The Russian Messenger

The Russian Messenger or Russian Herald (Russian: Ру́сский ве́стник Russkiy Vestnik, Pre-reform Russian: Русскій Вѣстникъ Russkiy Vestnik) has been the title of three notable magazines published in Russia during the 19th century and early 20th century. Since 1991, in Moscow, a new publication named the Russian Messenger has appeared once again. It is published weekly and its editor-in-chief from 1991-2013 was Alexei Senin, from 2014 Oleg Platonov.

Russian Messenger period I and II

The first publishing period of the Russian Messenger falls within the period 1808 to 1820, and 1824. Relocated to Moscow, the monthly journal was edited by writer Sergey Glinka. It was sponsored by the minister and adjutant general Count Fyodor Rostopchin and its orientation classified as patriotic monarchist.

The second publishing period falls in the years from 1841 to 1844 and appeared in Saint Petersburg. On its creation, the publisher, editor, journalist and publicist Nikolay Gretsch and writer, playwright, journalist and historian Nikolai Polevoy were involved. Another employee was the historian Ivan Snegiryov.

Russian Messenger period III

File:Russki vestnik.jpg

Cover of the Russian Messenger, volume 33.

The third publishing period of the Russian Messenger falls in the years from 1856 to 1887, appeared in Moscow, and 1887 to 1906, appeared in St. Petersburg. Unlike its predecessors, the magazine was no longer limited to historical and military articles, as well as general political themes, but saw itself as a literary journal and quickly became one of the most influential magazines in the second half of the 19th-century in Russia.

The magazine was founded in 1856 by a group of liberal writers and scholars, among them as an editor Mikhail Katkov, but also the professor of Moscow University Pyotr Kudryavtsev.

In 1887 it was bought by Count Friedrich von Berg and moved to Saint Petersburg, but later he abandoned the magazine due to the lack of finances, and eventually the magazine was shut down.

Featured titles

• Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
  • Provincial Sketches (1856–1857)
• Aleksandr Ostrovsky
  • Hangover at Somebody Else's Feast (1856)
• Ivan Turgenev
  • Nakanune (1860)
  • Fathers and Sons (1862)
  • Dym (1867)
• Leo Tolstoy
  • Family Happiness (1858–1859)
  • The Cossacks (1863)
  • War and Peace (1865–1869)
  • Anna Karenina (1873–1877)
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • The Village of Stepanchikovo (1859)
  • Crime and Punishment (1866)
  • The Idiot (1868)
  • The Possessed (Demons) (1871–1872)
  • The Brothers Karamazov (1879–1880)
• Nikolai Leskov
  • At Daggers Drawn (1870–1871)
  • The Cathedral Clergy (1872)
  • The Sealed Angel (1873)

Russian Messenger today

Since 1991 the Russian Messenger has appeared once again, founded by the charity foundation International Fund for Slavic Literature and Culture, in Moscow. It is published weekly as a national socio-political newspaper and its editor-in-chief from 1991 to 2013 was Alexei Senin, from 2014 Oleg Platonov. The newspaper has the motto "Those who love the Tsar and Russia, also love God" (Russian: Кто любит Царя и Россию, тот любит Бога, Transliteration: Kto ljubit Carja i Rossiju, tot ljubit Boga). The main topics of the newspaper, in its own words, are: rebirth of orthodoxy in Russia, politics, economics, history, army, Cossacks, Slavic brotherhood, Russian martial arts, Russian culture, science, school, education, health and "to survive in the wild, Russia forced upon the market". Another theme of the newspaper should strike deep into old wounds: reunion with "Little Russia" (Ukraine) and Belarus as "legitimate union of unjustly separated people". All these aspects, so the self-statement continues, should be treated in terms of a religious rebirth of the Orthodox faith in Russia.

External links

• Russian Messenger (Русский Вестник) online (in Russian)

Notes and references

the Russian Messenger (Русский Вестник) - information page (in Russian)