The Return of Obryuta

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to certain Obryuta, son of Mikhail, Grekov, who was sent in 1551 by Ivan the Terrible to Constantinople to study Greek language and writing. Obryuta returned to Russia in 1560, and he is not mentioned in the sources any more. The author analyzes the data concerning Obryuta and comes to the conclusion that Obryuta was in fact Fedor, son of Mikhail, Laskirev. The author follows the activity of Fedor in connection with ecclesiastical and international politics of the epoch. He studies the lawsuit in which Fedor was a participant, and argues that Fedor was one of the compilers of the surviving “Greek” Book of Embassies No. 1.