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Pecherin's Quest for Meaningfulness
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 January 2017
Extract
The wide divergence of views among the Russian Westernizers makes it difficult to generalize about them, and the personality of Vladimir Pecherin, in particular, defies all categorization. In his search for perfection he was, like the radical Westernizers, led from idealism to left Hegelianism to revolution. But unlike the radical Westernizers he ultimately freed himself from the revolutionary mystique and moderated his demands for perfection, finding meaningfulness in a life of service as a Roman Catholic priest at a hospital in Dublin.
It seems worth while to re-examine Pecherin's intellectual development, since the only Russian biography of Pecherin, by Mikhail Gershenzon, was completed before the publication of Pecherin's memoirs, Zamogil'nye zapiski. Of two recent German works, the essay by Victor Frank centers on Pecherin, the Russian exile, but takes the memoirs insufficiently into account in evaluating Pecherin's religious views.
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- Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1963
References
1 M. (
) (Moscow, 1910). Gershenzon also published an abridged version of Pecherin's life in his (
) (Moscow, 1908). In this article only Mtt3Wb B. G. Uenepuna has been used.
2 B. C. (
) (Moscow, 1932). Pecherin began writing his memoirs in the late 1860's and sent them to his friend F. V. Chizhov in the early 1870's. At first the censors prevented their publication, except for a brief extract in (
) in 1870. In 1915 some of them finally appeared in print in (
) I (1915), 94-157.
3 V. Frank, “Ein russischer Exulant im XIX. Jahrhundert: Wladimir Petscherin,” Russland-Studien, Gedenkschrift für Otto Hötzsch (Stuttgart, 1957), pp. 29-42. Peter Scheibert, Von Bakunin bis zu Lenin (Leiden, 1956), I, 21-35; P. Scheibert, “Ober einige neue Briefe von Vladimir Pe£erin 1867-1873,” Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, VIII (1960), 70-78. Alexander von Schelting's sketch of Pecherin in Russland und Europa im russischen Geschichtsdenken (Bern, 1948), pp. 231-38 and 288-90, is solely based on Pecherin's encounter and correspondence with Herzen. There is a brief treatment of Pecherin in English in Richard Hare, Pioneers of Russian Social Thought (London, 1951), pp. 24-29.
4 (
), op. cit., p. 16.
5 Ibid., pp. 122, 157.
6 Ibid., p. 22.
7 bid., p. 32.
8 Ibid., p. 35.
9 Ibid., pp. 23-24, 34-35.
10 Ibid., p. 31.
11
Ibid., pp. 23-28. There is a reference to the sacrificial death of the five Decembrists who were executed in Pecherin's poem Triumph of Death. See (
), op. cit., p. 83.
12 (
), op. cit., p. 17.
13 (
) XVIII (1831), pp. 352-56.
14 Ibid., p. 356.
15 (
), op. cit., p. 14.
16 Pecherin to Ogarev, Mar. 13, 1863, in A. (
) XLVII (Apr.-June, 1935), 47. The same letter appeared also in A. Iziumov, “Der Briefwechsel V. S. Pećerins mit A. I. Herzen und N. P. Ogarev,” Jahrbücher für Kultur und Geschichte der Slaven, IX (1933), 515.
17 (
) XI (1870), 1334.
18 Ibid., pp. 1339-40.
19 (
), op. cit., p. 25.
20 Alexander V. Nikitenko (1804 or 1805-77), born a serf, became professor of Russian literature at the University of St. Petersburg in 1834. At the same time he was active as government censor of literature. A man of enlightened views, he tried to temper the severity of Nicholaian censorship. His notes and diary are an excellent source for the intellectual history during the era of Nicholas I. See A. B. (
) (2 vols.; St. Petersburg, 1905). Fedor V. Chizhov (1811-77) taught mathematics at the University of St. Petersburg in the 1830's. In the 1840's he visited the areas settled by Slavs in the Habsburg Empire. After the Crimean War he was active in the Pan-Slavist movement. Also in the 1850's he became interested in the industrialization of Russia. He promoted the construction of railroads. In 1874-75 he participated in the establishment of a merchants’ bank in Moscow. (
) (Moscow, 1958), pp. 128-34.
21 Pecherin to Nikitenko (no date given) in (), op. cit., p. 28.
22 (
) p. 1340.
23 (), op. cit., pp. 43-46, 57-59, 103.
24 (
), op. cit., p. 81.
25 (), op. tit., pp. 50-64.
26 Ibid., p. 65.
27
Ibid., p. 75. Dostoevsky parodied Triumph of Death in his novel The Possessed. See O. M. (
) XLI-XLII (1941), 472.
28 (
) p. 105. The poem is quoted by Hare, op. tit., p. 29; by Wladimir Weidle, Russia: Absent and Present (New York: Vintage Books, 1961), p. 57; and partially by Nicolas Berdyaev, The Origin of Russian Communism (London, 1955), p. 27.
29 (
) (Kazan, 1901), I, 139, 205; (
) I, 96.
30 (
) XI (1870), pp. 2130-32.
31 Edward E. Y. Hales, Mazzini and the Secret Societies (New York, 1956), pp. 105, 138- 39, 164, 180-82, 205-6; (), op. cit., p. 7.
32 (
), op. cit., pp. 471-82.
33 (), op. cit., p. 83.
34 Ibid., p. 66.
35 Ibid., p. 93.
36 Ibid., p. 92.
37 Ibid., pp. 43-51.
38 Ibid., p. 129.
39 ibid., p. 78.
