This article is devoted to the early years of the life of the well-known public figure, revolutionary, educator, and linguist Mykhailo Panebratsev. As a result of research based on a wide range of archival documents preserved in the Department for the Preservation of Documents of the State Archives of the Chernihiv Region in Nizhyn, as well as the memories of former students, the authors were able to determine that the future scholar was born on 28 September 1872 in the village of Semenivka, Hlukhiv County, Chernihiv Province, into the large family of land surveyor Mykhailo Andriyovych Panebratsev and his wife Hanna Ivanivna (née Nazareva, daughter of a priest). In 1875, his father, who served in Chernihiv, was transferred to Vologda. His entire family was forced to move with him. Thus, Vologda became Mykhailo's second homeland. The authors emphasise that the Vologda Spiritual School and the Vologda Seminary, where the future scientist received his primary and secondary education, played an important role in shaping the character and worldview of the young man. It was there that Mikhail Mikhailovich encountered injustice and prejudice from the administration and his peers. During this period of study, Mykhailo Panebratsev began to think about the need for revolutionary change. Discharged from military service due to childhood disability, he was enrolled as a student at the Historical and Philological Institute in Nizhyn. Studying in the same year as the future renowned philologist M. Derzhavin (academician of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR), linguist O. Muzychenko (professor, author of the first primer of the Ukrainian SSR), and innovative educator P. Zabolotsky, he absorbed the best traditions of Nizhyn higher education. In his third year, when students were assigned to specialisations, M. Panehratsev chose the ‘history department,’ surprising all his classmates, who knew him as a promising linguist. While studying at the Historical and Philological Institute in Nizhyn, he became involved in revolutionary events, forever linking his life with Ukraine. His work in educational institutions in the Poltava and Chernihiv provinces, in the zemstvos of several county towns, and his active educational work made him well known among that part of society that demanded radical change. At the same time, the revolutionary events of 1917–1921 forced him to significantly revise his life positions, which led to his departure from active teaching. The publication emphasises that M. Panehratsev owes a significant part of his scientific achievements to Nizhyn and the educational institution where he received his higher education.

1. Annenskiy, I. F. (2007). Pisma: v 2 t. [Letters: in 2 vols.]. (A. I.Chervyakov, Comp.). St. Petersburg: Izd-vo im. N. I. Novikova. Vol. 1: 1879–1905 [In Russian].
2. Bachaldin, I. S. (1915). Vtoroy tovarishcheskiy syezd byvshikh vospitannikov Vologodskoy dukhovnoy seminarii 1894 g. vypuska [Second friendly congress of former graduates of the Vologda Theological Seminary of the class of 1894]. Vologda: Tip. Gubernskogo pravleniya [In Russian].
3. (1900). Istoriko-filologicheskiy institut knyazya Bezborodko v Nezhine 1875–1900. Prepodavateli i vospitanniki [Historical and Philological Institute of Prince Bezborodko in Nizhyn 1875–1900. Teachers and students]. Nezhin [In Russian].
4. Samoylenko, H. V., & Samoylenko, O. H. (2015). Nizhynska vyshcha shkola u spohadakh studentiv i vykladachiv: memuary: u 2-kh t. [Nizhyn higher school in the memories of students and teachers: memoirs: in 2 vols.]. Nizhyn: NDU im. M. Hoholia. Vol. 1: 1820–1919 [In Ukrainian].
5. O studente Instituta Mikhaile Panebrattseve [About the student of the Institute Mikhail Panebrattsev]. Viddil zabezpechennia zberezhennia dokumentiv Derzhavnoho arkhivu Chernihivskoi oblasti v m. Nizhyni [Department of Ensuring the Safety of Documents of the State Archive of Chernihiv Region in Nizhyn]. Fund 1105, Inventory 1, Unit 763 [In Russian/Ukrainian].
6. O studente Instituta Nikolae Smirnove [About the student of the Institute Nikolai Smirnov]. Viddil zabezpechennia zberezhennia dokumentiv Derzhavnoho arkhivu Chernihivskoi oblasti v m. Nizhyni [Department of Ensuring the Safety of Documents of the State Archive of Chernihiv Region in Nizhyn]. Fund 1105, Inventory1, Unit 624 [In Russian].
7. (1906). Spravochnaya knizhka po Poltavskoy gubernii na 1906 god [Reference book for the Poltava province for 1906]. Poltava: Tipolitografiya Gubernskogo Pravleniya [In Russian].
8. Shadrin, I. G. (1917). Bursa: Povest iz sovremennoy zhizni dukhovnykh seminariy i dukhovenstva [Bursa: A story from the modern life of theological seminaries and the clergy]. Petrograd: Tip. L. Ya. Ginzburga [In Russian].
9. Shchedrina, T. (2014). «Vashe pismo …budto solnechnyy luch». Pisma Yuriya Panebrattseva Nikolayu Berdyaevu [«Your letter ...is like a ray of sunshine». Letters from Yuri Panebrattsev to Nikolai Berdyaev]. Voprosy filosofii, (11), 110–125 [In Russian].