Dmitry Kuzmin-Karavayev

Dmitriy Vladimirovich Kuz'min-Karavaev (1886–1959) was an Old Bolshevik who converted to Catholicism and was subsequently ordained to the priesthood. Early life He was born in St. Petersburg as the son of a Russian Orthodox professor of law. According to Lesley Chamberlain, Kuzmin-Karavayev was also born into the hereditary Russian nobility. During his legal studies at the University of St. Petersburg, Dmitriy discovered the writings of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and joined the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Party. After serving a prison term, he openly ceased all anti-Tsarist activity and received a position with the Department of State Properties at the Ministry of Agriculture. Conversion In 1913, Dmitriy purchased a copy of the New Testament from a woman peddling the scriptures on a train from Tambov to St. Petersburg. "I did it," he wrote, "partly out of compassion and partly out of snobbery." When his mother later put his briefcase in order, she was overjoyed to see his latest purchase. To please her, he grudgingly continued to carry the volume with him, but did not begin reading it until after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.