Russian school in Cairo

We are sure that very few Russian people, even those who have been and lived in Egypt, know that in its capital, on the banks of the abundant water-bearing Nile, in Cairo, there is a Russian school. Meanwhile, this school has already existed for a quarter of a century, has educated many children of the local Cairo Orthodox community, now serving in various fields of public and private activity, it is, one might say, the only hotbed of Christian enlightenment for the entire Alexandrian patriarchate; it educates up to 200 children of the local Cairo community every year. We called this school Russian because it was founded at the expense of a Russian subject, is under the high patronage of the Russian Sovereign Emperor, its main trustee is a Russian diplomatic agent under the Egyptian Khedive, through the efforts of our Russian agency it has been brought to its current completely comfortable state, etc. d.; but in fact, in Cairo, not only officially, but even privately, none of the local Greeks or Arabs mentioned calling this school by their real name and even a Russian would be perplexed by the very name. Officially, this school is called Ambetyevskaya after its founders. About 30 years ago, the brothers Theory, Ananiy and Raphael, natural Arabs, from the rich merchant family of Ambet, considered Russian subjects, but living permanently in Cairo, with common consent, on the initiative of the elder brother Theory, decided to allocate from their acquired large capital an amount, with the interest from which a school could exist for the children of the local Cairo Orthodox community. Being merchants themselves and living in an exclusively merchant environment, the Ambet brothers wanted to create something like a pro-gymnasium, where local Cairo youth could be educated, and from where clerks who knew how to read and write could emerge. Accordingly, the program of this school was not as complex as it is now. The law of God, the Greek language, the native Arabic language, mathematics, bookkeeping, foreign languages ​​necessary for anyone engaged in trading in such an international city as Cairo - that’s all that Cairo youth studied at the Ambetev school in the first years of its existence. But when the demand for education intensified, when the local Orthodox community, which hitherto had no other schools, realized the need for a secondary educational institution, the programs of this school were increased almost to the volume of a gymnasium. In its present form, this school is now a secondary educational institution, but without the right to issue a matriculation certificate to its students. The best of its students, after graduating from school, go to Athens, take a matriculation exam at one of the local gymnasiums or the Risari Theological Seminary and enter the Athens University. Almost all the teachers at the Ambetyev school and its director have a university education and teach at the level of classical gymnasiums. The local community strongly wishes to transform the present school into a full gymnasium, but the necessary funds have not yet been found for this. The current school director, P., was summoned from Smyrna. Kaplanidis, a man of excellent qualities of Soul and Heart, educated not only at the University of Athens, but even in many German universities, with pedagogical experience (except for Smyrna, he was also the director of a trade school in the Lyceum) directs all his forces to satisfy this sincere and ardent desire of the local society, and he hopes that in the near future his efforts will be crowned with complete success. Mr. Kaplanidis himself, as having an academic degree of Doctor of Philosophy and a true philosopher, tried to introduce logic into the course of the taught sciences, as a science that accustoms children to the discipline of thought, for aesthetically developed youth - training in the fine arts: painting and music, for the physical - gymnastics; In accordance with the current goals of the school, he paid special attention to foreign languages ​​and the local Arabic language. In addition to German and French, other languages ​​began to be taught: English, Italian, and since 1888, Russian. All teaching is conducted in living, spoken Greek, and therefore children of Arab origin should pay special attention to this language from the very first grade. In turn, children of Greek origin are required to learn Arabic from the first grade, and during the lesson they are required to speak this language with the teacher. Then, spending about 7 hours a day together at school (from 8 to 12 in the morning and from 3 to 7 in the evening), children of both nationalities conduct conversations in both languages ​​and therefore, by the end of the school course, the tribal difference in the language between them almost disappears. Children of Arab origin can read Greek fluently, and children of Greek origin have no difficulty commenting on the Koran and Arab poets. Thus, with the current organization of educational affairs at the Ambetyev school, the good intentions of its founders are being fully realized. Enlightened figures come out of the school for the local region, rich in natural works, in which, like flies, people swarm here from different ends of the universe, speaking different languages ​​and dialects, for the purpose of enrichment and profit. One can hope that the pupils of the Ambetyev school, brought up on the same bench with the natives, will raise national self-awareness in the latter, awaken in them the spirit of enterprise, lead them out of the centuries-old apathy and slavery in which the poor Egyptian fellah finds themselves, wrest the country’s natural resources from the hands of self-interested alien exploiters and begin to develop them independently with a more humane and humane attitude towards the unfortunate hardworking Fellah, who knows no rest day and night just