ESOTERICISM, LITERATURE AND

CULTURE IN CENTRAL AND

EASTERN EUROPE
CEENASWE 2
(SECOND CONFERENCE OF CENTRAL AND
EASTERN EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR THE ACADEMIC STUDY
OF WESTERN ESOTERICISM)

Edited by:
NEMANJA RADULOVIĆ

BELGRADE, 2018.
 Table of Contents

Nemanja Radulović
FOREWORD ........................................................................................ 9
Yuri Stoyanov
ESOTERICISM AND VISIONARY MYSTICISM IN MEDIEVAL
BYzANTINE AND SLAVONIC ORTHODOx PSEUDEPIGRAPHIC
AND HERETICAL LITERATURE .................................................... 13
Vitalii Shchepanskyi
HERMES TRISMEGIST AND THE IMAGE OF THE
SCIENTIST-MAGICIAN SHARIJA SKARA IN THE
ORTHODOx SLAVIC ENVIRONMENT ......................................... 29
Jiří Michalík
THE INITIAL RECEPTION OF PARACELSUS
IN CzECH ALCHEMY...................................................................... 45
Rafał T. Prinke
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS AS A LITERARY ANTI-HERO ........... 61
György E. Szönyi
THE MODERN ADEPT: A NOVEL ON ALCHEMY AND ITS
HUNGARIAN RECEPTION IN THE TIME OF THE
ENLIGHTENMENT .......................................................................... 79
Martin Javor
FREEMASONRY MAGAzINES IN CENTRAL EUROPE
IN THE 18TH CENTURY ................................................................... 91
6 Esotericism, Literature and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe

Nemanja Radulović
ESOTERICISM, ORTHODOxY AND ROMANTICISM
IN P. PETROVIĆ NJEGOŠ’S THE RAY OF THE MICROCOSM ... 103
Ewelina Drzewiecka
“ENLIGHTENED ESOTERICISM”: A CASE STUDY ON
MIGRATING IDEAS IN THE MODERN BULGARIAN
TRADITION .................................................................................... 119
Eugene Kuzmin
VALERIJ BRJUSOV (1873–1924): SELLING THE SOUL
AS A METHOD OF RESEARCH .................................................... 133
Konstantin Burmistrov
RUSSIAN EMIGRATION OF THE 1920s–1930s
IN YUGOSLAVIA AND ESOTERICISM ....................................... 143
Mauro Ruggiero
OTOKAR BřEzINA, A CzECH POET BETWEEN
SYMBOLISM AND ESOTERICISM............................................... 153
Jan Miklas-Frankowski
VISIONS FROM SAN FRANCISCO BAY AS AN ExAMPLE
OF ESOTORIC INSPIRATIONS IN CzESłAW MIłOSz’S
WORK ............................................................................................ 163
Stanislav Panin
ESOTERIC POETRY IN THE LATE USSR: THE CASE
OF JAN KOLTUNOV ...................................................................... 175
Pavel Nosachev
THE INFLUENCES OF WESTERN ESOTERICISM ON RUSSIAN
ROCK POETRY OF THE TURN OF THE CENTURY ................... 183
Kateryna zorya
THE POST-SOVIET TOLKIEN SPIRITUALITY MILIEU:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY ............................................................. 193
Massimo Introvigne
ARTISTS AND THEOSOPHY IN PRESENT-DAY CzECH
REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA ......................................................... 215
 Table of Contents 7

Spyros Petritakis
“THROUGHOUT THE DARK, THE LIGHT”: MAPPING OUT
THE NETWORKS OF THE OSOPHISTS IN PRE- AND
INTERWAR ATHENS THROUGH SPECIFIC CASE STUDIES
FROM NIKOLAOS GYzIS TO FRIxOS ARISTEAS ..................... 225
Nikola Pešić
NEW AGE HEALING IN MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ’S ART ........... 241
Sergej Macura
THE BRIDE OF NIGHT: AN ESOTERIC JOURNEY
IN AGAINST THE DAY .................................................................. 259
Olaf Stachowski
THE ART OF HOWLING: A HISTORY OF EUROPEAN SPIRIT
EVOCATION PRACTICE AND ITS POSSIBLE
HELLENISTIC ROOTS .................................................................. 273
 133.5:54

