Sokolnikov, Prokopiy Nesterovich

Prokopiy Nesterovich Sokolnikov was born in 1865 in the Botrus (now Tatta ) ulus in a peasant family. After graduating from school in Churapcha , he continues his studies at the Yakut gymnasium and theological seminary. At 26, Prokopiy graduates from the provincial gymnasium in Tomsk and enters the medical faculty of Tomsk University.

In 1896, the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition opened in Nizhny Novgorod , authorized by the Yakutsk region , where his friend in gymnasium Vasily Vasilyevich Nikiforov works. Brothers Peter and Mikhail Afanasyev, who are also former classmates of Procopius, come there. At the exhibition, the Siberian department was then headed by the world famous scientist, geographer, traveler P.P. Semenov-Tien Shan . Friends seek through him the invitation of Sokolnikov from Tomsk to Nizhny Novgorod as a guide. Pyotr Petrovich liked the young Yakuts and he is applying to the Ministry of Education for the transfer of Sokolnikov from Tomsk University to Moscow. So Procopius becomes a student of the famous educational institution. There he was lucky to listen to lectures and attend classes conducted by the largest professors of that time. His teachers were: I.M. Sechenov - the famous physiologist, N.F. Filatov - the founder of pediatrics in Russia, N.V. Sklifosovsky and others.

College adviser, doctor Prokopiy Nesterovich Sokolnikov talked with many political exiles, enthusiastically met the February Revolution of 1917 . Until the end of his life, Sokolnikov remained an active supporter of the idea of education , culture , and spiritual improvement of his native people. He died on December 10, 1917 at the age of 52 from an incurable disease.

In the fall of 1898, Sokolnikov successfully passed state exams and received a doctor’s diploma. On December 16, 1898, the Yakut governor Skripitsyn issues order No. 14: “... the doctor Prokopiy Sokolnikov is appointed as a doctor in the fourth section of the Yakutsk district” ^[1] . If he was about to return to his homeland, he was approached by one of the political exiles, who had once served a link in Yakutia , who introduced Prokopiy Nesterovich to the brilliant Russian writer Leo Tolstoy .

Sokolnikov’s personal meeting with the author of War and Peace took place in Moscow, in the writer's apartment in Khamovnichesky Lane. Lev Nikolaevich, as a humanist , was preoccupied with the fate of the Dukhobors , who were exiled by the tsarist government for refusing to perform military service, first to the Caucasus , then to the Yakutsk region. Tolstoy received Sokolnikov in his house in Moscow and turned to him with a request to accompany the wives and children of the Dukhobors in their difficult path. After all, Sokolnikov, being a native of Yakutia and a doctor, could be very useful to them on a long journey. The young doctor happily agreed.

Prokopiy Nesterovich brilliantly fulfilled the instructions of the great writer. He provided medical assistance to wives and children of the Dukhobors, and collected donations from the population. He was on the road for more than two months, organizing everything for the Doukhobors who were accompanied by his wives and children, bearing with them all the hardships and hardships of the difficult journey, until they reached the Ust-May ulus .

In 1899, Sokolnikov's travel notes, “Wives and Children of the Dukhobors,” were published in seven issues of the Irkutsk newspaper Vostochnoye Obozreniye. The editor of this publication was the former political exiled Ivan Ivanovich Popov, who was familiar with Prokopy Nesterovich at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition. At that time, the magazines “Peace of God”, “Russian Wealth”, “Voice of the Past”, “Free Thought” wrote about Sokolnikov’s feat and humanism ...

Sokolnikov corresponded with Tolstoy from March 1899 to February 1901. Eight letters of Sokolnikov to the great writer have been preserved. Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy in his response letters usually signed “Loving Tolstoy”.

In 1902, Sokolnikov came to Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana . In parting, the writer, as a token of gratitude, presented him with his photograph with his own handwriting: “To dear Procopius Nesterovich Sokolnikov, in good memory from Leo Tolstoy.”

Upon his return from school to his homeland on December 16, 1898, Prokopiy Nesterovich was appointed a doctor in Churapcha, where he was completely devoted to work. One medical site served a huge territory: 143857-947085 sq. versts. Periodically recurring epidemics of smallpox , typhoid fever , malaria , and measles took a lot of people to the grave. Sokolnikov was forced to treat people not only in the hospital, but also to ride on a call riding a horse. As a district doctor, he performed the duties of a general specialist: he had to treat eye and internal diseases, take birth , perform surgical operations, and engage in forensic medical examination .

By the decree of the emperor, Sokolnikov was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav of the 3rd degree on January 1, 1903, and the Order of St. Anna of the 3rd degree on December 6, 1907.

While still a student, Sokolnikov showed great interest in public life. Prokopiy Nesterovich in the course of his activity translated many terms in medicine and anatomy into his native Yakut language . Subsequently E.K. Pekarsky used the terms collected by Sokolnikov when working on the "Dictionary of the Yakut language."

As an active public figure and activist in rural health, Prokopiy Nesterovich took part in the work of the Yakut congresses. At the congress in 1912, he was elected to the deputation in St. Petersburg , where he posed a number of important socio-political issues to the ministries and departments. In 1913, Sokolnikov led the Yakut delegation at the anniversary celebrations in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. The delegation also included D. Megin's head. Sleptsov and famous public figure V.V. Nikiforov-Kulumnyur .

On November 27, 2015, in Yakutsk, in front of the building of the GBU RS (Y) “Yakutsk City Hospital No. 3,” a bust was installed on the first doctor from the Yakut people, Prokopiy Sokolnikov ^[2] .

• He was acquainted with the great Leo Tolstoy (neopr.) . Historical-geographical and cultural journal "Ilin".
• The first doctor of Yakutia (neopr.) . Information, socio-political newspaper "Lighthouse of the Arctic."
• The first Yakut doctor P.N. Sokolnikov (neopr.) . Site on the history of the city of Yakutsk.