editor publicist Public figure
Afanasy Vasiliev was born on January 9, 1851, in Belgorod, Kursk province (now Belgorod, Russian Federation). His father was a priest (later a monk of the Zadonsky Bogoroditsky Monastery, the author of several unpublished books of spiritual content). His mother was from Ukrainian noblemen.
In 1859, after moving to St. Petersburg Vasiliev graduated from the Larino Gymnasium in 1868, and from the law faculty of the university in 1872.
In 1872 Afanasy Vasiliev joined the Ministry of Justice, became a member of the Slavic charity committee. In 1874 he transferred to the Ministry of Education and first appeared in print with the article The Doctrine of theft in the current Russian law (Magazine of Civil and Criminal Law). In 1878, as commissioner of the committee, he visited Montenegro, Serbia, and Galicia. In the same year, Afanasy Vasiliev entered the State Audit Office as a junior auditor (attracted by T.I. Filippov). In 1884 he worked as the senior auditor, in 1893 with the rank of inspector general, he headed the Department of Railway Reporting. He spoke for the nationalization of railways and was an opponent of S.Yu. Witte, and in 1896-1904 he headed the Department of Military and Naval Reporting. Since 1904 he was a member of the State Audit Office Council. In 1916 he became a Privy Councilor.
In the 70s - early 80s Afanasy Vasiliev published several brochures on the Slavic issue. He compiled and published a collection of poems and articles Slavs which along with the works of other authors included poems, translations, and articles of Vasiliev himself. He published articles and poems in the magazines Vek (1882-83) and Russian Business (1888), and in the 90s, in the magazines' Russian Herald, Russian Labor, in the newspapers such as New time, Saint Petersburg newsletter and others.
In 1889-1891 Afanasy Vasiliev headed the department Foreign Russia of the magazine Slavic News. In 1890-1894, he actually edited the publication of the spiritual magazine Blagovest, in 1895-1896, with the participation of E.A. Evdokimov he published the magazine Russian Conversation. Numerous materials about foreign Slavs were published in both editions.