GYöRGY E. SzöNYI*
University of Szeged / Central European University, Budapest

THE MODERN ADEPT: A NOVEL ON ALCHEMY AND ITS

HUNGARIAN RECEPTION IN THE TIME OF THE
ENLIGHTENMENT

In 1810 a curious book appeared in Vienna: its language was Hungarian

and its subject a fictional narrative about alchemy and the Freemasons. The
title communicates the following pieces of information: A’ Mostani Adeptus
vagy is a’ Szabad Kőmívesek valóságos titka [The Modern Adept or the Real
Secret of the Freemasons]; Frantziából fordította Bárótzi Sándor magyar nemes
testőrző [translated from the French by Sándor Bárótzi, a noble Hungarian
guardian]; Béts, Nyomtattatott Haykul Antal betűivel [Printed in Vienna by
Anton Haykul] .
The book does not mention the author of the original novel, but the
translator is well-known. Sándor Bárótzi (1735-–1809),1 was an eminent
member of those literati of the Hungarian Enlightenment who started
their career as aristocratic or gentry members of the Royal Hungarian
Bodyguard in Vienna, founded in 1760 by Maria Theresia in acknowledging
the heroism of the Hungarian troops during the Seven Years’ War.2 The

* szonyigy@ceu.edu
1
There have been used various spelling forms of the translator’s name: Bárótzi,
Bárótzy, Báróczy, Báróczi. Although in his own time the first two versions were used, modern
Hungarian historiography has been using the last one. See Pál Pándi ed., A magyar irodalom
története III [The History of Hungarian Literature] (Budapest: Akadémiai, 1965), 63. Since
his publications appeared in his lifetime under the author’s name Bárótzi I shall stick to this
spelling.
2
Seven Years’ War (1756–63), the last major conflict before the French Revolution
to involve all the great powers of Europe. Generally, France, Austria, Saxony, Sweden, and
Russia were aligned on one side against Prussia, Hanover, and Great Britain on the other.
The war arose out of the attempt of the Austrian Habsburgs to win back the rich province of
Silesia, which had been wrested from them by Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia during the
War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48). (See Encyclopedia Britannica, <www.britannica.
com/event/Seven-Years-War>, access: 2016-05-15). While the overseas spin-offs of this
complex European war had had long-lasting effects (The French and Indian War), the conflict
between Austria and Prussia concluded with a tie.
80 György E. Szönyi

Empress’ noble purpose was to foster the cultural education of young

Hungarians in a cosmopolitan environment in the Habsburg capital and
make them acquainted with courtly life and manners.3 The Hungarian
Bodyguard existed till 1848 and produced the most important leaders of
Hungarian cultural reforms in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Paradoxically, the anti-Hungarian reforms of Joseph II in the guard
brought about very positive results: the englightened reformer Emperor
reduced the number of Hungarians to fifty percent and mixed them in
common barracks with similar Croatian and Polish corps. That resulted
in a necessity to speak in German as the common parlance. Furthermore,
the Emperor used the guardians as messengers, lower rank diplomats,
sending them to foreign courts, especially to France. Consequently the
young Hungarians learnt languages and became early acquainted with the
thriving French intellectual life of the period. Patriotism combined with
cosmopolitanism inspired these young men to introduce Western ideas
and literary models in Hungary, they became engaged in propagating the
Enlightenment, reforming the Hungarian language, they also established
literary periodicals and with a great number of translations contributed to
the polishing of the otherwise rather provincial Hungarian culture.4
Bárótzi was one of these “bodyguard-writers” who lived in Vienna
and got under the spell of Western European literature. He learnt German
and French and became an important translator. His most influential
works in this capacity were Gauthier de Costes, seigneur de la Calprenede’s
Cassandre (1642–1650; Hungarian translation published in 1774), Jean-
François Marmontel’s Moral Tales (begun in 1755; Hungarian translation
published in 1775), and Johann Jakob Dusch’s Moralische Briefe zur Bildung
des Herzens (1759; Hungarian translation published in 1775). Although he
settled down in Vienna and never returned to his native Transylvania, he
kept close contacts with Hungarian literary circles and became a benevolent
patron of young Hungarian literati. Inspired by this intellectual atmosphere,
he wrote his important theoretical treatise about the improvement of
the Hungarian language (A védelmeztetett magyar nyelv [A Defense of the
Hungarian Language], 1790).
One of his close literary friends was Ferenc Kazinczy (1759–1831),
the leader of the language reform and a literary potentate of the period,

