Diocesan School for Women (Astrakhan)

A three-year school was opened in 1866 at the Annunciation Monastery. The main teacher of the first students was the nun Apollinaria. From the first years of its existence, the school evoked special trust and respect for Astrakhan society. However, over time and with increasing popularity, this educational institution began to experience difficulties due to the cramped building.

New Building

In 1875, construction began on a new two-story stone building. But in 1878 it turned out that this building was already cramped for the school. Through the efforts of the Holy Synod , Bishop Eugene and the Diocesan Congress of the clergy, a plot of land adjacent to the school was purchased. The school was built by the architect E.I. Folrat, on the corner of Nikolo-Chasennaya (1939 Chalabyan St.) and Novoisadnaya (now Nogin St.) streets. In 1908, under the guidance of the architect Weisen, the school adopted a single view of the three-story building, which has been preserved to this day ^[1] . The school was a beautiful temple in honor of the holy martyrs Vera, Nadezhda and Lyubov with their mother from St. Sofia. For maintenance of the church’s home, people of various classes often donated: clergy, merchants, and common people.

The school accepted girls aged 10-12 years. Tuition and maintenance fees were differentiated. Daughters of priests and church workers, as well as girls of secular parents, including non-Orthodox and orphans , for whom the diocese paid, were accepted at the school.

Studies began on September 1 and ended in early May, when exams began. The schedule was drawn up by the head of the school and approved by the diocesan authorities. Lessons began at 8 a.m. and ended at half past one. Over six years of training, pupils studied the following disciplines :

• God's law
• Russian language
• Arithmetic
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Trigonometry
• Geography
• Physics
• Story
• Church singing
• Russian civil history
• Didactics
• Pedagogy
• Calligraphy
• Needlework
• Music
• French

At the end of the exams, after a thanksgiving prayer , the discharge lists of pupils were read. Pupils of the 1st grade were the best, they were awarded books and commendations, pupils of the 2nd grade were awarded certificates , pupils of the 3rd grade had to hold a re-examination (usually August 19-23). The school also had an additional (pedagogical) seventh grade. In it, the maximum number of training hours was devoted to didactics and pedagogy . Under the supervision of an inspector, students in this class gave lessons on their own. Many graduates of the diocesan school received a certificate for the title of home teacher.

With the advent of Soviet power , persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church began . Beginning in late 1917 , they soon assumed a massive and fierce character as early as 1918 , when a decree was adopted to separate the Church from the state . The first practical result of the decree was the closure in 1918 of religious educational institutions, including diocesan schools and churches attached to them, including the Astrakhan Diocesan Women's School.

The history of the building after the school closes

After the revolution, in 1918, the school was closed. A hospital and an infirmary were located in the building. Later, a second-level school opened. In 1925, it was already school number 5 named after Klara Zetkin .

During World War II , the school building housed a field evacuation hospital; in 1943 to 1946, the Stalingrad Suvorov Military School was already located here.

In 1947, the building again became a secondary school No. 5 named after Maxim Gorky , which in 2001 was transformed into “Lyceum No. 3”.

Famous pupils:

• The first Astrakhan teacher to receive the title of Honored Teacher of the RSFSR School , Maria Ilyinichna Urlyapova, was a graduate of the Diocesan Women's School
• Evdokia Polyakova - soloist of the Bolshoi Opera (until 1936) - graduate of the Astrakhan Diocesan Women's School (1901).

• Pananchin F.G. Pedagogical education in Russia. M., 1979. 215 p.
• Astrakhan diocesan sheets of 1884-1917, No. 14.20
• The formation of the education system in the Astrakhan province (XVIII - early XX century.): Textbook / A. M. Treschev, G. V. Alferova. - Astrakhan: Astrakhan State University, Astrakhan University Publishing House, 2011. - 216 p.
• Astrakhan diocesan sheets ", 1891. No. 18

• History of the Astrakhan Diocesan Women's College
• http://aonb.astranet.ru/kk/col10.html