Gruzdev, F.S.: In the Country of Black Christians: Essays on Abyssinia

Title

V strane chernykh khristian: ocherki Abissinii, Sankt-Peterburg 1895

[Published under the pseudonym Volgin, F.]

In the Country of Black Christians: Essays on Abyssinia

Keywords

Summary

The book contains fifteen illustrations, an author’s introduction, and it is divided into ten chapters. The illustrations include a map of the area, portraits of local inhabitants, images of local architecture and landscapes, and portraits of Russian travellers in Ethiopia. In the introduction, the author claims that after several unsuccessful Russian missions to Ethiopia, including those led by Nikolai Ashinov and Fedor Mashkov, Russian society seemed to have lost interest in this Christian country located on the African continent. However, the author believes there are mutual advantages to potential cooperation between these countries. With this in mind, the author intends to offer Russian readers a historical and geographical overview of Ethiopia, describing the country’s nature and inhabitants, and shedding light on its history. Additionally, the author aims to provide an account of all the journeys made to this country by Russians. Chapters one and two are devoted to the geography and nature of the country; chapter three focuses on its population, politics, and architecture. Chapter four provides an overview of the history of Christianity in Ethiopia; chapter five offers a general historical account of the area up to Menelik’s rise to power. Chapters six to nine cover the Russian missions to Ethiopia, including Ashinov’s expedition and Mashkov’s missions.

Bio

Favst Gruzdev was an author and journalist, member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Born in 1867 in Kostroma province, he spent his childhood and adolescence in Kostroma, where his father was a priest at the local Trinity Church. Without completing the full course at the local Theological Seminary, he travelled to St. Petersburg, entered the Forest Institute, and graduated in 1892. In November 1889, the journal “Priroda i liudi” (“Nature and People”) was founded. His eldest brother, Sergei Gruzdev, was appointed as the responsible editor of the new journal, but all the editorial work was carried out by the younger brothers, Viktorin and Favst. Between 1904 and 1906, F. Gruzdev was the editor of the scientific and literary monthly journal “Nauka i zhizn’” (“Science and Life”), and in 1908, he edited the daily political newspaper “Sovremennaia mysl’” (Modern Thought). He died of an aortic aneurysm in 1913.

Sources

I. Masanov, Slovar’ psevdonimov russkikh pisatelei, uchenykh i obshchestvennykh deiatelei, IV, Moskva 1960, p. 149;

V. Pashin, Eto bylo nedavno, eto bylo davno: kraevedcheskie zametki: nevydumannye istorii, Moskva-Kostroma 2002, p. 84-85;

F. Fidler, K. Azadovskii, Iz mira literatorov: kharaktery i suzhdeniia, Moskva 2008, p. 781.

M.E.

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