Belarusian Smolensk Region

Apanas Vincentavich Yarushkevich (1867 – before 1924) – On the Question of Biography and Scientific Heritage

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S.P. Astankovich*

The name A.V. Yarushkevich is inextricably linked to the creation of a number of fundamental scientific works on the history of Belarus and Belarusian philology. However, unfortunately, little is known about him even among narrow specialists today.

Information about Yarushkevich is virtually absent in Belarusian encyclopedias and other reference books, and it is difficult to find fragmented information about this researcher in scientific and journalistic literature [4, p. 26; 5, pp. 125 – 126; 7, pp. 134 – 136, 142 – 143].

The figure of Yarushkevich and his works have not become the subject of study in domestic science. In our opinion, the study of the worldview and the peculiarities of the formation of the intelligentsia of Belarus in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries is impossible without considering the biographies of individual representatives.

The author of this article aimed not only to present unknown facts from the life of A.V. Yarushkevich and to examine the main works of this outstanding scientist, but also to show the reaction of scholars of that time to their emergence, as well as to attempt to identify the factors that influenced the formation of his consciousness as a researcher and to evaluate his scientific activity.

Origin and Education.

Apanas Vincentavich Yarushkevich was born in 1867 in the family of a psalmist of the Lithuanian Orthodox diocese [11]. It is evident that the future historian received his first lessons at home and in one of the church-parochial schools.

The systematic education of the future scientist began at the Vilnius Spiritual School (1877 – 1881) [22; 20] and continued at the Lithuanian Spiritual Seminary (1881 – 1888) [21; 3].

According to the rules of that time, the best graduates of seminaries were given the opportunity to continue their studies at a spiritual academy. Yarushkevich entered in 1889 in St. Petersburg.

Apanas Vincentavich’s studies coincided with the time of the new Statute of Spiritual Academies of 1884, which introduced serious changes to the work of these institutions. However, as before, the academy provided a solid humanitarian-theological training.

It should be noted that at this time the famous Mikhail Kayalovich was still working in this educational institution, who left behind a whole school of researchers of the past of “Western Russia.” The influence of Platon Zhukovich, who headed the Department of Russian Civil History after Kayalovich’s death in 1891, could not be overlooked.

Academy students in their fourth year chose topics for essays, which became candidate dissertations for obtaining the degree of Master of Theology. Apanas Yarushkevich chose the topic “Prince Konstantin Ivanovich Ostrozhsky in his concerns for the Orthodox Church in Western Russia.” [12] This work was awarded a monetary prize of 40 rubles by a special commission of instructors [13].

Thus, Yarushkevich graduated in 1893 from his alma mater among the best students as a candidate of theology “with the right to receive the degree of Master of Theology without a new oral examination” [11].

In 1896 – 1899, Yarushkevich worked at the Smolensk Spiritual Seminary as an assistant inspector [23, p. 32; 19, p. 37]. Despite his active pedagogical work, he continued to work on his scientific dissertation, which was titled “The Zealot of Orthodoxy Prince Konstantin Ivanovich Ostrozhsky (1461 – 1530) and Orthodox Lithuanian Rus’ in His Time” [28].

Defense of the Dissertation and Controversy with Matvey Lyubavsky.

On May 26, 1895, Yarushkevich presented the manuscript of his research to the council of the Academy. After reviewing the work, the council allowed it to be printed. The defense took place on November 30, 1897, at a colloquium at the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy [11].

The official opponents of Yarushkevich were Professors Prot. P. Nikolaevsky and Pl. Zhukovich. To all the questions posed, the master’s student responded satisfactorily and was approved for the “degree sought by him.” His speech at the colloquium was published in the academic journal “Christian Reading” [27, pp. 103 – 111].

A much more critical assessment of Yarushkevich’s work was given by one of the most knowledgeable specialists on the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at that time, Matvey Lyubavsky, who wrote an extensive review of the new research on the history of the Principality [9, pp. 174 – 215].

Matvey Kuzmich accused A. Yarushkevich primarily of the fact that he was far from being the first to pay attention to the figure of Prince Ostrozhsky: “the Most Reverend Makary in vol. IX of his “History of the Russian Church” dedicated about eighteen pages to the prince, which is more than enough for the general history of the Russian Church,” and Yarushkevich only developed ideas borrowed from his predecessor, adding information from other sources, mostly printed.

