Kazan as a Window on the West For the Altai Indigenous Missionaries
50th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Kazan 2007
The topic “Kazan and the Altaic World” provides fruitful ground for discussing and interpreting a great variety of historical subjects that took place in “Pax Turan” within the last one thousand years. Kazan and Altai, once under the power of the Chingiz’ inheritors, came under Russian rule in different times and for different reasons.
The 19th century offers an unusual subject which made some links between the famous city on the Itil river and the Altai Mountains apparent. These connections were promoted and maintained by a non-traditional intermediary — the Altai Orthodox Mission. Founded in 1830 by Archimandrite Makariy Glukharev, it was one of the most successful missions throughout the Russian empire. The greater efficacy of it can be attributed, among other factors, to Makariy’s emphasis on learning the native Turkic languages and translating the Scriptures and prayers into them. Within a few decades, the Mission’s activities resulted in several thousands of Altai converts.
The use of native languages was studied intensively by the professor Nikolay Ilminskiy (1822–1891). By that time Kazan had become the center for the study for eastern languages and missionary training for the whole empire. Due to Ilminskiy’s comprehensive strategy classroom instructions and church services were conducted in native languages. Though based primarily in the Volga-Kama regions, this network extended into Siberia, mostly in Altai. Ilminski had maintained an intense communication with Altai since early 1860s. The local Mission successfully integrated his ideas into their own multiple activities.
Due to Ilminski’s efforts and personal involvement the most advanced native students were able to go to the Kazan Teachers Seminary founded in 1872. The broad issues of enlightening the non-Russian peoples of the Volga region were thoroughly studied by the scholars R. Gerasi (1995, 2001), W. Dowler (2001), E. Vishlenkova (1998). Yet, the involvement of the Siberian indigenous peoples has remained on the periphery of the scholars’ attention.
The Altai missionary Ivan Shtygashev (1860-1915) arrived in Kazan in 1883. Originally a native of the Shoria region, Ivan could be considered as a model of a deeply assimilated native, a cultural hybrid. While in Kazan, he made the journey of his life – he visited Kiev and Moscow, the sacral centers of the Russian Orthodox world, a part of which he had always wanted to be. During the journey he devotedly kept a diary, an invaluable record of discovering the new world. His “The Journey of an Altai to Kiev, Moscow and its Around Areas” was printed by the Russian Missionary Society in 1884. A year later his patron Father Ioil stimulated Shtygashev to provide his own life story in “Entering the Seminary and Schooling of the Shor (Altai) Ivan Matveev Shtygashev”. Though written in Russian, these two works enriched the Altai literature in its early stages. Kazan served as a place that played an important part in the making of Altai literature as it represented one of the aspects of the various cultural encounters within the Russian empire.