Turchynovsky, Illia

Turchynovsky, Illia [Турчиновський, Ілля; Turčynovs'kyj, Illja], b 30 July 1695 in Berezan, Pereiaslav regiment, d ? A traveling precentor and itinerant tutor. He studied at the Kyivan Mohyla Academy. From 1710 he traveled in Ukraine and Belarus, where he worked variously as a teacher, precentor, secretary, singer, and church choir director. Toward the end of his life he became a priest. He wrote an autobiography, which is full of the details of everyday life of his time. It was printed in Khrestomatiia davn'oï ukraïns'koï literatury (Anthology of Old Ukrainian Literature, ed Oleksander Biletsky, 1952).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]