Sergei A. Rachinsky and Parochial Schools

Abstract

The idea of ​​teaching literacy in Russia belonged to Empress Catherine II, who in 1770 drew up the first project for the organization of schools for the male population, but for a century it was not implemented. Only after the 1860s, when serfdom was abolished, zemstvo and city reforms were carried out, did a real basis for the development of public education appear. The ideological inspirer of parochial schools was Sergei Aleksandrovich Rachinsky (1833-1902), a scientist and teacher, whose biography is associated with the Tambov region. Sergei Rachinsky was a supporter of parochial schools and the Temperance Society, which caused a cautious attitude towards his activities before and after the revolution. Before the revolution, this was explained by the liberalization of high society, which was sometimes hostile to everything national, as it then seemed, outdated, obsolete, reactionary. This is how the case of Rachinsky was perceived, who opposed the "going to the people" common among the raznochintsy revolutionaries with the path of "merging with the people", turning to the traditional idea of ​​the unity of school and Church for the Russian state. During the Soviet period, Rachinsky's legacy was also hushed up, since he was a nobleman. Rachinsky's students were rare. They received spiritual education and a classical education, in which exact disciplines coexisted with the humanities, art classes and labor education. Teaching was conducted at the highest level, due to the unique personality of Rachinsky, who combined spiritual purity, deep intelligence, talent and an excellent education. Sergei Rachinsky combined two tasks in his work - the churching of the school and the sobering up of the people. Over the course of 20 years, about 60 teachers, 12 deacons, 4 priests, 3 artists, an academician-atomic scientist, the minister of the oil industry, and a doctor of medicine emerged from among Rachinsky’s students. One of Rachinsky’s students, Archpriest Alexander Vasiliev, who was shot in 1918, was the last confessor of the royal family.