3
On the Hungarian Guard in Vienna see the Pallas Nagylexikon, quoted in the
Hungarian Kislexikon (<www.kislexikon.hu/magyar_testorseg.html>, access: 2016-05-15).
4
On the Hungarian culture of this period see Domokos Kosáry, Culture and Society
in Eighteenth-century Hungary (Budapest: Corvina, 1987) and László Kontler, Millenium in
Central Europe: A History of Hungary (London: Palgrave, Macmillan, 2002), 215ff.
 The Modern Adept: A Novel on Alchemy and Its Hungarian Reception... 81

himself an accomplished translator.5 He left behind an incredible amount

of correspondence, full of literary gossips, from which we know most about
Bárótzi’s secret passion: alchemy.
According to Kazinczy’s hearsay, during his bgodyguard days Bárótzi
had to consult a doctor in Vienna to cure his venereal disease. It was this
doctor who invited him into the circles of the Freemasons and stirred up
his interest in goldmaking. Although at that time the secret sciences were
not as popular as a century earlier, the Freemasons and their related, even
more exclusive society, the Rosicrucians still pursued its practice.6 Bárótzi
invested a great deal of effort to familiarize himself with the Art and this
brought the mentioned French novel in his attention. We do not know when
exactly he prepared the translation, since it was only published in the year
following his death. The translator took his task very seriously, witness to
this is a lengthy, seventy pages’ introduction about the history and prestige
of alchemy. I leave the review of this treatise to a later part of my essay and
propose now to have a look at the novel itself.

II
The Hungarian translator was rather vague about his original. In the
“Introduction” he mentions that the L’ Adepte moderne ou Le vrai secret des
francs-maçons had been published “some time ago” and later a German
translation also appeared, entitled Der neue Goldmacher, oder das wahre
Geheimniss der Freymäurer. Until recently the publication history as well
as its possible author were rather uncertain. The French work indicated
London as the place of printing and mentioned that it was published by the
author’s costs (“aux dépens de l’auteur”), but no date is given here. In the
general catalogue of English books (COPAC) two items turn up under this
title, one gives London 1777, the other indicates Dresden as the place of
printing in the year 1755. However all places and dates are followed by a
question mark. As for Der neue Goldmacher, the publication place and date
are Berlin, 1770.

5
On Kazinczy see István Fried, Kazinczy Ferenc és a vitatott hagyomány [Kazinczy
and the Contested Tradition] (Sátoraljaújhely: Kazinczy Társaság, 2012); Ambrus Miskolczy,
Kazinczy Ferenc útja a nyelvújítástól a politikai megújulásig ([Kazinczy’s Progress from
Language Reform to Politican Reforms] (Budapest: Lucidus, 2009); Czigány Lóránt, A
History of Hungarian Literature. Chapter VII: “The Reform of the Language and irodalmi
tudat” (Oxford: OUP, 1984; online: http://mek.oszk.hu/02000/02042/html/index.html,
access: 2017-03-01).
6
On the Hungarian Rosicrucians of the 18th century see Sándor Eckhardt, “Magyar
rózsakeresztesek,” Minerva 1 (1922): 208–23, online: http://chemonet.hu/hun/olvaso/
histchem/alkem/eck.html, access: 2017-03-01.
82 György E. Szönyi

