February 19, 2026 is the 70th anniversary of Alexander Gavrilovich Grushevoy, Senior Researcher at the Department of Middle Eastern and Near Eastern Studies, Candidate of Sciences in History, researcher and historian who succeeded in finding his path in scholarship.

A.G. Grushevoy was born in Leningrad into the family of Gavriil V. Grushevoy, a geologist who headed a department at the A. P. Karpinsky Russian Geological Research Institute. His mother Kseniya Aleksandrovna was a housewife. After finishing secondary school in 1973, he was admitted to the night school of the Faculty of History of the Leningrad State University and studied at the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman History. Having successfully graduated from the university, in October 1979 he was admitted to the postgraduate studies program (specializing in the ancient history of the Arabian Peninsula) at the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (USSR Academy of Sciences). His research supervisor was Prof. Ilya Sholeimovich Shifman, a scholar of Classical and Hebrew Studies and also an outstanding popularizer of scholarship. After completing his postgraduate studies, in November 1982 A.G. Grushevoy joined the Sector of the Near East as a junior researcher. In March 1986 he successfully defended his Candidate of Sciences dissertation entitled “The Roman Province of Arabia: Major Issues of Socio-Political and Cultural Development in the 2nd-5th Centuries” [Римская провинция Аравия — основные проблемы социально-политического и культурного развития II-V вв.]. As a continuation of this research he published two monographs under a single cover in the 1990s (“The Nessana Papyri: Main Issues of Socio-Economic History of Southern Palestine in the 4th-6th Centuries” and “Nabatean Inscriptions from Sinai as a Historical Source” in Orthodox Palestine Review, Issue 96 (33). Saint Petersburg, 1998. 253 pp.).

A.G. Grushevoy successfully advanced in his career: he became a Researcher (December 1992), a Senior Researcher (March 2003), the Acting Head of the Sector of the Near East (June 2008), the Head of the Sector (July 2009 to March 2012). The Sector of the Near East managed to get through these years with minimal losses thanks to personal qualities of A.G. Grushevoy, such as patience, communicating with colleagues calmly and without haste, discretion in decision-making.

A.G. Grushevoy concluded his Classics research by publishing two monographs: “The Jews and Judaism in the History of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire” [Иудеи и иудаизм в истории Римской республики и Римской империи] (2008, 287 pp.) and “Essays in Economic History of Syria and Palestine in Antiquity, 1st century BCE” [Очерки экономической истории Сирии и Палестины в древности. I в. до н.э.] (2013, 378 pp.). The first of these monographs shows a clear shift towards religious studies and this research interest led A.G. Grushevoy to focus on a topic that is very relevant in modern Russia, the history of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. This research is based on materials kept at various archives, for the most part at the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Empire that A.G. Grushevoy visited almost monthly in recent years. His work “On the History of Russian Schools in the Near East” [Из истории русских школ на Ближнем Востоке] (2016, 287 pp.) was well-received by his colleagues.

In the 1990s A.G. Grushevoy visited all the major centres of Classical studies and Byzantine studies in France. His 1-year research visit to the Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, Princeton (1989‒1990) also contributed greatly to his growth as a scholar.

A.G. Grushevoy successfully combined research with teaching. At the Saint Petersburg Institute of Jewish Studies he has taught Classical Studies courses for more than 25 years and also taught Ancient Greek for many years at the Faculty of History of the Saint Petersburg State University.

A.G. Grushevoy is a recognized union leader at the IOM RAS. For more than 30 years he was re-elected as a member of the union committee and until recently held the duties of treasurer.

On his 70th anniversary, we would like to thank Alexander G. Grushevoy for diligent work and academic achievements.

Irina F. Popova, Corresponding member of the RAS, Doctor of Sciences in History
Director of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS