Reader Ivan Asimov as a Typical Representative of the St. Petersburg Clergy of the 18th Century (From the History of the St. Petersburg Diocese)

The article presents the biography of Ivan Savich Asimov (circa 1715–1755), the reader of the Church of St. Sampson the Xenodox on the Vyborg side near St. Petersburg (modern Sampson Cathedral). Ivan Asimov is a typical representative of the St. Petersburg clergy of the middle of the 18th century. Many processes characteristic of the “era of change” — the period of formation of the Synodal system — were reflected in his fate. This includes increasing bureaucratic control over Church servants, the need for spiritual education to obtain a place in the parish, and, at the same time, the official possibility of obtaining such a place by inheritance. On the example of the reader Ivan Asimov, you can see some aspects of the life of the St. Petersburg Theological School at the dawn of its existence, as well as the family ties of the St. Petersburg clergy, which at that time had not yet become a completely closed class. Ivan Asimov was the son of one of the first St. Petersburg “churchmen” — sexton Savva Gerasimov, and among his own descendants were both clergymen and ecclesiastics. In particular, the Ivan’s son and grandson became priests and for 75 years led the parish of the Church of St. Elijah the prophet of God on the Porokhovyh.