The article is focused on the period of service in the East of Constantinople of Archimandrite Antonin Kapustin, an outstanding church politician, Byzantinist, photographer, researcher of the Balkans and the Christian East. During his five-year service in the Ottoman capital, Fr. Antonin witnessed turbulent events: the Greek-Bulgarian church strife, the confiscation of the property of eastern monasteries and churches in Moldavia and Wallachia, the election of patriarchs. Close cooperation connected him with Ambassador N.P. Ignatyev. Antonin devoted a lot of time to scientific studies, working with Greek manuscripts; in 1865 he made a trip to Macedonia. A recently published source, the diary of Fr. Antonin, provides an opportunity to take a fresh look at Turkey of the Tanzimat era and the role of Russian representatives in Constantinople. The text of the diary also reveals the various interests of the learned archimandrite, in particular, experiments in photography.
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