Background
Potapenko was born in the village of Fyodorovka, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) where his father was a priest.
Potapenko was born in the village of Fyodorovka, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) where his father was a priest.
Potapenko studied at Odessa University, and at the Saint St. Petersburg Conservatory.
His first works were tales of Ukrainian life. He"s best known for his novel A Russian Priest (1890), published in Vestnik Evropy (Herald of Europe).