated in advance .
Martinist groups also emerged in Russia following the visits of the miracle worker Maître Philippe and of Papus , who was received at the Imperial Palace . These groups consisted of aristocrats and members of the upper class , and in 1909 and 1910 three Martinist lodges were established : Apollonius of Tyana in Saint Petersburg , Saint John the Evangelist in Moscow , and Saint Andrew in Kiev . They disappeared almost as soon as they had begun because of the fear of police investigations , but , according to Nina Berberova , Martinist activity continued until 1916 . Several Masons were among the Martinists , including Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich , Bebutov , and the Ukrainian Markotun .
Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
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II . The Evolution of Russian Masonry from 1909 to 1917
A
Masonic report issued by the Rossia Consistory in 1929 states that between 1909 and 1914 , the Russian Brethren belonging to the French lodges of the GODF formed an organization called the Grand Orient of the Peoples of Russia ( GOPR ). It specified that “ this organization was Masonic in name only , lacking ritual , international recognition , or any relationship to Freemasons in other countries . Its aim was purely political : the overthrow of the autocratic regime .” Against this oversimplification , Andrey Serkov ’ s research offers a more nuanced interpretation . The reorganization of Russian Masonry after its collapse in 1909 was driven by Aleksandr Kolyubakin ( 1865 – 1918 ), a left-leaning K-D member who advocated reconciliation with the Trudoviks and Mensheviks . He was among the first new initiates , joining The Little Bear Lodge , which opened in 1910 , and was elected to the second Duma . He was in charge of the new lodge , while Aleksandr Halpern , an SR lawyer of Jewish descent ( which was rare in Russian lodges ), was appointed as Secretary . Several Masons from the previous wave , including Kedrin and Bebutov , were deemed too likely to talk and left out . One or two English lodges associated themselves with the movement , and in 1912 the first Convention of the new Grand Orient of the Peoples of Russia met and elected a Supreme Council and a secretary general . In Serkov ’ s view , the assembly ’ s goal was also to prepare for the election of the fourth Duma . Kovalevsky ’ s proposal that the GOPR should become a non-partisan center of union beyond differences was met with a mixed response . Those in favor wanted , at least in theory , to make the new GOPR into a center of fraternal union bound together by moral values and mutual trust , with the ultimate objective of installing a democratic regime . In that respect , the future Grand Orient was essentially continuing the struggle of French Freemasonry and can thus be seen as its descendant .
Due to the desire for efficiency and the lack of Masonic culture and experience among their members , the GOPR lodges placed less emphasis on ritual practice . The GOPR retained only