Palladius (Kafarov)

Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov, also known by his monastic name Palladius, was an early Russian sinologist and Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox] monk.

Biography

Kafarov was born into the family of an Orthodox priest. He studied in Kazan seminary and Saint-Petersbourg Academy, from which he was sent to the Russian Orthodox Mission in China.
Like his teacher Hyacinth (Bichurin), Palladius was a Russian Orthodox monk. During his stay in China, he discovered and published many invaluable manuscripts, including The Secret History of the Mongols.
During his scholarly career, Kafarov's works focused on Chinese linguistics, history, geography, and religion. Kafarov notably translated many Buddhist scriptures from Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan. Kafarov also studied the history of Christianity in imperial China and helped pioneer the study of Chinese Islam.
For more than three decades, Archimandrite Palladius headed the Russian Orthodox mission in China and engaged in ethnographic and linguistic research there.
Kafarov designed a Cyrillization system for the Chinese language, known as the Palladius system. This system has remained the basis for official transcription of Chinese personal and geographical names in Russia ever since.
The Chinese-Russian Dictionary composed by Archimandrite Palladius remains a well-known work even today.

Works

《漢俄合璧韻編》掌院修士巴第遺篇，1888年，北京同文舘