Boris Mouravieff, known for his historical works and more so for his esoteric Christian teachings, was born at the Cronstadt naval base in Russia on 8 March 1890. He was the second of three sons of the admiral of the fleet, count Piotr Petrovitch Mouravieff, who was the last Secretary of State of the imperial war Marine.
Graduated in 1910 as officer of the Superior School of the Russian imperial Marine, Boris Mouravieff climbed the rungs, particularly while serving from 1909 to 1912 aboard the battleship "Auroara". During the first World War he served in the naval forces of the Black Sea. In 1916 -1917, as vessel lieutenant, he commanded the rapid torpedo launching patrol flotilla, of which he was the author.
Upon the abdication of the Tsar Boris Mouravieff, known for his historical works and more so for his esoteric Christian teachings, was born at the Cronstadt naval base in Russia on 8 March 1890. He was the second of three sons of the admiral of the fleet, count Piotr Petrovitch Mouravieff, who was the last Secretary of State of the imperial war Marine.
Graduated in 1910 as officer of the Superior School of the Russian imperial Marine, Boris Mouravieff climbed the rungs, particularly while serving from 1909 to 1912 aboard the battleship "Auroara". During the first World War he served in the naval forces of the Black Sea. In 1916 -1917, as vessel lieutenant, he commanded the rapid torpedo launching patrol flotilla, of which he was the author.
Upon the abdication of the Tsar in March 1917, he was promoted to frigate captain at the age of 27, before becoming assigned cabinet head to minister Alexander Kerensky in the first provisional government, directed by prince Lvov. Thereafter he was assigned, as joint head of State staff for the Black Sea fleet, by Kerensky who had become the head of the Russian government until his ousting by Lenin's Bolshevists during the October 1917 Revolution.
On the morrow of the peace of Brest-Litovsk in 1918 he quit the armed forces. He then remained in Crimea consecrating his time to archaeological works as well as to his own esoteric and historical researches.
Since his youth, Boris Mouravieff found interest in the esoteric tradition of Oriental Orthodoxy. This interest found its first guidance through some indications left by his grand uncle Andrei Mouravieff (died in 1874), who was the founder of a hermitage at Saint Paul, one of the great Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos. Andrei had undertaken researches in Egypt, Armenia, Kurdistan and even in Persia, retrieving traces of this tradition and manuscripts from the first centuries of our era.
By the end of 1920, Boris Mouravieff left Russia for Constantinople then for Bulgaria where he remained until1924.
In Constantinople, 1920-21, Boris Mouravieff attended the public conferences given by Piotr Demianovitch Ouspensky. It was there that the latter put Boris Mouravieff in contact with Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, with whom several contacts were to take place thereafter in Fontainebleau and Paris. For many years Boris Mouravieff and P. D. Ouspensky, bound by a friendship that was founded on the similarities of their topics of research, were to delve deeper in their respective works and consequently to discuss them, particularly from the aspect of the dangers associated with the fragmentariness of the latter's works. Such discussions took place at the occasion of their meetings in Paris and London; the last of which took place in 1937 near London.
In 1924 Boris Mouravieff travelled to France as a refugee and settled in Bordeaux, where in 1935 he met larissa Bassof, born in 1901 in Uzbekistan. Larissa, a ballerina, had a child from a first marriage, Boris Vsevolod Volkoff, born in France in 1928. In 1936 Boris Mouravieff married Larissa and all three settled in Paris that same year.
Since 1921 Boris Mouravieff pursued researches related to the political and diplomatic history of Russia, in particular regarding Peter the Great, which were to lead to the publication of several books (see bibliography). Until 1941, he worked as a consulting engineer for several petroleum companies, whilst consecrating free time to his historical researches, as well as to the esoteric tradition of oriental orthodoxy.
On June 11th 1940, Boris Mouravieff left Paris for the South of France, where his employer was located, and in 1943 he moved to a French town close to Switzerland. Having refused to collaborate with the Germans, he was arrested in 1944 by the Gestapo, held in custody, then released under surveillance. It was thereafter, on 9 March 1944, that members of the French resistance arranged for him and his family to esca...more
Sign in with Facebook
