Chapter 3, My First Tutor Summary and Analysis

Having a good voice in his childhood, Gurdjieff joins the cathedral choir and meets Dean Borsh. The Dean takes a special interest in Gurdjieff and becomes his first tutor. Liking his father, the Dean becomes a friend of the family. A tall, thin man of seventy years, Dean Borsh, also a priest in the church, has ideas that are considered odd for the townspeople. He keeps to himself mostly and prefers modest quarters over the more lavish surroundings that the other priests enjoy. Much of his time he spends on the study of astronomy and chemistry. Father Borsh also enjoys composing music, some of which becomes well known in Russia.

Dean Borsh recognizes the brilliance in young Gurdjieff and offers to take him out of the municipal school for special tutoring, some with the Dean's...