Abstract:
The article is devoted to establishing the authorship of the book “Abkhazia and the New Athos Monastery of St. Simon the Canaanite in it,” published in 1898 and signed with the initials “I. N.” The book is a significantly expanded reprint of the work under the same name by Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin), published in 1885. The special literature contains various assumptions regarding the author-compiler whose name is hidden behind the initials. The analysis of the text of the book, the official reporting of the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus and archival documents permit to establish that the book was compiled by retired colonel Ivan Alekseevich Nikiforov. The surviving letters of I. A. Nikiforov to Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin) allow us to get an idea of the moral character of the author.
References
Adzhindzhal, E. K. Iz istorii khristianstva Abkhazii [From the History of Christianity in Abkhazia]. Sukhum, Stratofil Publ., 2000. 144 p. (In Russ.)
Basariia, S. Abkhaziia v geograficheskom, etnograficheskom i ekonomicheskom otnoshenii [Abkhazia in Geographical, Ethnographic and Economic Terms]. Sukhum-Kale, Narkompros SSR Abkhazii Publ., 1923. 166 p. (In Russ.)
Dorofei (Dbar), arkhimandrit. Istoriia khristianstva v Abkhazii v pervom tysiacheletii [The History of Christianity in Abkhazia in the First Millennium]. Novyi Afon, Izdatel’stvo Sviashchennoi Mitropolii Abkhazii Publ., 2015. 343 p. (In Russ.)
Endol’tseva, E. Iu. Iskusstvo Abkhazskogo tsarstva VIII–IX vekov. Khristianskie pamiatniki Anakopiiskoi kreposti [The Art of the Abkhazian Kingdom of the 8th–9th Centuries. Christian Monuments of the Anakopia Fortress]. St. Petersburg, Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities Publ., 2011. 272 p. (In Russ.)
Innokentii (Prosvirnin), arkhimandrit. “Afon i Russkaia Tserkov’: Bibliografiia” [“Athos and the Russian Church: Bibliography”]. Bogoslovskie trudy, issue 15, 1976, pp. 185–256. (In Russ.)
Kashcheev, A. A. “Istoriia napisaniia arkhimandritom Leonidom (Kavelinym) knigi ‘Abkhaziia i v nei Novo-Afonskii Simono-Kananitskii monastyr’’.” [“The History of Writing of the Book ‘Abkhazia and the New Athos Monastery of St. Simon the Canaanite in it’ by Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin)”]. Russko-Vizantiiskii vestnik, no. 1, 2018, pp. 120–125. (In Russ.)
Monakhologii Russkogo Sviato-Panteleimonova monastyria na Afone [Monachologies of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos]. Moscow, Golos-press Publ., 2013. 820 p. (In Russ.)
Petr (Pigol’), igumen. “Osnovy vnutrennei zhizni Novo-Afonskogo monastyria: edinstvo afonskoi traditsii” [“Fundamentals of the Inner Life of the New Athos Monastery: the Unity of the Athos Tradition”]. Dukhovnoe nasledie Vizantii i Afona v istorii i kul’ture Rossii. Materialy konferentsii (2007–2015 gg.) [Spiritual Heritage of Byzantium and Athos in the History and Culture of Russia. Proceedings of Conferences (2007–2015)]. Moscow, Drevlekhranilishche Publ., 2016, pp. 336–343. (In Russ.)
Russkii afonskii otechnik XIX–XX vekov [Russian Patericon of Athos, 19th–20th Centuries]. Sviataia gora Afon, St. Panteleimon Monastery on Athos Publ., 2012. 751 p. (In Russ.)
