An essay on the history of the Nativity Alexander-Joseph Brotherhood. Part I

The paper studies the history of the Nativity Alexander-Joseph Brotherhood (1863-1918) – the first charitable church society in pre-revolutionary Russia. The main purpose of the brotherhood was to come to the aid of the poor. Thanks to the care of Fr. Alexander Gumilevsky, known as a cleric of the Nativity Church on Peski, and through the efforts of his followers this purpose was successfully implemented in St. Petersburg for more than fifty years. It is surprising that newer one significant work dedicated to the activities of the Nativity Brotherhood has been presented in modern Russian historiography. This study makes an attempt to fill this gap. Because of the large volume of the material, the paper is divided into two parts. This part describes in detail the history of the creation, discovery and development of the brotherhood for the period of its first 25 years.