From the interesting article of a bibliographer of 18th-century French

fiction, Vivienne Mylne,7 we learn that this “histoire intéeressante” did not
feature in the standard bibliographies, on the other hand, it can be found in
works specializing in Freemason literature. Caillet’s Manuel bibliographique
des sciences psychiques ou occultes (Paris, 1913) suggested the date of 1747.
Fesch’s Bibliographie de la Franc-Maçonnerie et des sociétés secrètes (Paris,
1912) indicates 1747 or 1750. August Wolfstieg’s famous Bibliographie der
Freimaurerischen Literatur (Burg, 1912) under No. 41487 gives the following
pieces of information: “Der neue Goldmacher, oder das wahre Geheimniss
der Freymäurer, von Mme. Gut, d.i. Beaumont. Berlin: Ringmacher, 1770.
198 S., 8o.” Here it is mentioned that there had also been “eine ungarische
Übersetzung erschien 1810,” that is Bárótzi’s translation.
Furthermore, Wolfstieg quoted Georg Kloss’ bibliography (Bibliographie
der Freimaurerei und der mit ihr in Verbindung gesetzten geheimen Gesellschaften,
Frankfurt am Main, 1844, No. 3949), who had discovered: “Blosser Abdruch
aus dem Abendzeitvertreib in verschiedenen Erzählungen. Leipzig, 1750. Theil
1. Nach der Vorrede von Nrv. 1912 wäre Madame Gut (Beaumont) die
Verfasserin.” Wolfstieg thought the London edition was the French translation
of the German original and dated it to 1777.
Vivienne Mylne convincingly argues that the London placename in
the French edition served only the deception of the censorship, since it was
common to pretend foreign publications to avoid the attention of the anti-
Freemason Catholic circles. And London, as one of the birthplaces of the
Masons was a very suitable camouflage. She has also managed to identify
the ornament on the title page with an edition of Voltaire’s Supplément
au Siècle de Louis XIV, which was published in Dresden in 1753. She has
also figured out that the first German edition of the Goldmacher in the
Abendzeitvertreib was not published in 1750 but in 1757.
The last important act of Mylne’s research was that she reconstructed the
chronology of the plot of the novel, since there are a number of references to
historical and contemporary events and places. From this she concluded that
the plot covers the period between 1706 and 1753. Thus the French original
could be published (in Dresden) around 1755, consequently preceding the
German translation of 1757. The second, German edition came out in Berlin
in 1770, while Wolfstieg’s speculative date of 1777 is simpy false.
Only one question remains: the identity of the author. Modern library
catalogues usually attribute it to Jeanne Marie Leprince de Beaumont
(1711–1780), and she is also mentioned as the author by Sándor Eckhardt,
who in 1922 wrote the first and so far only extensive study about Bárótzi’s
7
Vivienne G. Mylne, “The Bibliographer’s Last Resort: Reading the Text,” Eighteenth-
century Fiction 5.1 (1992): 1–14.
 The Modern Adept: A Novel on Alchemy and Its Hungarian Reception... 83

