His Majesty’s confessor Nikolai Vasilyevich Muzovsky: ancestral roots, family and official activities

The article is dedicated to the archpriest, chief priest of the Main Staff of the Guards and Grenadier Corps, confessor of Emperor Nicholas I and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna Nikolai Vasilyevich Muzovsky. The work pays special attention to the family and clan ties of the confessor of the imperial family, as well as the main stages of his career. Considering the extremely scant information about Muzovsky’s relatives, the author considered it possible to talk in more detail about his father and children. Surviving archival documents and private correspondence make it possible to classify Muzovsky as one of the most educated members of the court clergy of the first half of the 19th century. At the same time, according to the recollections of his contemporaries, Muzovsky did not have brilliant oratory and was not one of the talented mentors. In any case, the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna remained disappointed by her experience with Muzovsky, who was tasked with preparing her to accept the Orthodox faith. However, Muzovsky’s teaching practice at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum showed that the confessor of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich was not completely devoid of teaching talent, given the interest of the lyceum students in his studies on the Law of God. Extremely unpretentious to living conditions and his appearance, Muzovsky spent most of his salary, which in some years exceeded 9 thousand rubles, on the maintenance of his family members. Obviously, after the death of his wife Ekaterina Mikhailovna, Nikolai Vasilyevich took upon himself all the troubles of arranging and supporting his children. In the office documents there are numerous appeals from Muzovsky to the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod and the Minister of the Imperial Court for assistance in arranging the fate of his children.