to have a flatbread from durra 1, not to die of hunger with his usually large family. The significance of the Ambetyev school was perfectly described in his oratory by its current director P. Kaplanidis, who delivered it on June 7, 1887 before the start of public exams. in the presence of our political agent A. Koyander and the Greek consul A. Ralli. “Just as the Nile, overflowing with all kinds of sediment, irrigates the whole of Egypt with its flow and turns its completely deserted and sandy soil into an ever-green and fruitful garden, so the Ambetev school, founded in the bed of the popular trend, on the banks of the creator of all wealth and abundance, this golden-streaming river, in the capital of Egypt, is a lamp standing in a dark place, a solid rock against which everything unworthy and vain is broken, relying on which one can achieve Divine Wisdom, the power of which covers, enriches, warms, gives life to peoples, rules on earth, rules the world.” But only in recent times has this school received its real strength and its significance for Egypt; in the last quarter of a century of its existence there were several dark pages in its history, which would not be superfluous to mention here. The Russian Ambetyev school, intended by its founders for a modest role, as we said, to be a breeding ground for educated clerks for the local merchants, according to the strength of their spiritual testament, received a rather strange organization. The school was run by an ephoria of five or seven honorary citizens of the city of Cairo of mixed origin. Its indispensable members were only the Archbishop of Mount Sinai, as the permanent chairman of the ephoria, in whose absence the position is corrected by the appointment of the archbishop-abbot, the most honorable of the Sinai elders, and the director of the school, and the rest of the Ephors serve temporarily and by election. By virtue of the same will of the founders of the school, among the most honorable Ephors there should always be someone from the Ambet family. Important changes in the school are carried out in no other way than in a special manner, each time in accordance with this honorable ephor. Eforia is in charge of not only the economic part of the school, but even the academic part. The choice of the director, the change of teachers, the introduction of new subjects in the range of subjects taught at school, the abandonment of old sciences, etc. depended on Euphoria. Thus, the school was completely dependent on Euphoria, and the role of the director and teachers was only executive. Any protests by anyone against Eforia’s wishes were dangerous and threatened with deprivation of a place at school. It goes without saying that in euphoria, from the very foundation of the school, a prominent role belonged to its founders. The Ambet brothers enjoyed the unconditional trust of their fellow citizens - fellow members of the ephoria, and it never occurred to any of them to protest against this natural outstanding position in the ephoria of the founders of the school and the guardians of the education of the youth of Cairo society, much less control the financial part of the school - their almost exclusive and free gift. True, the arrogant attitude of the founders towards their fellow members in ephoria and the uncontrolled management of the affairs of the school somewhat worried the other members, but no one dared to raise their voices against them. The Ambetev school in Cairo, at the request of our diplomatic agency, was accepted under the special patronage of the late Emperor Alexander II, and the Russian diplomatic agent to the Egyptian Khedive was always considered its honorary trustee; but since none of the Russian subjects were brought up there, our diplomatic agent did not interfere in the affairs of this school, limiting himself only to attending public exams in the month of June and leaving the members of the ephoria, as people interested in the situation of the school in which their children were brought up, to run it at their own discretion. Consequently, there was no supervision on the part of the honorary trustee over the conduct of affairs at the school. Nor could its honorary chairman, the Archbishop of Sinai, oversee and manage the ephoria, since the predecessors of the current chairman, the Sinai archbishops-abbots, did not live in Cairo. Constantius II lived permanently in Constantinople 2, his successor Callistratus III, a sick man, lived in Sinai, moving from the monastery to Raifa and back, depending on the time of year, loved to garden and garden (almost with his hands he planted and with his care raised a beautiful small garden in Sinai at the now destroyed Church of the Holy Apostles), but was not interested in science and schools. The representative of the Sinai archbishop in the ephoria during this period was one of the Sinai elders who lived in Cairo in the local Juvali Sinai compound. As illiterate people, they had little interest in the school, serving, as a heavy duty, the meetings of the ephoria and the annual tests of school pupils, but they did not enter into the essence of the matter, into the internal life of the school, and did not exercise any influence in the ephoria. The school was thus left to its own devices; it was managed without control by its founders, the Ambet brothers. This is how things went until 1885, that is, until the time when the current Archbishop Porfiry was elected to the See of Sinai. After his ordination in Jerusalem under the current Patriarch Nicodemus, His Grace Porfiry returned to Sinai, but did not stay there for long. Having arranged the neglected affairs of the monastery during the period of anarchy, replacing the most important proto-Sinkelian posts and, in particular, the post of Constantinople, having performed several ordinations over the honored brothers of the monastery, the Right Reverend Porfiry 3 