translation.8 Leprince de Beaumont was a successful writer of children’s

literature and fairy tales, among others the famous Beauty and the Beast.9
Some of her works had also been published in contemporary Hungary.10
Madame de Beaumont left France to become a governess in London in
1748 and there begun her literary career. She kept contacts with the most
famous writers and philosophers of the Englightenment. Considering her
thirteen-year stay in England, the fictitious place of publication would be
no surprise.11 However, no scholarly literature mentions this novel among
the works of Leprince de Beaumont and indeed her literary output as well
as her philosophy rather differed from the masonic L’Adepte moderne. It is
also noteworthy, that Vivienne Mylne in her expert article does not mention
Marie Leprince de Beaumont, and instead writes: “I have not managed to
discover anything more about this author. However, the settings of most of
the events in the novel suggest a provincial rather than a Parisian writer; and
in Pierre Larousse’ s Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle, ‘Beaumont’
is said to be the ‘nom d’une des familles les plus anciennes du Dauphiné.’”
In any case it is quite surprising that Mylne, a professional bibliographer
of 18th-century French fiction would not know the name and oeuvre of
the author of The Beauty and the Beast. So the creator of The Modern Adept
continues to preserve his/her anonymity.

III
The next step is to review the plot of the novel.12 The sujet is quite complex
and it synthetizes a typical sentimental love story, a Bildungsroman, and an
8
Eckhardt Sándor, “Magyar rózsakeresztesek,” as cited above.
9
Actually, Leprince de Beaumont rewrote Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s
1740 novel and published in 1756 in Magasin des enfants. See Terri Windling, “Beauty
and the Beast, Old And New,” The Journal of Mythic Arts 1997–28, accessed May 8, 2017,
<http://www.endicott-studio.com/articleslist/beauty-and-the-beast-old-and-new-by-terri-
windling.html>
10
E.g. Kisdedek’ tudománnyal tellyes tárháza ... készitetett frantzia nyelven Beaumont
Mária által / mostan pedig magyar nyelvre fordittatott [Scientific Storehouse for Infants...]
(Kolos’váratt: a Ref. Kollégiom betüivel, 1781); Montier asszonynak a maga lányával ... közlött
tanuságos ... levelei ... / németből magyarázta ... Mészáros Ignátz [The Instructive Letters of
Madame Montier with her Daughter...] (Pest: Trattner Mátyás, 1793).
11
See the biographical sketch of P. Schaller Elliot, “Jeanne Marie Le Prince de
Beaumont (1711–1780): Biographical Essay for Chawton House Library and Women
Writers,” available: <www.academia.edu/2003603/Jeanne_Marie_Le_Prince_de_Beaumont_
1711-1780_Biographical_Essay_for_Chawton_House_Library_and_Women_Writers>,
access: 2016-05-16 and the monograph of Marie-Antoinette Reynaud, Madame Leprince de
Beaumont: Vie et oeuvre d’une Éducatrice (Lyon, n.p., 1971).
12
Apart from my own reading I rely here Vivienne Mylne’s chronology-oriented
summary as well as Sándor Eckhardt resume, which concentrated on the esoteric elements.
84 György E. Szönyi

occult narrative referring to alchemy, the Freemasons and the Rosicrucians.

The work is the memoires of a young man who at the age of eighteen loses
his parents and a certain Monsieur de la Borde becomes his surrogate father
and mentor. De la Borde then adopts the name of the narrator’s father
and from now is called Monsieur de la Croix – obviously a reference to
Christian Rosenkreutz. It happens that the mentor is arrested and is taken
prisoner in an unknown place. His belongings are hooked and destroyed,
the Narrator finds only a small box of red powder in their lodgings. Much
later he remembers that his mentor once taught him how to kill pain with
the red powder. Having a toothache he melts a piecce of lead and mixes it
with the powder, which turns into pure gold.
Eventually he liberates his foster father from imprisonment who then
tells him that the powder originated from another gentleman, Monsieur de
Rancé, a Freemason, in appreciation of de la Croix’s charitable nature. De
Rancé had also instructed him in the secret arts of Freemasons, including
the secrets of alchemy. At this point it turns out that de la Croix is the Adept
of the title. The Adept and the Narrator flee to London, but they have to
return some time later. Eventually both marry, but with a tragic turn the
Adept and his wife get murdered. The Narrator remains without the secret
of alchemy, since the Adept never initiated him into actual goldmaking.
So he – a basically modest and benevolent person – continues his life
maintained by the remaining amount of red power.
An important message of the novel is that the true Adept has to be
humble, secretive, and magnanimous toward the needy, just like a true
Rosicrucian. The noble Philosopher is at the same time a Cosmopolite: a
cosmopolite, because carrying the secret he cannot stay at one place without
risking his life. As Mylne summarizes:
On the whole [the novel] is no better, and certainly no worse, than the
general run of modern soap operas and adventure serials, with which it
shares several points of resemblance. But unlike most of them, it manifests a
consistent ethical theme, that it is a duty to use one’s wealth for the benefit
of those in need. The Mason’s creed could be encapsulated in the motto:
Richesse oblige.13

