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# Does the Young Maiden Tremble, or the Young Wench Shake?
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/iunaia-deva-trepeshchet-ili-molodaia-devka-drozhit/
- Published: 2025-12-02T13:43:20.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:27:50.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Books, Moscow, Observations, Education

Mikhail Alexandrovich Dmitriev, an old Russian writer of the Slavophile circle, now almost forgotten, recalls the Church Slavonic classes of his university years in this way. Professor of Slavonic philology Matvey Gavrilov proposed that, wherever possible, Russian words in speech be exchanged for Slavonic ones, and the result was handsome: "the young maiden trembles" in place of "the young wench shakes".

Another former student, Gavrila Sverbeyev, observed that Professor Gavrilov taught Church Slavonic by means of a single exercise: reading the divine books, and chiefly the Chetii Minei. To my mind the method is effective and most useful. I like it.