Nikolai Protasov biography

Article from the Encyclopedia "Tree": Drevo-info. Protasov Nikolay Aleksandrovich-, Count, adhesive general from the cavalry, member of the State Council and chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod. Born on December 27 in the family of a real secret adviser, Senator Alexander Yakovlevich Protasov and Barbara Alekseevna, nee Bakhmetyeva. He took part in the Turkish war and in Polish campaigns was in military service up to a year, when in the rank of colonel he was appointed a member of the main board of schools, the main board of censorship, and the committee for the construction of educational institutions.

In the year, Protasov was determined by correcting the position of a comrade of the Minister of Education. In the same year, he was entrusted with observation of the main pedagogical institute and Rumyantsevsky Museum, the review of the Belarusian training district and then the closest head of this district. Having occupied this position until his death, for 20 years, Protasov is known for the transformations of spiritual schools and higher spiritual administration.

He improved the external conditions of spiritual schools and seminaries, introduced natural science, medicine and agriculture into the program, established teaching in Russian instead of the former Latin and took a lot of measures to improve the educational guides. Guided in their transformations of schools with the desire to bring them closer to secular educational institutions, and to make their future priests to make them, in his opinion, more useful and close to the people, he largely reduced the former programs of schools and at the same time gave them some kind of military-disciplinary character.

Protasov closed the previous commission of theological schools, established the spiritual and educational department for the enforcement and economic production and economic production and transformed both his own office and the Synod’s office into this Department and the Control Management, with the Director at the head. Thus, from the Holy Synod, Protasov made a kind of ministry, which became in his hands only by the executive body.

The Synod was forced to draw into practical life not his own views on the goals and objectives of spiritual education, but the ideas of the chief prosecutor, since the Count of Protasov, through the established reports, previously introduced the sovereign with them and usually managed to cause his sympathy for his own views and the approval of the planned transformations. Thanks to this position of Count Protasov, members of the Synod, in the case of independence, were often subjected to unpleasant consequences for themselves.

Thus, gradually and without a special struggle, Count Protasov finally completed the process of subordination of synodal management of the influence of the chief prosecutor and, taking advantage of the unchanged location and unconditional trust of Emperor Nicholas I, withheld the prosecutor’s significance until the very end of his life. However, it should be noted that no matter how great the significance of Count Protasov was in the field of church life and no matter how strong the actual dependence of the clergy on the prosecutor’s office was, nevertheless, under him among the highest hierarchy, personalities were deciding, in some cases, to not change their beliefs for the sake of the views and desires of the all-powerful chief prosecutor, as for, for example.

Count N. Protasov was married to Princess Natalya Dmitrievna Golitsina-, the daughter of the Moscow Governor General of Prince D. died on January 16 in St. Petersburg. Or, if you are not satisfied with the information presented here and go to look further, please return here and share the found, and those who come after you will be grateful to you.