IV
Turning now to the Hungarian edition, our focus of interest should be the
lengthy preface of the translator. The text is really an apology of alchemy
and reveals the extensive knowledge of its writer about the principles
13
Mylne, “The Bibliographer’s Last Resort,” 9.
 The Modern Adept: A Novel on Alchemy and Its Hungarian Reception... 85

and the historiography of the Art. As Sándor Eckhardt also summarized,

we receive a review of the classics of alchemy and esoteric philosophy,
ranging from Plato through Suidas and Hermes Trismegistus, to the Tabula
Smaragdina, the full text of which Bárótzi includes – unfortunately not in
Hungarian but in Latin.
He then turnst to the Oriental-Arabic wise men – Avicenna, Geber,
Moscius, Aros, Calid, Hali; then the Scholastics and other medieval
authors: St. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Raymondus Lullus, Arnoldus
de Villanova, Nicolas Flamel, George Ripley. He extensively quotes early
modern alchemical literture, often from recent German editions: e.g.
Bernhardus Trevisanus (1406–1490);14 the major works of Sendivogius
(1566–1636); Lenglet du Fresnoy’s Histoire de la philosophie herméteique
(Paris, 1742); Jean-Jacques Manget’s alchemical anthology (1702);15
Friedrich Roth-Scholtzen’s Deutsches Theatrum Chemicum (1728);16 etc.
This impressive bibliography demonstrates the vivid and versatile esoteric
publications in the time of rationalism and the Enlightenment.
But it is not only the range of the cited material which is noteworthy,
rather the structure of the “Introduction.” Bárótzi did not follow a
chronological, historical survey, instead starts from a practical supposition,
namely that presumably a lot of readers will think that alchemy is a
superstitious, stupid occupation. He then diligently enlists nine aspects
which summarize the main criticisms against hermeticism and alchemy.
In the rest of the preface he systematically refutes these points, using the
above sketched rich historiographical and practical material.
The nine objections are as follows: 1/ the gender/nature of things
cannot change; 2/ only Nature can produce gold taking the time of many
centuries, alchemists could not do it in days or even shorter periods; 3/ if
alchemy was true, kings who have invested so much into this art would
have invented it long ago; 4/ there are many who have become beggars
because of alchemy, but one cannot see those who have profited from it;
5/ if there are true alchemists, whoy don’t they help rulers in successfully
finish wars? 6/ alchemists have been usually very learned people, still, they
have not made any great [social] progress by its help; 7/ if somebody can

14
See Des Hn. Bernhardi, Grafen von der Marck und Tervis Chymische Schrifften, von
dem gebenedeiten Stein der Weisen. Aus dem Lateinischen ins Teutsche übersetzet, in gleichen mit
des Herrn D. Joachim Tanckens und anderer Gelehrten Anmerckungen Ans Liecht gestellet durch
Caspar Horn, Phil. & Med. Doctor (Nurnberg: Tauber, 1717, 1746). Eckhardt misinterpreted
the 15th-century Italian author as a contemporary German, “Graf Berhardi”.
15
Jean-Jacques Manget, Bibliotheca chemica curiosa, seu rerum ad alchemiam
pertinentium thesaurus instructissimus (2 vols., Paris,1702).
16
Friedrich Roth-Scholtzen, Deutsches Theatrum Chemicum. Auf welchen der berühmtesten
Philosophen und Alchymisten Schriften... (Nurnberg: Adam Jonathan Felsecker, 1728).
86 György E. Szönyi

