Russian Palestinian Society
Russian Palestinian Society
a scholarly organization of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR that studies the history, archaeology, ethnology, and philology of the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean. It is an association of Soviet Orientalists and specialists in Middle Eastern affairs. It had its origin in the Orthodox Palestinian Society, which was founded in 1882. From 1899 to March 1917 it was called the Imperial Orthodox Society, from March 1917 to 1918 it was again named the Orthodox Palestinian Society, and since 1918 it has been called the Russian Palestinian Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The primary goal of the Russian Palestinian Society is to promote rapprochement with the countries of the Middle East. Among the scholars who have participated in the work of the society are V. V. Bartol’d, P. K. Kokovtsov, S. F. Ol’denburg, F. I. Uspenskii, N. Ia. Marr, I. Iu. Krachkovskii, V. V. Struve, and A. A. Guber. The society has published many works on oriental studies, making a great contribution to the study of the countries of the Middle East. Since 1954 it has published Palestinskii sbornik (Palestinian Anthology), from 1891 to 1917 and in 1926 it published Soobshcheniia Pravoslavnogo Palestinskogo obshchestva (Proceedings of the Orthodox Palestinian Society), and from 1881 to 1916 its organ was Pravoslavnyi Palestinskii sbornik (Orthodox Palestinian Anthology).