Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov (Pre-reform Russian: Петръ Ива́новичъ Кафа́ровъ; Modern Russian: Пётр Ива́нович Кафа́ров), also known by his monastic name Palladius (Pre-reform Russian: Палла́дій; Modern Russian: Палла́дий; 29 September 1817,

Chistopol Chistopol (russian: Чи́стополь; tt-Cyrl, Чистай, ''Çistay''; cv, Чистай, ''Çistay'') is a town in Tatarstan, Russia, located on the left bank of the Kuybyshev Reservoir, on the Kama River. As of the 2010 Census, its p ...

– 18 December 1878,

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

), was an early Russian

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

Biography

Kafarov was born in the family of an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. He studied in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and Saint-Petersbourg Academy, from which was sent to the

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

in China. Like his teacher

Hyacinth (Bichurin) Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin (Никита Яковлевич Бичурин) (29 August 1777 – 11 May 1853, St. Petersburg), better known under his archimandrite monastic name Hyacinth (sometimes rendered as Joacinth), or Iakinf (Иакин� ...

, Palladius was a Russian Orthodox monk. During his stay in China, he discovered and published many invaluable manuscripts, including ''

The Secret History of the Mongols ''The Secret History of the Mongols'' (Middle Mongol: ''Mongɣol‑un niɣuca tobciyan''; Traditional Mongolian: , Khalkha Mongolian: , ; ) is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. It was written for the Mongol royal fam ...

''. During his scholarly career, Kafarov's works focused on Chinese linguistics, history, geography, and religion. Kafarov notably translated many Buddhist scriptures from Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan. Kafarov also studied the history of Christianity in imperial China and helped pioneer the study of Chinese Islam. For more than three decades,

Archimandrite The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot (''hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") who ...

Palladius headed the Russian Orthodox mission in China''"Путешественник - Архимандрит Палладий Кафаров", Russian "СМ номер один" Magazine, September 2005, in Russian'' and held ethnographic and linguistic research there. Kafarov designed a

Cyrillization Cyrillization or Cyrillisation is the process of rendering words of a language that normally uses a writing system other than Cyrillic script into (a version of) the Cyrillic alphabets, Cyrillic alphabet. Although such a process has often been ca ...

system for the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

, known as the Palladius system. This system has remained the basis for official transcription of Chinese personal and geographical names in Russia ever since. The ''Chinese-Russian Dictionary'' composed by

Palladius remains a well-known work even today.

Works

* 《漢俄合璧韻編》掌院修士巴第遺篇，1888年，北京同文舘 (''Chinese-Russian Dictionary'' by Archimandrite Palladius, 1888, Tungwen Guan
Volume 1
https://books.google.com/books/about/漢俄合璧韻編.html?id=yRo-PwAACAAJ
Volume 2
https://books.google.com/books?id=GYpPAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Pavel+Stepanovich+Popov%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DHJ9VKerK4HlsATroIDADg&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
1896 edition

References

1817 births 1878 deaths People from Chistopol Lexicographers from the Russian Empire Sinologists from the Russian Empire Chinese Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox missionaries Russian Orthodox monks Archimandrites Monks from the Russian Empire Expatriates from the Russian Empire in China Missionary linguists 19th-century lexicographers {{Russia-linguist-stub

Biography

Works

See also

References