Vladimir Beneshevich
Vladimir Beneshevich | |
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Born | Byzantine history and canon law | August 9, 1874
Vladimir Nicolayevich Beneshevich (
Beneshevich was a corresponding-member of the
Beneshevich was executed by the Soviet regime in 1938, and is one of the Eastern Orthodox Church's "New Martyrs".
Biography
Vladimir Nicolayevich Beneshevich was born on August 9, 1874, in Druya, Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Vitebsk Region in Belarus). He was of Belarusian ethnicity.[1] His father was a bailiff at the local court, and his grandfather was a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church. He had one brother, Dmitri, who was three years older.
Beneshevich graduated 'first class' from
Between 1900 and 1905 Beneshevich worked in libraries in Europe and the Middle East, studying Slavic and Byzantine written sources, and participated in his first archaeological expeditions to the ancient religious center of
In 1905, Beneshevich was appointed privat-docent of Byzantine history at the faculty of history and philology at the University of St. Petersburg. In 1908, Benshevich was appointed editor of the journal Обозрения трудов по славяноведению, a post that he would hold until 1918.
In 1909, Beneshevich was appointed extraordinary professor, and shortly thereafter ordinary professor of Byzantine history. He also lectured extensively on paleography, and, from 1906 onwards, on the history of canon law at the university's faculty of law, at the
In 1912, Beneshevich received a doctor of law from the
In 1914, on the eve of World War I, Beneshevich published his doctoral thesis on the Synagogue among the 50 works and other Canonical Collections of John Scholasticus.[n 2] He was granted a Doctor of Church Law the same year.
Between 1917 and 1918 Beneshevich served as secretary to the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. Between 1919 and 1926 he served in several different capacities in the Church's archives and libraries; from 1923 to 1926, as head of the Public Library of the History of Material Culture Academy, and from 1925 to 1926 as head librarian of the Greek manuscripts department of manuscripts Public Library in Leningrad.
In July 1922, and again in 1924, he was arrested in connection with the Case of the Metropolitan Benjamin, but was not held long in either instance.
In 1926, Beneshevich was appointed Secretary of the Byzantine Commission of the USSR. In 1927, he was granted permission to travel to Germany on a three-month scientific mission, where he had the opportunity to study a number of Greek manuscripts. Shortly before his return, the
In early 1928, Beneshevich was elected corresponding–member to the
Imprisonment and execution, 1929–1938
In November 1928, he was arrested on charges of spying for the Vatican, Germany and Poland. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and sent to Solovki prison camp. He was returned to Leningrad in 1930 to attend trial with his wife and brother on charges of sedition. In August 1931, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and sent to in the Ukhta-Pechora prison camp. The arrest and searches almost completely destroyed his collection of (copies of) ancient manuscripts. Of the 49 manuscripts known from his published prolegomena on them, only three survived.[6] Some 2000 photographs were also destroyed.
At the request of the
The first German edition of his work on John Scholasticus was published in Munich in May 1937. In October, an article in Izvestia portrayed this as a betrayal, and questioned why a Russian scientific work was published in Nazi Germany. Beneshevich was dismissed from his post, and on November 27 was arrested on charges of spying for Germany.[3]
Together with his twin sons and brother, who had been indicted on the same charges, Vladimir Nicolayevich Beneshevich was shot by the NKVD on 17 January 1938 in Leningrad.[7][n 3]
Beneshevich was struck from the rolls of the Russian Academy of Sciences on 29 April 1938. He was exonerated of the charges of treason by a Military Tribunal LVO on 20 August 1958,[6] over 20 years after his execution. Beneshevich was rehabilitated by the Academy of Sciences on 19 December 1958.[6]
Contributions
Vladimir Nicolayevich Beneshevich published more than 100 works related to
- Два списка славянского перевода синтагмы Матфея Властаря, хранящиеся в СПб-кой синодальной библиотеке: Описание их и тексты неизд. ст. Saint Petersburg, 1902.
- Канонический сборник XIV титулов со второй четверти VII в. до 883 г. К древнейшей истории источников права греко-восточной церкви. Saint Petersburg, 1905.
