Some Characteristics of the Interior Church

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 through his "I.V. Lopukhin Free Press." Lopukhin was not only a printer and publisher, but also an accomplished author. The idea of a spiritual "inner church" was a prominent theme in many of his writings. Arthur Edward Waite, provides a lengthy Introduction to this book and analyzes Lopukhin's work and his contribution to Hermetic literature.

The first Russian edition of Some Characteristics of the Interior Church appeared in 1798. A French translation was made by Lopukhin and published in 1799. A German translation followed. The first English version was published by the Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1912.

Scriptoria Books has transcribed this edition word for word from the 1912 English translation by D.H.S. Nicholson. It was then edited, formatted, typeset, and proofread through each revision. This book is not a facsimile, nor does it contain OCR interpreted text. This is a carefully created new edition of a classic work.

Ivan Vladimirovich Lopukhin (1756-1816) was inspired by the thought of Johan Arndt, Jacob Böhme, Karl von Eckartshausen, and Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin. Lopukhin was a colonel in the Russian army until 1782 and was afterwards appointed president of the Court of Appeals in Moscow. As one of the leading Freemasons and Rosicrucians, he sought to mitigate the cruelties of Russian legislation as much as he was able. When the decree on the free presses was issued by Catherine the Great in 1783, he founded his ＂I.V. Lopukhin Free Press,＂ enabling him to publish a great number of mystical, Masonic, alchemical and enlightened books in the Russian language. In 1784 he also became a member of the ＂Typographical Society in Moscow＂ which had been established by the Moscow Rosicrucians around Nikolai Novikov.