МАСОНСЬКА ЛОЖА «ЛЮБОВ ДО ІСТИНИ» ТА ЇЇ УЧАСТЬ В ГРОМАДСЬКО-ПОЛІТИЧНОМУ ЖИТТІ ЛІВОБЕРЕЖНОЇ УКРАЇНИ.

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the activity of the Masonic lodge “Love of Truth” and its participation in the social and political life of the Left Bank of Ukraine. This study is based on the general scientific principles of knowledge: scientific, scientific objectivity, historicism, consistency, systematicity and complexity, as well as an anthropological approach to the study of history. This article examines the social composition of the lodge “Love of Truth”, the activities of the lodge, considers the motivations of the social elite of Poltava to engage in Masonic activities, as well as the reason for closing the lodge. In the course of the research it was established that the researches, which considered the history of Freemasonry in the Left Bank of Ukraine in the XIX century, convincingly prove that it was in it that most of the Ukrainian and Russian nobility reflected their interests. It should be noted that it was in the Masonic lodges, where the former Ukrainian nobility entered, that the so-called political “liberalism” matured. Representatives of the Ukrainian elite wanted free-thinking and tried to implement the idea of liberal reform of the existing order in the Russian Empire within the framework of the Masonic “improvement of society.” Prospects for further studies are the study of the influence of the Masonic lodge “Love of Truth” on the transformation of national consciousness and the awakening of the Ukrainian people to fight for their statehood. The practical significance of the achieved results lies in the possibility of using information material for further development of the Poltava Masonic lodge “Love of Truth”. This study is a presentation of independent study of scientific sources on the activities of the Masonic lodge “Love of Truth” and its participation in the socio-political life of the Left Bank of Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]