- Древнеславянская кормчая XIV титулов без толкования. СПб, 1907. Т. 1; Sofia, 1987. Т. 2.
- Армянский пролог о св. Борисе и Глебе. Saint Petersburg, 1909.
- Ответы Петра Хартофилакса. Saint Petersburg, 1909.
- Описание греческих рукописей монастыря св. Екатерины на Синае. Saint Petersburg, 1911—1917. Т. 1—3.
- Синагога в 50 титулов и другие юридические сборники Иоанна Схоластика. К древнейшей истории источников права греко-восточной церкви. Saint Petersburg, 1914.
- Сборник памятников по истории церковного права, преимущественно русской церкви до эпохи Петра Великого. (2 issues) Saint Petersburg, 1915.
- Вазелонские акты. Материалы для истории крестьянского и монастырского землевладения в Византии VIII—XV веков. Л., 1927 (posthumously together with Ф. И. Успенским).
- Corpus scriptorum juris graeco-romani tam canonici quam civilis. Sofia, 1935.
See also
Notes
- ^ Full title: Канонический сборник XIV титулов со второй четверти VII века до 883 года. К древнейшей истории источников права греко-восточной церкв
"Canonical Collection of 14 titles from the 2nd half of the 7th century to 883. The story of the sources of Canonical Law of the Greek Orthodox Church". - ^ Originally: Синагога в 50 титулов и другие юридические сборники Иоанна Схоластика.
- ^ According to a Academy of Sciences membership roll from 1974, Beneshevich was executed on 19 December 1943. However, a document dated 27 February 1938 refers to the execution, which makes the 1943 date implausible. See also Andreyev 2007.
Citations
- ^ "Жертвы политического террора в СССР". Lists.memo.ru. Retrieved 2013-06-12.
- ^ Tahoe-Godi, E.A., ed. (2008), Пять писем Ф.Ф. Зелинского, losevaf.narod.ru, archived from the original on 2011-08-20, retrieved 2015-06-14
- ^ a b Volftsun, L.B.; Schwarz, Е. М. (2003), Бенешевич Владимир Николаевич, История в лицах, St. Petersburg: National Library of Russia, archived from the original on 2013-01-13
- ^ Бенешевич Владимир Николаевич, "Памятники Синая археологические и палеографические", Вып. 2, Sankt Petersburg, 1912; V. N. Beneshevich, "Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Graecorum qui in Monasterio Sanctae Catherinae in Monte Sina Asservantur" St. Petersburg (1911).
- ^ State Hermitage Museum (2006), Publications: Christian East, St. Petersburg: hermitagemuseum.org, archived from the original on 2008-07-18, retrieved 2009-01-29
- ^ a b c "Академики", Solovki Encyclopaedia, Solovki Энцикоклопедия Digest Project, 1998
- ^ Andreyev, Grigory, ed. (2007), Бенешевич Владимир Николаевич, Миряне, archived from the original on 2016-03-03, retrieved 2015-06-14
References
- Vernadsky, G. (1927), 25-летие научно-литературной деятельности В. Н. Бенешевича, Prague: Seminarium Kondakovianum.
- Маракоў Л.У., "Рэпрэсаваныя літаратары, навукоўцы, работнікі асветы, грамадскія і культурныя дзеячы Беларусі", 1794–1991. Энц. даведнік. У 10 т. Т.1. —Мн:, 2003. ISBN 985-6374-04-9
- "Записка об ученых трудах В. Н. Бенешевича, Ф. И. Успенский, В. П. Бузескул, И. Ю. Крачковский, Н. Я. Марр", Изв. РАН. Сер. 6. 1924. Т. 18, ч. 2
Further reading
Biography of his wife:
- Bovkalo, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (2008), Римско-Католическая Церковь: Репрессированные монахини и миряне, Санкт-Петербургский мартиролог духовенства и мирян, St. Petersburg
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Biography of his brother:
- Репрессированные Геологи, ihst.ru, 2004.
Biographies of his brother and his sons:
- Bovkalo, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (2008), Русская Православная Церковь: Духовенство и миряне, Санкт-Петербургский мартиролог духовенства и мирян, St. Petersburg
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