Articles

Ursynovich Sergey (1891–1935) – historian of religion. He entered the Faculty of Law of the Moscow University in 1909. After the course, he stayed there to continue his research work. In 1917, he was Ass. Docent at the Moscow University, teaching the Theory of State and Law. In 1918, he taught at the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Pedagogical Institute. For some time, he worked in Saratov. Since the early 1920s, he was again in Moscow, a teacher at the Evening Workers' Faculty named after N. Bukharin (formerly Prechistenskie Courses), which was under the supervision of the People's Commissariat for Education; probably, he taught at other educational institutions in Moscow.

Uvarov Aleksey (1825‒1884) – archeologist, collector, organizer of research. He studied at the St. Petersburg University under the supervision of Prof. of Greek Literature B. F. Grefe. After the graduation (1845), he entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was sent to Germany, where studied in Berlin and Heidelberg. Since 1847, he worked at the excavations; and since 1854, he got the inheritance of the Counts Uvarovs and became the biggest collector of Old Russian antiquities in Russia. A giant collection of U. was distributed though various museums after 1917; a significant part of the collection is kept in the State Russian Museum.

Varadinov Nickolay (1817–1886) – lawyer, writer, historian, specialist in the history of Khlysty, Skotsy, Judaizantes, Old Believers, Protestants in the Russian Empire. He studied at the University of Dorpat, where he defended his Doctor thesis in Law and Philosophy. Since 1845, he managed the chancellery of General Governor of Riga. There V. made acquaintance with Bishop Filaret (Gumilevsky) who headed the local eparchy. Those times, there were many Latvians who wanted to be conversed to Orthodoxy, and V. helped the bishop with those matters. Since 1849, he lived in St. Petersburg and served at the Ministry of Domestic Affairs; he actively participated in the lawmaking activity; particularly, he was a member of the commission for reforming the university Rule (1875).

Vashkevich Vladislav (1844–?) – official of the Department of Spiritual Affairs of Foreign Confessions of the Ministry of Domestic Affairs. He started his career as an official in Warsaw in 1865; after graduating from the Lublin Lyceum, while still a law student at the Warsaw Main School, he was enrolled in the Commission for Internal and Spiritual Affairs in the Kingdom of Poland under the Office of Greek-Uniate Affairs (in 1869, it was transformed into a special Chancellery for Greek-Uniate Confession within the Ministry of Public Education). In 1874, because of the liquidation of the Chancellery, he served in the Ministry of Domestic Affairs; from 1880, he was listed in the Department of Spiritual Affairs of Foreign Confessions.

Vasilevich Glafira (1895—1971) – linguist, ethnographer, specialist in Tungus studies. She leant at the Petrovskaya Female Gymnasium in St. Petersburg. In 1913—1920, she worked at the Foreign Mail Department of the Main Post Office. In 1921, she entered the Geographic Institute, Ethnographic Faculty (organized by L.Ya. Sternberg). She was among the first students of V.G. Bogoraz, and L.Ya. Sternberg sent to expeditions to Pechora (1923), and to the Vyatka Region (1924). In 1925, after graduating the Institute, she was sent to a business trip from the Leningrad Branch of the Committee of the North to work with Evenks and gathering ethnographic, and linguistic materials.

Vasiliev Aleksander (1867–1953) – orientalist, Arabist, specialist in Byzantine studies. In 1887, he enrolled to the Department of Arabic East, but then – on the recommendation of his supervisor V. R. Rosen – transferred to the Historical and Philological Faculty of the St. Petersburg University, to the famous Byzantinist V. G. Vasilievsky. He studied oriental languages (Arabic and Turkish), as well as classical ones (Greek and Latin), and history. The main his interest was in the Arabic-Byzantine relations. In 1897-1900, he was in Paris with a scholarship of the Faculty.

Vasiliev Vasily (1818—1900) – sinologist, specialist in Buddhism, and in Sanskrit. He graduated from the Oriental Department of the Philological Faculty of the Kazan’ University, specializing in Mongolian language and culture under the supervision of Professor G. M. Kovalevsky. After it he received an invitation to travel to Bejing with the Russian Ecclesiastic Mission to learn local languages. In 1837, he defended his Candidate thesis ‘A Spirit of the Buddhist Composition Khutukhtu Dekgedu Altan Gereltu Sudur-nogodun Erketu Khagan’ on the ‘Golden Light Sutra’ – quite popular in the Buddhism of Mahayana. In 1839, he defended his Master thesis ‘On the Basic Principles of the Buddhist Philosophy’ and became the first Master in Mongolian literature in Russia.

Verbitsky Vasily (1827–1890) – Missionary of the Altai Ecclesiastic Mission, linguist, ethnographer, specialist in Turkology, researcher of traditional culture of the peoples of Altai and Mountainous Shoria. In 1846, he graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Spiritual Seminary, then he taught at the parish school. Since 1854, in Siberia, he served as a priest at the travel mission church of All-Merciful Saviour in Ulala. He taught children the basic principles of faith, Russian reading and writing, and ecclesiastic singing.

Verkhovsky Pavel (1879–1943) – historian of the Church, specialist in canonic law of the Orthodox Church, church activist. Graduated from the Law Faculty of the St. Petersburg University (scientific supervisor - historian of ecclesiastic law M.I. Gorchakov); he stayed at the Department of Canonic Law and prepared there his Master thesis ‘Inhabited Real Estates of the Holy Synod, Bishops' Houses and Monasteries under the Closest Successors of Peter the Great’ (St. Petersburg, 1909). At the same time, he studied at the Theological Academy, graduating from it with Master degree in Theology (1906). Priest since September 19, 1920. He served in the office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod (1906-1908).

Veselovsky Aleksander (1838–1906) – historian, literary theorist, folklorist; Honourary Professor of the St. Petersburg University, Academician (1881); Head of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Ac. of Sc. In 1854, he enrolled to the Historical and Philological Faculty of the Moscow University, where he visited classes of P. I. Kudriavtsev. His Master thesis ‘Villa Alberti, New Materials for the Characteristic of Literary and Social Turn in Italian Life of the Fourteenth – Fifteenth Centuries’ (1869) was initially published in Italian. His Doctor thesis ‘From the History of the Literary Communication between the East and the West: Slavic Tales on Solomon and Kitovras, and Western Legends on Morolf and Merlin’ (1872).