Johann Georg Schwarz (; 1751–1784) was a

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

professor at

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

who headed the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n branch of the Rosicrucian Society. A Transylvanian Saxon, Schwarz settled in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1776. He has been described as "the main carrier of esoterica into Russia" and an "emissary of Boehmist theosophy". He joined forces with Nikolay Novikov in founding the Society of Friendship, a bulwark of Russian Freemasonry that held secret meetings at the Menshikov Tower. Schwarz and Novikov moved the Masonic centre of Russia from St. Petersburg to Moscow, helping emancipate their compatriots from the

Swedish Rite The Swedish Rite is a variation or Rite of Freemasonry that is common in Scandinavian countries and to a limited extent in Germany. It is different from other branches of Freemasonry in that, rather than having the three self-contained foundat ...

and Yelagin's antics. Schwarz travelled in Europe to catch up with recent developments in the Rosicrucian doctrine. In 1782, he was present at the Wilhelmsbad masonic congress where Russia was recognized as the 8th autonomous province of the

Rite of Strict Observance The Rite of Strict Observance was a Rite of Freemasonry, a series of progressive degrees that were conferred by the Order of Strict Observance, a Masonic body of the 18th century. History Baron Karl Gotthelf von Hund (1722–1776) introduced ...

.Raffaella Faggionato. ''A Rosicrucian Utopia in Eighteenth-Century Russia: The Masonic Circle of N.I. Novikov''. Springer, 2005. Page 251. Paul of Russia also went to Europe at this time, raising

Catherine II Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III ...

's suspicions about Paul's conversion to

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

. Schwarz died soon after returning to Moscow at the age of 33.

References

Transylvanian Saxon people Academic staff of Moscow State University Russian people of German descent Russian Freemasons Rosicrucians Christian occultists 1751 births 1784 deaths 18th-century Christian mystics 18th-century philosophers from the Russian Empire {{russia-philosopher-stub