Rubtsov, M.V.: Vasilii Vasil’evich Bolotov. A Biographical Essay

Title

Vasilii Vasil’evich Bolotov (biograficheskii ocherk), Tver’ 1900

Vasilii Vasil’evich Bolotov. A Biographical Essay

Keywords

Summary

The book is devoted to the life of Vasiliy Vasil’evich Bolotov, a Russian orientalist and church historian (1853-1900). The biography was written following Bolotov’s passing, it is divided into seven chapters, and includes a photographic portrait of Bolotov and his mother. In the introduction, the author claims to have been acquainted with Bolotov and states that his goal is not so much to analyse the scholar’s substantial scientific contributions, but to describe facts from his life, especially his early life and education. Rubtsov describes Bolotov as “a powerful, richly endowed personality, in which a colossal, versatile scholarship combined with the utmost purity of heart, alien to all vanity with regards to himself and to all hypocrisy in regard to others, and with an infinite devotion to science and his duty”. The book’s seven chapters provide an overview of Bolotov’s life in chronological order, starting from his childhood and education at the Ostashkovskoe Theological School, followed by the years at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, and culminating with his brilliant career as a professor and scholar. The author asserts that in Bolotov’s vast scientific production, some of the most valuable works concern the ancient history of the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syro-Persian churches, with some of the most important publications being From the Ecclesiastical History of Egypt and A Few Pages from Ethiopian Church History (1888). Chapter six is devoted to Bolotov’s personality, his life in Petersburg, and his relationship with his beloved mother. The closing chapter describes his illness and death, which occurred in Petersburg in 1900.

Bio

Mikhail Rubtsov was a historian, educator, and librarian from Tver’. He authored books devoted to the history of his city, church history, and numismatics. Among his publications, there are Tver in 1674, According to Erich Palmquist (1902), About the History of the Udomel Holy Trinity and Saint John’s Monastery in the XVII Century (1903), and About a Newly Discovered Document of Tver’ Writing of the 15th Century (1911).

Sources

A. Babich, Mikhail Vasil’evich Rubtsov – tverskoi kraeved i numizmat, in Tret’ia Vserossiiskaia numizmaticheskaia konferentsiia: Tezisy dokladov, Moskva 1995, p. 118-119.

M.E.

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