The very concept used by Apanas Vincentavich was criticized. According to Lyubavsky, the work on K. Ostrozhsky “besides… specific shortcomings, also suffers from an incorrect general view of the internal history of the Lithuanian-Russian state” and it is impossible to present the entire history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a struggle between Russian Orthodoxy and Polish Catholicism. The reality in the Principality was much more complex in this regard.

Lyubavsky’s conclusion was the most unflattering – “…the book by Mr. Yarushkevich leaves the impression of a rough draft, prematurely published.”

Yarushkevich did not take long to respond. In 1899, his work dedicated to the controversy with Lyubavsky was published [26].

Matvey Kuzmich put a period in the discussion in the November issue of the “Journal of the Ministry of Public Education” [8, pp. 158 – 172]. The new text was dedicated to analyzing those postulates of Yarushkevich’s work that had not been previously addressed or had been insufficiently covered.

Thus, a rather indicative discussion took place between scholars representing the “liberal” and “official-conservative” currents of contemporary historical science.

Work in Vilnius and Maladzyechna.

By the order of the Ober-Prosecutor of the Holy Synod dated December 16, 1899, Apanas Vincentavich was transferred closer to his native places – to Vilnius [2], where he taught Latin at the men’s spiritual school (1899 – 1905), Russian and general history at the women’s school (1900 – 1905) [14, pp. 129 – 130; 16, p. 74]. He served as the secretary of the Vilnius St. Andrew’s Charity “on the care of underprivileged students” at the men’s school [16, p. 103]. For some time he was part of the management of this educational institution [15, pp. 108; 16, p. 74].

In 1906 – 1908, Apanas Vincentavich worked in the Vilnius Directorate of Public Schools [17, p. 44; 18, p. 43], and from September 1907, Yarushkevich became the head of the oldest teacher seminary in Belarus, the Maladzyechna Teacher’s Seminary, teaching pedagogy there [25, p. 55]. He would work in this position until almost the end of his life.

Despite his active pedagogical work, Apanas Vincentavich did not abandon historical research. In 1914, a large essay authored by him on the history of Maladzyechna and educational institutions in this town was published in Vilnius [25]. To a significant extent, this work reflects the researcher’s views on contemporary issues.

In our opinion, a good illustration of Yarushkevich’s portrait is his interest in local archaeological monuments, as well as in the study of the Belarusian language. There are testimonies from seminary students that the director asked them to record words for his dictionary, which was being created in the early 20th century [7, p. 143].

Last Years.

World War I brought its corrections to the fate of both Yarushkevich and the educational institution he led. In 1915, the Germans approached Maladzyechna, and the seminary had to be evacuated to Smolensk during the shelling of the city by German artillery. Almost all the property of the seminary was left behind and later perished [10, p. 41].

However, even in these difficult conditions, Apanas Vincentavich found the strength for further work and care for the seminarians. He continued his scientific research.

In 1918, an article under the cryptonym A-ch was published in the Petrograd magazine “Red Path” [1, p. 28]. The occasion for it was the publication in Smolensk of the Russian-Belarusian dictionary by the Haretzky brothers, which was completely criticized in Yarushkevich’s review not only for its small size and the futility of the author’s material but also for the “Polonization” of the Belarusian language. At the same time, the author of the review warmly welcomed any work on Belarusian studies, calling for actively borrowing words from the “endless treasure of the wonderful Russian language…” and seeking grounds for the development of Belarusian in the language of acts and documents of the “Lithuanian-Russian state.”

So far, no information has been found about the place of residence of Yarushkevich and his family in the early 1920s. The exact date of the outstanding scholar’s death is also unknown. In 1924, a letter from his widow, Olga Nikolaevna, reached Inbelkult, asking for help in a difficult life situation [24, pp. 157, 187 – 188]. It follows from it that she had previously been in Minsk and handed over to the Inbelkult workers the fruits of her husband’s work: a Belarusian dictionary and grammar, a textbook on pedagogy and psychology for public schools.

It should be noted that Yarushkevich managed to create a unique dictionary for his time. It contained 9,505 Belarusian words and 12,000 of their Russian equivalents [6]. His reference was used in the creation of the fundamental dictionaries by M. Baikov and S. Nekrashevich. Unfortunately, this reference has not yet been thoroughly studied by domestic linguists. In general, far from all of Yarushkevich’s heritage has been revealed and utilized in our time.

Yarushkevich was one of the most talented students of M. Kayalovich’s school. He managed to create a number of historical and philological studies that, to some extent, influenced the development of Belarusian science. In our opinion, the identification and use of his scientific works remain relevant even today.

