The paradox of the Hymn

The hymn «How Glorious Is Our Lord in Zion», written by the famous poet and Freemason Mikhail Kheraskov, when first published in 1819, was considered an anthem of the Russian Freemasons, which was sung at certain rituals, including agape - a ceremonial dinner after «Masonic works» in the lodge.

Mikhail Kheraskov was a curator of the Moscow University, and it was he who facilitated the invitation as a teacher of Johann Schwarz, who initiated the poet into the theoretical degree of the Masonic Order of the Golden-Rosy Cross. A manuscript of this order, most likely written by the hand of Semyon Gamaleya, is in the collection of the Riga Museum of the History of Freemasonry.

The hymn «How Glorious Is Our Lord in Zion» was used as the unofficial national anthem of the Russian Empire from the late 18th century until the composition «God save the Tsar!» was approved in the 1830s.

From 1856 to October 1917, the striking clock of the Spasskaya Tower in the Moscow Kremlin chimed the melody of «How Glorious» along with the «Preobrazhensky March». The chimes of St. Petersburg's Peter and Paul Cathedral play this tune to this day. 

In 19th century sheet music editions, the anthem was accompanied by the note «national Russian hymn», and from 1918 until 1920 it was the official hymn of the State of Russia and its government in exile after the Civil War.

Paradoxically, in modern Russia the hymn, which is full of Masonic allusions and speaks of God's love for his children, is still used in military ceremonies: at the unveiling of monuments or at burials, with the first salute, the military band begins to play «How Glorious». This (most likely, not even realised today in Russia) tradition, comes from the Masonic history of the Russian Empire, when before the ban of secret societies in the 1820s, prominent statesmen and military leaders openly belonged to the Masonic society. Such were, for example, famous military leaders - Alexander Suvorov and Mikhail Kutuzov.