dox Christian with a passionate interest , like many Russian intellectuals , in esoterism , spiritism , Kabbala , and alchemy . He also had a remarkable talent for organization . After a brief period in the GODF he became affiliated with Thebah Lodge ( GLDF ), which was a meeting place for Guénonians and where he met fellow Russians . He received much support from other Russian Brethren in the GLDF , in particular those of L ’ Anglo-Saxon Lodge , whilst his official duties brought him into contact with refugees , both Tsarists and democrats , applying for visas . He was able to talk about Masonry to any who were likely to be interested . Kandaurov , Maklakov , and their fellow Masons , like Vladimir Aitoff , were able to remain in France until the USSR was formally recognized by Edouard Herriot ’ s government in 1924 . The embassy archives were then destroyed and the furnishings were removed .
On December 1 , 1918 , Kandaurov founded the Comité provisoire de la Franc-maçonnerie russe ( Provisional Committee of Russian Freemasonry ) with six other Masons : Major General Voyna-Panchenko , who worked at the embassy ; Count Nesselrode ; the Parisian lawyers Rapp and Gruber , who were close friends of Kandaurov ; the painter Chirokoff ; and the diplomat Von Meck . The membership of the committee changed several times following deaths , departures from France , or arrivals of refugees . These included the lawyer Henrik Sliozberg , who would become Kandaurov ’ s right-hand man ; Vladimir Aitoff ; and Piotr Polovtsov , who had been appointed brigadier general in
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1917 . The Committee supervised candidates for initiation , collected the necessary funds , and maintained links with Russian Masonic groups like the Circle of Russian Freemasons in London ; Great Northern Light Lodge in Berlin , which had twenty-five members and was established by the journalist Vladimir Tatarinov but became dormant on April 10 , 1933 , to avoid having to submit to Hitler ’ s regime ; the members of the future Maksim Kovalevsky Lodge in Belgrade ( twelve members in 1930 ); Astrée Lodge in Egypt ( thirty members , half of whom were Russian , in 1930 ); and groups in English-speaking countries as well as in Italy , Denmark , Poland , and Belgium . Avksentiev was sent as a representative to make contact with Russian Brethren in Argentina in 1939 , a trip that allowed him to avoid capture by the Gestapo , although his Jewish wife was arrested . These Masons were also active within the Council of People ’ s Commissars of the Soviet Union .
In France , the possibility of transferring the GOPR to Paris or establishing an Astrée Grand Lodge having been dismissed as impossible , Russian Masonry initially began to organize itself under the auspices of the Suprême Conseil de France ( SCDF , Supreme Council of France ) and the GLDF . This decision was preceded by debates among the Masons in the Russian Committee in Paris as well as several former members of the GOPR , including Ivan Yefremov , a progressive to the left of the K-D members , who had been a Mason since 1912 and was former Worshipful Master of the highly political Duma Lodge ; Avksentiev , who joined the Pa-