Mother tongue as a means of teaching the Russian language to Mordovians: the formation of lingvo-didactic principle of foreign education in the second half of the XVIII and beginning of the XIX centuries

The author analyses the main content of Eastern non-Russian people education. The focus is on the usage of the native languages while teaching Russian in the second half of the XVIII - beginning of the XIX centuries. The new approach is proposed for the analysis of educational system in Nizhniy Novgorod clerical seminary where the Mordvinian language was taught to future priests and clerics during the period when Damaskin, the well-known scholar and educator, was the bishop.