accomplish the transmutation, why does not he make it in public, this would
put an end to the gossips and suspicion about the validity of alchemy; 8/ it
is known that alchemists cheat by hiding gold into the coal or among other
ingredients and then pretend to have succeeded in the transmutation; 9/ a
lot of fraud was revealed and several alchemists were hanged or imprisoned
– so the whole art is cheating.
After honestly presenting the objections, Bárótzi deals with each of
them by citing philosophical and technical literature of the past centuries
as well as retelling many counter-anecdotes to prove the validity of
transmutations. These “historical facts” are often naive and hard to believe,
but here he follows the humanist traditions of citing ancient authorities
without questioning them. In any case, this “Introduction” is a valuable
document about the scholarly attraction of alchemy even in the period of
the Enlightenment and also proves that esotericism bore fruits in Hungarian
in this part of the Continent, too.

V
There is no place here to examine Bárótzi’s “Introduction” more in
detail, instead, let us have a look at the circumstances which may have
inspired the writing of this interesting treatise. It has been mentioned
that Bárótzi almost accidentally got in touch with esotericism in Vienna
withby the help of a doctor. However, it was not difficult to find a Masonic
lodge in the Habsburg capital. There was one in which the Hungarian
presence was very strong and many bodyguards were also members: titled
the Zur gekrönten Hoffnung (The Crowned Hope).17 It was a Hungarian,
Sámuel Matolay Bernát (Reichshofrats-Agent) who introduced there the
Rosicrucian trend and he also built a laboratory for transmutations where
the famous chemist, Ignaz Born worked for some time.18 Another famous

17
Literature on this lodge: Eckhardt, “Magyar rózsakeresztesek,” as in Note 6; Ludwig
Abafi, Geschichte der Freimaurerei in Österreich-Ungarn I–V. (Budapest: Aigner, 1890–99),
especially vol 4; Lajos Abafi, A szabadkőművesség története Magyarországon [The History
of Freemasonry in Hungary] (repr. Győr: Tarandus, 2012); Heinrich Boos, Geschichte Der
Freimaurerei: Ein Beitrag Zur Kultur- Und Literatur-Geschichte Des 18 Jahrhunderts (Aarau:
H.R.Sauerländer, 1906, rept. Ulan Press, 2012), 299, 353.
18
See Eckhardt and Abafi. Furthermore: “Ignaz Edler von Born (Hungarian: Born
Ignác, Czech: Ignác Born, 1742-–1791) was a mineralogist and metallurgist. He was a
prominent freemason, being head of Vienna’s Illuminati lodge and an influential anti-
clerical writer. He was the leading scientist in the Holy Roman Empire during the 1770s in
the age of Enlightenment.” (Wikipedia)
 The Modern Adept: A Novel on Alchemy and Its Hungarian Reception... 87

