Nikolai Gogol and the Altai mission of the venerable Macarius (Glukharev). On occasion of the 175th anniversary of the repose of St. Macarius

The article examines the intersection of the destinies of two prominent personalities of the first half of the 19th century: the Altai missionary St. Macarius (Glukharev) and the famous writer N. V. Gogol. In the relationship between Gogol and Fr. Macarius, it seems rather strange that at the end of 1839 Gogol invited an authoritative, respected pastor to his sisters as a “personal” teacher of the law. This happened despite the extremely busy existence of the priest and was accepted by him. It is suggested that Archim. Macarius and Gogol agreed that, in the event of successful contact between the spiritual mentor and his students during the lessons, they would then be involved in the activities of the Altai Mission. At that time, in order to educate the female population of Altai, Fr. Macarius was in dire need of female missionaries. He wrote a special note about this, presented in 1839 to Emperor Nicholas I. Apparently, at the same time he shared this concern with N. V. Gogol and, after a conversation with him, agreed to become a mentor to the young sisters of the writer, suggesting that they can join the ranks of the mission. The problems of the relationship between secular and spiritual education are touched upon, the religious nature of Gogol's fraternal concern for the upbringing of his sisters, as well as the reminiscence of reflections on them in his poem Dead Souls , is revealed. A detailed study of communication between N. V. Gogol and Archim. Macarius is undertaken here for the first time.