page_title: Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Saint Petersburg, Russia. Fontanka Embankment, house 20 (Golitsyn House). This is a photo of a cultural heritage object in Russia, number: 7810666000 This template and pages using it are maintained by the Russian WLM team. Please read the guidelines before making any changes that can affect the monuments database! Русский: Санкт-Петербург, Россия. Набережная Фонтанки, дом 20 (дом Голицына).
context_page_description: Prince Alexander Nikolayevich Golitsyn was a statesman of the Russian Empire, in 1803–1816 he served as Chief Prosecutor, and in 1816–1824 he served as Minister of Education, an Active Privy Councilor of the 1st Class. The confidant of Alexander I, who until the end of his life treasured him with "closeness and advice".
context_section_description: After graduating from the Page Corps in 1794, he was received as the lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. But a year later he returned to the court and became a chamber junker of the small court of Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich, and in 1796 he was transferred to the large imperial court. In 1799 he received the rank of chamberlain and in the same year became commander of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. He was expelled from Saint Petersburg by Emperor Paul I in the same year for an unknown reason.
  After the accession to the throne of Alexander I, Prince Golitsyn, as a person close to him, was appointed first as Chief Prosecutor of the I and later III Departments of the Senate, and then on October 21, 1803, at the insistence of the emperor, assumed the post of Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. In 1810, while maintaining his former position, he became the head of the foreign confessions, in 1816 – the Minister of Education.
  Partly under the influence of Rodion Koshelev, this Epicurean and Volterian of Catherine's training, elected in 1806 as a member of the Russian Academy, turned to piety with a pronounced sentimental-mystical color. He easily undertook to explain to the emperor the most complex theological questions, although he knew the history of religion superficially and considered true Christianity "foggy sentimental pietism mixed with Orthodox dogmas, various heretical and sectarian teachings". Moscow Metropolitan Philaret recalled:
  When the emperor appointed [Prince Alexander Golitsyn] as chief prosecutor, he said: "How can I be Chief Prosecutor of the Synod? You know that I do not have faith". – "Well, complete, naughty, come to your senses". "When – said Golitsyn after – I saw that the members of the Synod were doing things seriously... and I became more serious, more respectful of the affairs of faith and the Church; when after a year or two I asked myself: do I believe? – I saw, that I believe, as I believed in childhood".
  — From the Memoirs of Saint Philaret // Russian Archive – 1906 – No. 10 – Page 214
  Having proclaimed piety as the foundation of true enlightenment, Golitsyn headed for the clericalization of education, which under his leadership was zealously pursued by Mikhail Magnitsky and Dmitry Runich. He was suspicious of contemporary literature, which was expressed in the extreme censorship.
  This "baby" in the work of faith was constantly fooled by various bigots and savages; he searched for the "outpouring of the Holy Spirit" and revelations, always chasing the prophets and prophetesses, for signs and wonders: either he "listened to the prophetic word" at the whip of Tatarinova, then he longed for the laying on of the hand of the new Chrysostom – Photius, then healed the possessed ones, then he was certified mystical ecstasy to experience the likeness of the Savior's suffering from the needles of a blackthorn.
  — Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich
  After in 1817 the departments of spiritual affairs and public education were merged into one ministry – the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education – Golitsyn became the head of the latter, but was relieved of the post of Chief Prosecutor. Since 1810, Alexander Golitsyn was a member of the Council of State, and during 1839–1841 – Chairman of General Meetings. He was one of the few to whom the secret of the abdication of Konstantin Pavlovich was entrusted. He headed the Philanthropic Society, took part in the organization of the Guardians of Prisons Society and other philanthropic endeavors.
  In addition to the reform of theological schools, the establishment of the Russian Bible Society took place under Prince Golitsyn, which, under the presidency of the prince, translated the Bible into Russian and distributed more than 400,000 copies of it. The employees of this society, Popov, Magnitsky, Runich, and Cavelin, were appointed by Golitsyn to direct higher education, where they instilled clericalism; many professors were fired for lack of piety. Magnitsky demanded to completely close Kazan University ward to him. Although it was customary t
caption: House of Prince Golitsyn on Fontanka, 20
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