alchemist of the Lodge was Count Kolowrat and even Mozart got in contact
with them when he was asked to compose The Magic Flute.19
In the Vienna Nationalbibliothek there survived a beautiful
manuscript, an Album amicorum of one local Masonic lodge. Among the
74 inscriptions about 20 were authored by Hungarian members. The most
famous inscription is by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who in 1787 called for
patience and spiritual peace, signing himself as the member of Zur gekrönten
Hoffnung!20 This Lodge was the gathering place of most Hungarian army
officers and Bodyguard-literati, including Count Pál Bethlen colonel, László
Székely lieutenant colonel, Major János Soóky, Count János Esterházy
Imperial Councillor, and many others. Among these we find our translator,
Sándor Bárótzi. There he could educate himself in the secret sciences, since
the Lodge prided with a 1900-volume specialized esoteric library.21
The mentioned literary potentate, Ferenc Kazinczy was a close
friend of Bárótzi. He warmly praised his literary elegance as well as his
magnanimous personality. But he, as a unswerving rationalist, could not
help pitying him for his esoteric “delusion.” Nevertheless, he devoted many
letters to the Hungarian “illuminati” in his various correspondence. About
himself he claimed that although a Freemason member, it was not the
mysticism, rather the philanthropy that attracted him to the movement and
never aimed to get higher than the first three degrees. Nevertheless, his
writings are a goldmine of anecdotes about esotericism in Enlightenment
Hungary. His father in law, Count Lajos Török was a devoted alchemist
and Rosicrucian. He established lodges in Miskolc and Kassa (Košice,
Slovakia). Since the research of Lajos Abafi we have known that there were
a great number of Masonic and Rosicrucian circles in Hungary who closely
cooperated with the Grand Lodge of Berlin and later with the newly created
Grand Lodge of Vienna. A particularly important place was Eperjes (today
Prešov, Slovakia), where the Freemasons converted to the Rosicrucian rules.
This lodge was exceptional, because it was not founded as a subordinate

19
Boos, Geschichte Der Freimaurerei, 353. (See Note 17)
20
Vienna, österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. Ser. nov. 4832. The name of the
Lodge is not indicated in the manuscript. See József László Kovács, “Egy szabadkőműves
emlékkönyv magyar bejegyzői [Hungarian Inscribers in a Freemason Album],” Magyar
Könyvszemle 91 (1975): 309-–13.
21
On Bárótzi’s membership see József Jászberényi, “A Sz. Sophia Templomában látom
én felszentelve Nagyságodat.” A felvilágosodás korának mgyar irodalma és a szabadkőművesség
[Hungarian Literature of the Englishtenment and Freemasonry] (Budapest: Argumentum,
2003), Abafi, A szabadkőművesség, 122, 127-–29; also Eckhardt. (See Note 17)
88 György E. Szönyi

lodge of the Berlin or Vienna lodges, but as an offspring of the Warsaw

Grand Lodge in Poland.22
One particularly interesting portion of Kazinczy’s correspondence is
with Ádám Pálóczi Horváth (1760-–1820), who was an eccentric Hungarian
gentry, a graduated theologian, writer of epic and lyrical poetry, an
accomplished mathematician, and deeply interested in the secret sciences. At
one point he was given a manuscript, titled The Wisdomn of Hiram, from a dying
German officer and he spent the rest of his life in trying to decipher it.23 This
inspired him to compose such (now lost) treatises as Novissima Philosophia
in Hungarian and Hungarian Sybilla, or a Concise Caballa. He exchanged long
letters with Kazinczy in which he regretted not to have had more chance to
confer with his father in law (Lajos Török), or Sándor Bárótzi.
Pálóczi’s ten pages’ letter to Kazinczy (October 8, 1814) gives a
vivid panorama about his esoteric interests ranging from the philosophy
of Hermes Trismegistus to the contemporary experiments of Benjamin
Franklin with electricity. He also refers to a friend who had seen at Bárótzi’s
house “white, green, and blue” pieces of gold, what he associates with a
universal menstruum, identical with what the ancients called spiritus.24
These few, selected pieces of historical information prove that
Bárótzi’s translation and his personal interest in alchemy and Masonry was
not an idiosyncratic hobby, but can be contextualized in a vivid network
of Hungarian and Austrian Rosicrucian and Freemason culture as well as
at that time still existing interest in alchemy. These Central-Europeans
cultivated a centuries-long esoteric tradition and their activities bridge
the “shadowy side” of the Enlightenment and the revived occultism of
the Romantic period. It is characteristic, that the fundamental studies of
Hungarian esotericism of this period were written in the late 19th- early 20th
century with the methodology of positivist historiography. It is high time
that we revisit these cultural phenomena with a fresh eye and place them
in a new history of the Western esoteric traditions.

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