Alleged Sex and Threatened Violence: Doctor Russel, Bishop Vladimir, and the Russians in San Francisco, 1887-1892This book deals with a sequence of lively and often bizarre episodes within San Francisco's Russian community set in motion in early 1888 by the arrival in San Francisco of a new Russian Orthodox bishop--and his entourage, which included some twenty clergymen and eleven boys. It did not take long for the bishop to clash with Dr. Nicholas Russel, a colorful Russian revolutionary exile who was one of the leaders of the Russian community. They became bitter enemies, and Bishop Vladimir's three-and-a-half-year tenure in San Francisco was punctuated by a series of remarkable scandals and lawsuits, by an excommunication, by an unconsummated duel, and by a host of lurid allegations that received extensive local publicity--including charges of arson, perjury, attempts to hire potential assassins, bigamy, and, most sensationally, sodomy and child abuse. All of this centered around the combative bishop and his church administration, and eventually involved, in one way or another, a large part of San Francisco's Russian community, as people took sides with either the bishop or his tireless antagonist, Dr. Russel. These local furors reverberated in high places in St. Petersburg, as the procurator-general of the Holy Synod and officials of the Russian autocracy sought, in vain for the most part, to curb the bishop and bring peace to the local community. This vivid example of "microhistory" sheds light on a number of intriguing issues, notably the workings of the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia, the nature of European ethnic communities in late-nineteenth-century America, the mentality of the two protagonists (who represented widely different Russian social groups), Russian church-state relations, and nineteenth-century legal and sexual mores. |
Contents
Enter Bishop Vladimir | 3 |
Nicholas SudzilovskyDr Russel | 17 |
Anathema and the Morals Charge | 35 |
The Bishop Fights Back | 60 |
Dr Russels Agendas | 81 |
Fedoroff Petitions the Grand Jury and Russel Revises His Past | 92 |
Vladimir Defies Pobedonostsev and Makes His Journalistic Debut | 100 |
The Bishop Threatens Russel | 112 |
The Dungeon on Powell | 119 |
ConsulGeneral Artsimovich vs the Alaska | 140 |
More Lawsuits | 164 |
Artsimovich Defends Vladimir and | 184 |
Dr Russel as Author and Businessman | 206 |
Other editions - View all
Alleged Sex and Threatened Violence: Doctor Russel, Bishop Vladimir, and the ... Terence Emmons No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
accused affair affidavits Alaska Commercial Company Alaska Company Alexine Allen American anathema Angius Archimandrite archive arrest Artsimovich August Benevolent Society Bishop Vladimir Bobovsky boys California charges Chełm Chronicle civil suit claimed clergy company's Consul-General consular court criminal diocese doctor documents enemies episcopal exile Fedoroff fur-seal George Goldenberg Gopchevich grand jury Gustave Niebaum Holy Synod Innocent Isidor January Jews Joseph Levin June Kedrolivansky Konstantin Pobedonostsev Kucheriavy lawyer Lazarev letter to Pobedonostsev libel Ligda Liubov Louis Sloss Martysh Metropolitan Isidor Michailoff murder newspapers Nicholas Russel nihilists October Olarovsky Orthodox Church papers parish parishioners Petersburg petition Platt political Povarchuk Powell Street priest procurator-general recall reported request return to Russia Russian Church Russian consulate Russian government Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodox Church San Fran San Francisco scandal sent sexual Siberian story Sudzilovsky telegram testimony thodox tion told ukase Vasily Sokolovsky Vice Consul Vice Consul Niebaum