V. B. Pomelov The activities of the educators in Russia in the first half of the XVIII-th century Today's educational situation in Russia is characterized by active eforts of native teachers and ofcials to improve national educational system. Hence are numerous attempts of the creative rethinking of all those valuable successes, that had been reached by predecessors. In this regard, educational reform of the frst quarter of the XVIII-th century is of considerable interest for modern educators. This reform was carried out by the Emperor Peter I and his associates. Peter I has undertaken a number of progressive steps in order to establish various types of schools in the cities as well as in provincial towns and villages. First libraries, typographies, Academy of sciences were established due to his decrees. The article presents the progressive educational eforts of the Bishop Lavrenty Gorka (1671-1733), the founder of the frst Slav-Latin school in the town of Hlynov, in the Vyatka province. The article is aimed to show in what way the initial phase of the process of enlightenment in rural Russia was carried out. Much attention in the article is devoted to the characteristic of socio-political conditions which infuenced the initial stage of the process of the enlightenment, and to the role of the Emperor Peter I in the process of education in Russia, as well as to the description of difculties which the frst educators had to overcome. The Vyatka province was a remote region of the Russian Empire in the XVIII-th century, and as well as all the other Russian regions of that time, it has sufered heavily from the illiteracy of its population. Gorka had to face a lot of difculties: lack of textbooks, teachers, fnance, facilities, etc. But the most difcult obstacle was the stubborn resistance of the local clergy; practically all the local priests were almost illiterate, and they didn't want to get well educated young rivals. Gorka made straightforward preparations for opening the frst school in the Vyatka province. He succeeded in inviting well-educated teachers to Hlynov. A school library was established. Gorka was successful in gathering 400 pupils. He paid much attention to the rational organization of the school routine. After his death the succeeding Vyatka Bishops Veniamin Sahnovsky, Varlaam Skamnizky and Antony Illiashevich promoted the development of education in Hlynov. These were the frst educators of the Vyatka province. Key words: The XVIII-th century, the Emperor Peter I, the Vyatka province, Lavrenty Gorka, the Hlynov Slav-Latin school Perspectives of Science & Education International Scientifc Electronic Journal ISSN 2307-2334 (Online) Available: psejournal.wordpress.com/archive20/20-03/ Accepted: 4 March 2020 Published: 30 June 2020 For Reference: Pomelov, V. B. (2020). The activities of the educators in Russia in the frst half of the XVIII-th century. Perspektivy nauki i obrazovania – Perspectives of Science and Education, 45 (3), 412-425. doi: 10.32744/pse.2020.3.30