The Initiative of the Russian Geographical Society in the Mid-19th Century and Its Implementation in the Works of the Don Archpriest Grigory Levitsky

The mid-19th century was marked by the initiative of the Russian Geographical Society, founded in 1846, to collect various types of historical sources that would contain geographical, ethnographic and statistical information about the regions of the Russian Empire, with the aim of writing the history of the state. This initiative became the reason for the involvement of the parish clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church in the process of identifying and collecting sources. As a result, the independent creativity of the clergy made a certain contribution to the history of the regions. The implementation of the initiative of the Russian Geographical Society in the Region of the Don Army (until 1870, the Land of the Don Army) served as the emergence of several clergymen who collected historical and ethnographic information, the results of which were published on the pages of Don periodicals. Among them, the rector of the Resurrection Cathedral of the Starocherkasskaya stanitsa, Archpriest Grigory Levitsky, stands out. He not only became the author of a number of studies published in both the military and diocesan journals of the Region of the Don Army, the creator of the museum in the Starocherkasskaya stanitsa, but also initiated the creation of three monuments dedicated to the history of the Don Cossacks. His work, which has not lost its relevance to this day, is a contribution to the formation of the history of memory, which was not characteristic of the Don Cossacks, concentrated on military service.