40 Ibid., pp. 130-31. Entry in the Redemptorist Chronicle of Liège, July 19, 1840, as communicated by the archivist of the Belgian province of the Redemptorist Congregation, Rev. Father P. Janssens, Mar. 10,1962.
41 (), op. cit., pp. 109-11.
42 J. Pommier, “Autour d'un roman religieux de George Sand,” Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie religieuse, VIII, No. 5 (1928), 535-49; R. Doumic, George Sand (Paris, 1909), pp. 246-47; (), op. cit., pp. 109-11; (), op. cit., p. 481.
43 Chizhov to Nikitenko, Aug. 29, 1842, in (
) C (Nov., 1899), 367-68.
44 (), op. cit., p. 148.
45 Ibid., p. 150.
46 (), op. cit., p. 127.
47 G. Stebbing, The Redemptorists (London, 1924), pp. 1-12.
48 (), op. cit., p. 136.
49 Ibid., p. 115
50 (
) (Moscow, 1951), II, 491-92. It was repeatedly alleged that Pecherin had become a Jesuit. Pecherin mentions that after his conversion it was suggested to him that he join the Jesuits, but that he had rejected this: “The very name of Jesuit was repugnant to me, and besides it occurred to me that if one were to find out in Russia that I had become a Jesuit, it would cause a scandal.” (), op. cit., p. 139.
51 Entries in the Redemptorist Chronicle of Wittem, Holland, as communicated by the archivist in Wittem, Father L. Saut, Sept. 19, 1961; (), op. cit., pp. 170, 176-77.
52 Pecherin to Gagarin, Jan. 24, 1849, copy in Redemptorist Archives Brussels, XI 1/A (original in Redemptorist Archives London). Prince Ivan S. (after his conversion, Jean Xavier) Gagarin (1814-82) served as secretary of the Russian legation in Paris from 1838 on. In 1843 he did not return from a leave of absence. He became a Catholic and joined the Jesuits. (), op. cit., pp. 36-37.
53 (), op. cit., pp. 170, 177; extract from Redemptorist Chronicle of Limerick, as communicated by the Redemptorist archivist of Limerick, Father P. O'Donnel, to the archivist in Dundalk, Father P. Kelly, Sept. 17, 1962
54 Extracts from Redemptorist Chronicle of Limerick, ibid.
55 Letter of Sept. 17, 1962.
56 Pecherin to Father Edward Douglas, Dec. 29, 1855, Redemptorist Archives Brussels, XI 1/A.
57 Letter from Provincial Superior, Father Swinkels, quoted by Frank, op. cit., p. 39.
58 “A Special Report on the Trial of Rev. Vladimir Petcherine,” Dublin Review, XL (Mar., 1856), 200-252.
59 Pecherin's conversion to Catholicism was one of the chief themes in Herzen's unfinished novel, Dolg prezhde vsego. See (
) LXI (1953), 27-28.
60 Pecherin to Herzen, May 3, 1853, (
) (St. Petersburg, 1905), I I I, 356.
61 Ibid.
62 Pecherin to Herzen, Apr. 11, 1853, ibid.
63 Rector General of the Redemptorist Congregation. Most Rev. Father Nicholas Mauron to Pecherin, Sept. 13, 1861, Redemptorist Archives Brussels, XI 1/A; Scheibert, “Über einige neue Briefe …, “ pp. 73-74.
64 (), op. cit., p. 128.
65 Entry in the register of Mount Melleray Abbey, as communicated by its secretary, Alfred W. Murray, June 16, 1962.
66 Pecherin to Mauron, Jan. 30, 1862, Redemptorist Archives Brussels, XI 1/A.
67 Mauron to Pecherin, Feb. 15, 1862, ibid.', (), op. cit., p. 188.
68 (), op. cit., p. 156.
69 ibid., p. 38.
70
ibid., p. 150; (), op. cit., p. 187.
71 Pecherin to Gagarin, Jan. 13, 1847, Redemptorist Archives Brussels, XI 1/A.
72 Pecherin to Gagarin, June 16, 1850, ibid.
73 Pecherin to Ogarev, Mar. 13, 1863; (), op. cit., p. 46.
74 Pecherin to Ogarev, Apr. 6, 1863, ibid., p. 49.
75
Ibid., p. 40; () op. cit., p. 197.
76 (), op. cit., pp. 204-6, 211-12.
77 (), op. cit., pp. 104,141, 143,155.
78 ibid., p. 4.
79 ibid., pp. 168-69.
80 ibid., p. 171.
81 (), op. cit., pp. 46, 49.
82 (), op. cit., pp. 217-18.
83 (), op. cit., p. 178
84 Ibid., p. 101.
85 ibid., p. 138.
86 (), op. cit., pp. 207, 212.
87 ibid., p. 207.
88 (
) IX (1871), 1740.
89 (), op. cit., p. 222.
90 Ibid., pp. 214-17.
91
Ibid., pp. 203, 224; (), op. cit., p. 17.
92 Reminiscences of Father Pecherin by Father F. Gibson (undated), Redemptorist Archives Brussels, XI I/A.
93 Archdeacon McMahon to Mother Prioress (probably the head of the Mater Misericordiae Hospital), Nov. 21, 1888, ibid.
94 Letter of Sept. 1, 1962.
95 (), op. cit., p. 17.
96 (), op. cit., p. 209.
97 ibid., p. 200.