On Lawyer’s Day, St Petersburg University scholars tell about how they put together an album dedicated to the Patron Saint of the University and of Russian lawyers
New Martyr Yuri Novitsky: In Service to the Law and to the Truth is a unique illustrated album designed to perpetuate the memory of St Petersburg University professor and legal advisor to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, who was executed by firing squad in 1922 for resisting the seizure of church valuables and later canonised. The book is being readied for release by the St Petersburg University Publishing House.
University historians have analysed previously unpublished archival materials and give a detailed account of Yuri Novitsky’s life. One of the main topics in the book is the Petrograd trial of 1922 against a number of Orthodox clergy, in which two of the victims were lawyers Yuri Novitsky and Ivan Kovsharov. The release of the album has been timed to coincide with the centenary of these events. 70 years after the execution, both lawyers were consecrated as saints.
The authors of the album are church historian and Candidate of History Ivan Petrov, who is a specialist on the history of Orthodoxy in the 20th century, and Nikita Goltsov, a fourth-year student. In an interview, they spoke about Yuri Novitsky’s fate and about his significance for St Petersburg University and for Russian lawyers.
If you are interested in pre-ordering a copy of the album, please contact the St Petersburg University Publishing House at: publishing@spbu.ru.