Father Gapon
| Georgy Gapon | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Georgiy Apollonovich Gapon 17 February 1870 Poltava, Russian Empire |
| Died | 10 April 1906 (aged 36) St. Petersburg, Russia |
| Other names | Father Gapon |
| Occupation | Priest, political activist |
Father Georgiy Apollonovich Gapon (Russian: Гео́ргий Аполло́нович Гапо́н; 17 February [O.S. 5 February] 1870 — 10 April [O.S. 28 March] 1906) was a Russian Orthodox priest and a popular working class leader before the Russian Revolution of 1905. After he was discovered to be a police informant, Gapon was murdered by members of Socialist Revolutionary Party.
Georgiy Apollonovich Gapon was born 17 February 1870 (n.s.), in the village of Beliki, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. He was the oldest son of a Cossack father and mother who hailed from the local peasantry. Gapon's father, Apollon Fedorovich Gapon, had some formal education and served as an elected village elder and clerk in Beliki. His mother was illiterate but religiously devout and actively raised her son in the norms and traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Georgy was an excellent primary school student and was offered a place at the Lower Ecclesiastical School in Poltava, a seminary that offered Gapon the best prospect for advancing his formal education. In his final year at this school, Gapon was first exposed to the radical philosophical teachings of Lev Tolstoy through one of his instructors, a devoted follower of the Russian writer. This instructor, I.M. Tregubov, regarded Gapon as one of the top students at the school, serious and intelligent in demeanor and diligent and curious in his studies.
Following his graduation from the Lower Ecclesiastical School, Gapon was admitted to Poltava Seminary, where he continued to be guided in his study of Tolstoy's ideas by other local followers. Gapon was influenced by the Tolstoyan emphasis on working with the poor and with its philosophical criticism with the formalistic and hierarchical practices of the official church. This brought him into conflict with certain seminary officials, who threatened to rescind his educational stipend. Gapon met this threat by himself rejecting further aid and seeking to pay for his own education through work as a private tutor.
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