About the author
Tatiana A. Bogdanova, PhD in History, Doctor of Church History, Senior Researcher, The National Library of Russia, Sadovaya street 18, 191069 St. Petersburg, Russia.
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Abstract
The first published letters addressing the archbishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk Ignatiy (worldly name — Matvey Semyonov) from his contemporaries date back to 1842–1849 — the period of ministry of the bishop in the Don and Voronezh dioceses. In addition to information about various events, letters contain information about the relations between hierarchs, supported through the years by the relations of the teacher and the student, the godfather and the professed, fellow students at the academy or seminary. The correspondents of Archbishop Ignatius include Metropolitan Filaret (worldly name — Fyodor Amfiteatrov) and Philaret (worldly name — Vasily Drozdov) (both participated in the consecration of Archimandrite Ignatius to Bishop of Staraya Russa); Archbishop Saint Antoniy (worldly name — Avraamiy Smirnitskiy); Archbishop Grigoriy (worldly name — Georgiy Postnikov), who later became Metropolitan of Petersburg; as well as the former student of Ignatius at St. Petersburg Theological Academy — Arseniy (worldly name — Fyodor Moskvin), who later became Metropolitan of Kiev; Archbishop Iakov (worldly name — Iosif Vecherkov), etc. The introductory article to the published letters contains detailed biographical information compiled from archival and rare sources. The era, the place and the role of Eminent Ignatiy in church history arecharacterised in it, the circumstances accompanying the letters are clarified. The published epistolary documents are equipped with biographical references about the correspondents of Archbishop Ignatiy and with an extensive scientific commentary.