Bolkhovitinov, Evfimii

(known in monastic life as Evgenii). Born Dec. 18 (29), 1767, in Voronezh; died Feb. 23 (Mar. 7), 1837, in Kiev. Russian historian, archaeographer, and bibliographer.

In prerevolutionary literature, Bolkhovitinov is mentioned as Metropolitan Evgenii; between 1822 and 1837 he was Metropolitan of Kiev. His scholarly activities were connected with the circle of the most prominent specialists in Russian history who were united by Count N. P. Rumiantsev and the Moscow Society of History and Russian Antiquities. The works of historical and historico-regional studies by Bolkhovitinov are characterized by abundant factual material. They include A Historical, Geographical, and Economic Description of Voronezh Province (1800), A Historical Depiction of Georgia (1802), Historical Conversations About the Antiquities of Great Novgorod (1808), and History of the Pskov Principality (parts 1–4, 1831). He is also the author of the major biobibliographical works Historical Dictionary of Past Russian Writers of Religious Rank in the Greco-Russian Church (1818; 2nd ed., 1827) and Dictionary of Russian Secular Writers, Compatriots, and Foreigners Who Have Written About Russia (vols. 1–2, 1845). In Kiev, Bolkhovitinov directed the archaeological excavations that led to the discovery of the foundation of the Desiatinnaia Church, the Golden Gates, and other discoveries.