announced to the council of elders that the interests of the monastery, as well as his personal poor health, forced him to leave the walls of his throwing 4 and live in Cairo in the local monastery courtyard. Since the absence of an archbishop-abbot within the walls of the Sinai monastery, usually ruled by the archbishop's vicar, who is called a dikei, is not a new thing for the Sinai brethren, and therefore the proposal of the Right Reverend Porfiry did not cause any particular objection from the cathedral elders. After a two or three month stay within the monastery walls, the new Sinai archbishop-abbot went to live in Cairo. In the Juvali courtyard, the new archpastor of Sinai, with his characteristic intelligence and diplomatic tact, which he acquired in his previous high posts - exarch of the Vlachian 5 and proto-Sinkel 6 of Constantinople, soon, having looked closely at the orders that existed before him, took the reins of government into his strong and experienced hands, which the Sinai fathers immediately felt. With the Patriarchate and in particular with the current Patriarch of Alexandria, the ninety-year-old elder Sophronius, the Right Reverend Porfiry, although he began his personal relations, but due to the primordial disposition of the Alexandrian patriarchs, who once even claimed to subordinate the Sinai archbishop, he failed to establish once and for all cordial relations with the monastery. Tension in relations always existed even under the ruler of Sinai. As for the attempt of the Right Reverend Porfiry to establish good relations with our diplomatic agent and with the Orthodox Cairo society, it was a complete success. Excellent recommendations about the Eminence from Constantinople from our embassy and personal outstanding qualities freely opened the doors of our diplomatic agency in Cairo to the new Sinai archbishop-abbot, and he was a welcome guest there at all times. Our political agent, Mr. Koyander, who enjoys universal respect in Cairo, the educated and promising secretary of the agency, Mr. Shcheglov, and the very obliging Russian vice-consul, Mr. Ivanov, became, one might say, personal friends of the Right Reverend Porfiry. The local Cairo society greeted the new Archbishop of Sinai with joy and not without hopes, and they were not mistaken in their expectations. Having secured the strong and necessary sympathies of the Cairo society and our diplomatic agency, His Eminence Porfiry began to carefully look at the affairs of the Ambetyev school, entrusted to his fatherly care. As the chairman of the ephoria, the bishop made it clear to both the members of the ephoria and the uncontrolled administrator from the Ambet family that things in the ephoria were not going well, and the interests of the school itself were suffering from this. Taking a closer look at the affairs of the ephoria, Bishop Porfiry saw that the reporting regarding the school’s funds was extremely flawed, that there had been no audits of them for a long time, that Mr. Ambet was disposing of the sums without control. The Eminence insisted, although not without strong protests from Mr. Ambet and some other members of the ephoria, who were under the strong influence of the latter, that the school’s cash desk be audited, and once and for all, the most accurate and strict accounting of the school’s funds would be kept. The audit discovered a huge deficiency in the amounts... But now the Eminence had to decide the question: how to force Mr. Will Ambet make up the shortfall in amounts? An application was filed in the local court, and the prosecution of the culprit began, but the case did not come to the desired end. Then the Right Reverend decided to seek the assistance of Mr. Coyander, the Russian diplomatic agent under the Khedive. Having explained to him, as an honorary trustee, the deplorable situation of the school and its funds, he asked him to take measures on his part to bring the school into proper order. G. Koyader took this matter to heart and tackled it with his characteristic persistence and tact. He first of all ensured that Ambet was removed from the ephoria, and that the spiritual will of the founder was changed in the sense that members of this clan could join the ephoria by the choice of the local society, and not by virtue of their origin, as had hitherto been the case. Some of the former members were also removed from their positions as ephors and replaced by new ones. After this, Mr. Koyader, who enjoyed great influence and respect among local diplomats and among the Khedive himself, through the Minister of Justice, insisted on vigorously pursuing the trial of Mr. Ambet, who was in danger of being taken into custody. When the matter took such a big turn and completely unexpected for Mr. Ambet, he decided to replenish the school money he had wasted, but with some installments. In March last year, Ambet had an arrears of, if we are not mistaken, seven thousand rubles, but our agency and the current ephoria of the school hope that this too will be replenished. Having achieved such brilliant results of his work in the business of the Financial School, having replaced the members of the ephoria, who valued only their title, but were not at all interested in the affairs of the school, much less in its success, His Eminence Porfiry began to think about reorganizing the educational affairs in it, about placing it in educational terms on a level with modern pedagogical requirements, with the demands for the school of the given time. For this purpose, it was suggested to the euphoria that she try to find a new director for the school, who would be quite suitable for the proposed serious matter. The choice of ephoria settled on the current director of the school, Mr. P. Kaplanidis, who already had many years of teaching experience behind him, as the director of trade schools in Smyrna, in the Lyceum, etc. G. Kaplanidis accepted the