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Abstract:

This article a ttempts t o clarify the biography o f Varvara V. Shvidkovskaya, who had been in correspondence with Bishop Teofan (Govorov) since the second half of the 1870s. Special attention is paid to Shvidkovskaya’s attempts to realize in the first half of her life the pedagogical inclinations that she clearly had. It is established that Shvidkovskaya’s immersion into the spiritual sphere occurred after an unsuccessful attempt to improve the Kiev Institute of Noble Maidens (as its head). The article also pays attention to the circumstances that prompted Shvidkovskaya to move from Zadonsk, where she lived for a long time, to the Kozelshchansky monastery. The article is based on the materials resulting from the study of the archival funds of the Russian State Historical Archive, Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of RAS, rare book editions and publications in Russian periodicals (magazine “St. Petersburg Spiritual Messenger”, newspaper “Kievlyanin”). The rich factual basis of the article significantly expands the understanding of the spiritual life of Russia in the last decades of the 19th century, the role of the clergy and, in particular, the Rev. Theophan the Recluse in caring for the laity.

Кeywords: Theophan (Govorov), Correspondence, V. Shvidkovskaya, Kiev Institute of Noble Maidens, Zadonsk.