List of Sources and Literature:

  1. A-ch [Yarushkevich A.] [Review of] Russian-Belarusian Dictionary. Brothers M. and H. Haretzky. Smolensk, 1918 // Red Path, 1918, No. 5 – 6.
  2. Actions of the government // Lithuanian Diocesan News (LDN), 1900, No. 3.
  3. Journal of the Pedagogical Assembly of the Administration of the Lithuanian Spiritual Seminary, July 18, 1888. Annual report on the successes and behavior of students of the Lithuanian Spiritual Seminary for the 1887/1888 academic year. List of students of the Lithuanian Spiritual Seminary who completed the full course of study in June 1888 // LDN, 1888, No. 28.
  4. Kazlouski M. Voices of Awakened Birds. Historical-biographical essays, reflections on books, literary portraits. Minsk: Lohvinau, 2006.
  5. Kazlouski M. Yarushkevich Apanas Vikentievich // Memory: Historical-documentary chronicle of Maladzyechna and the Maladzyechna district. Minsk: BelEN, 2002.
  6. Kaminski M. Interesting Manuscript // Literature and Art, 1961, December 22.
  7. Kahanouski H. Open, Mystery of Time. Historical-literary essays. Minsk: Art Literature, 1984.
  8. Lyubavsky, M. More about Mr. Yarushkevich’s book “Prince Konstantin Ivanovich Ostrozhsky” // Journal of the Ministry of Public Education (MNP), November 1899.
  9. Lyubavsky, M. New work on the internal history of Lithuanian Rus’ // Journal of MNP, July 1898.
  10. Lyakhouski U. School Education in Belarus during the German Occupation 1915 – 1918. Bialystok: Belarusian Historical Society; Vilnius: Institute of Belarusian Studies, 2010.
  11. Master’s colloquium at our spiritual academy // Church Herald, 1897, No. 49, December 4.
  12. Report on the state of the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy for 1892 // Christian Reading, 1893, No. 3 – 4.
  13. Report on the state of the St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy for 1893 // Christian Reading, 1894, No. 3 – 4.
  14. Memorandum Book of the Vilnius Province for 1902. Vilna, 1901.
  15. Memorandum Book of the Vilnius Province for 1904. Vilna, 1904.
  16. Memorandum Book of the Vilnius Province for 1905. Vilna, 1905.
  17. Memorandum Book of the Vilnius Province for 1906. Vilna, 1906.
  18. Memorandum Book of the Vilnius Province for 1908. Vilna, 1908.
  19. Memorandum Book of the Smolensk Province for 1900 / Published by the Smolensk Provincial Statistical Committee. Smolensk, 1900.
  20. Results of the final examinations at the Vilnius Spiritual School in the 1880/1881 academic year // LDN, 1881, No. 29.
  21. Results of annual and entrance examinations held at the Lithuanian Spiritual Seminary in May and June of this year. Report on the scores of students who took entrance examinations for admission to the 1st class of the Lithuanian seminary in June of this year 1881 // LDN, 1881, No. 28.
  22. Results of annual examinations at the Vilnius Spiritual School held in June of this year 1877 // LDN, 1877, No. 28.
  23. Reference Book of the Smolensk Province for 1896 / Published by the Smolensk Provincial Statistical Committee. Smolensk, 1896.
  24. Central Scientific Archive of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus (CNA NAS RB). F. 67. Inv. 1. Case 4.
  25. Yarushkevich A. Maladzyechna and its Educational Institutions: On the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Maladzyechna Teacher’s Seminary 1864 – 1914. Vilna, 1914.
  26. Yarushkevich A. A Few Words Regarding One Review. Smolensk, 1899.
  27. Yarushkevich A. Orthodoxy and Latinism in their interrelations in the 15th and 16th centuries in Western Russia // Christian Reading, 1898, No. 1.
  28. Yarushkevich A. The Zealot of Orthodoxy Prince Konstantin Ivanovich Ostrozhsky (1461 – 1530) and Orthodox Lithuanian Rus’ in His Time. Smolensk, 1896.

Source:

Astankovich S.P. Apanas Vincentavich Yarushkevich (1867 – before 1924) – On the Question of Biography and Scientific Heritage // XVII International Cyril and Methodius Readings. In Responsibility for Creation. Culture and Education in the Face of Ecological Challenges. Reports of the Scientific-Practical Conference May 26-28, 2011. Minsk: BGATU, 2011.

*The article is published with the author’s permission.