The Fate of a Priestly Family of Little Russia in the Events of the Civil War in the South of Russia (Sketches for a Biography of Priest Georgy Pavlovich Rutkevich Who Was Killed in Stanitsa Nekrasovskaya, Kuban Oblast, in 1918)

Abstract

This article is devoted to the history of a hereditary priestly family of Little Russia in the context of the Civil War in the South of Russia (1918–1921). This study aims to examine the biography of Priest Georgy Pavlovich Rutkevich, who died in the stanitsa Nekrasovskaya, Kuban Oblast on August 8, 1918. In addition to traditional ways of research, the author uses the prosopographic research method. The documents from a number of archives, as well as the information received from the descendants of the deceased priest, made it possible to trace the history of the Rutkevich family in the Russian Empire, in the USSR and abroad. At this stage of the study, the author obtained the information about the life of the descendants of the eldest daughter of Priest Georgy Rutkevich — Lydia Georgievna Figurovskaya, who emigrated with her husband, a White Guard officer, to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was also possible to trace the fate of the priest’s youngest son — Ivan Georgievich Rutkevich, who dedicated his life and skills to the development of Soviet industry. The death of priest Georgy Rutkevich and the emigration of his eldest daughter predetermined the existence of their closest relatives in Soviet society — the society hostile to the families of «enemies of the people». At the moment, the researcher still has no information about the fate of Father Georgy’s eldest son, Pavel Georgievich Rutkevich. As for the youngest daughter Ekaterina Georgievna Gorbacheva, it is only known that in the 1940s she lived with her mother — the priest’s widow — in Zagorsk (the present-day Sergiev Posad) near Moscow. It is supposed that further research on the documents, including biographical materials regarding other relatives of the deceased pastor, will be helpful at establishing more precisely why and how Priest Georgy Rutkevich died.