Inspector of the educational committee Petr Ivanovich Nechaev: a portrait in the memoirs of contemporaries

The article is devoted to the analysis of Peter Ivanovich Nechaev’s activities during the years of his service in the Educational Committee at the Holy Synod (1888-1905). Currently, the attention of the researchers who study the history of the theological education and the Russian Orthodox Church in the Synodal period is focused mainly on the analysis of the regional theological seminaries’ and schools’ development, as well as on the problems of higher theological education, while little attention is paid to the control and auditing activities of the Educational Committee as an important factor in the development of the theological education. Of particular interest are the personalities of the Educational Committee auditors who through audits thoroughly got familiarized with the state of affairs at theological educational institutions and consequently made significant contributions to the theological education development in Russia. This determines the relevance and the scientific novelty of this study. At the same time, the article doesn’t only present an attempt to characterize a synodal official’s activities through the official records’ study, but also gives the analysis of personal origin’s sources such as letters and memoirs which despite their private nature are the most valuable materials that complement the official information. The analysis of a fairly wide range of the available sources allowed us to present the most objective view on the issue posed in the study.