offer of ephoria all the more willingly because the position and financial means of the director of the Cairo Ambetev school were more advantageous than in Smyrna (the last place of service of Mr. Kaplanidis), and readily began school reorganization. In view of the influx of students at the school, parallel departments were opened for the lower classes, the courses of science taught at the school were expanded, people with university education were appointed teachers for the upper classes, and old teachers who were unable to meet the demands of the teacher at a given time were fired, the school received the structure and programs of almost classical gymnasiums. It is for these humane and completely disinterested works that the current venerable Sinai Archbishop-Hegumen Porfiry is honored and loved by the Cairo Orthodox community. That is why the Bishop’s name day is annually celebrated on February 24th by the Ambetyev school and attracts many guests from the honorable Cairo society to Juvaliya to express gratitude to the dear birthday boy and wish him many years and health, which the Bishop very, very much needs for the success of the school in which their children are being brought up, and the further fate of which undoubtedly depends on how long he will be the chairman of the ephoria Archbishop Porfiry. In conclusion, we will report a fact from the life of the Ambetev school, which we witnessed in Cairo, clearly depicting the mood of the local Orthodox society and in particular the local Greeks towards us, the Russians, to whom, as I said, this school owes its present excellent condition entirely. In July last year, when, after Mr. Koyander had left Cairo, Secretary Mr. Shcheglov was temporarily acting as a diplomatic agent, a young, well-educated Greek, who had lived for quite a long time in Russia and spoke good Russian, came to the agency and asked for a position with the agency. The personality of the petitioner made a very pleasant impression on Mr. Shcheglov, and he immediately had the idea of ​​using this person to implement a long-ripened plan in our agency - to introduce the teaching of the Russian language on an equal basis with other foreign languages ​​in the Russian Ambetyev school. The motivation for this was the desire of our agency to have in its service persons, albeit few, familiar with the Russian language. At present, neither in the agency itself in Cairo, nor in the vice-consulates in Suez, Tours and other cities, there is not a single employee who could speak at least a few words in Russian. In the named cities, the vice-consuls are natural Arabs and do not speak any language other than their native one. It is impossible to have Russian subjects in the service of agencies, consulates and embassies, and among Turkish subjects it is not possible to find those who know Russian, while unfamiliarity with the language of the nation in whose service these persons are placed puts them in an awkward position 7 and makes it difficult for our diplomats in the east to carry out their duties. G. Shcheglov expressed his intention to the petitioner and invited him to take the place of a Russian language teacher at the Ambetyevsk school, and even promised to obtain for him several lessons in the French language in the lower grades. It goes without saying that the petitioner accepted Mr. Shcheglov’s offer with joy and complete gratitude. All that remained was to carry out the real intention of our agency through the ephoria; there was complete hope for a favorable outcome. Having previously discussed with Mr. Kaplanidis, the director of the school, that the same permanent employee of one of these hostile newspapers should stop articles against Russia and our agency in Cairo, otherwise God knows what the Alexandrian politicians would have agreed to... The Russian language is now one of the subjects taught at school, I God grant that its teaching will be completely strengthened and inculcated in it. It will be very pleasant for a visiting Russian person in Cairo to hear that the Russian language is also taught in the Ambetev school, which is under the patronage of the Russian Sovereign Emperor and founded at the expense of a Russian subject... African wheat, the flour of which in itself is almost unsuitable for baking bread. Usually for this purpose they add our Russian wheat flour. Constantius II was both the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the Archbishop-Hegumen of Mount Sinai. The Most Reverend Porfiry of Sinai lived for about five years in Kyiv in the monastery of St. Catherine, belonging to Mount Sinai. Here he was ordained a hierodeacon by His Eminence Metropolitan Isidore, when he was Metropolitan of Kiev. This is how in the east a monastery is usually called, into which a person who wants to be a monk and has made his first bow (metant) to the elders of the monastery first entered from the world. Before the confiscation of monastic property by the Vlachian prince Kuba in Moldavia, the Sinai monastery had extensive vineyards and lands there. Representatives of the Archbishop of Sinai, as an autocephalous ruler, who were sent by him to numerous monastic metochs, or possessions, are called protosyncelians. However, this name is reserved only for the persons who manage the churches in Turkey and Hellas, while here in Russia they are simply called archimandrites. In the spring of last 1888, when Nikolai Ivanovich Ashinov, who called himself the ataman of the free Cossacks, went with seven Russian men to Tanjur, our vice-consul in Suez, the Arab Mr. George Costa, telegraphed to our diplomatic agency in Cairo that “he was happy to see the famous Russian general on the Austrian steamer today and to provide him with his all kinds of services.” The agency asked by telegraph who this “Russian famous general” was, and received in response that Mr. Ashinov and his companions. You might be interested in: