Nikita Zotov
He became part of the "Jolly Company", a group of several dozen of Peter's friends that eventually became The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters.
Upon Alexis’s death in 1676, Feodor ascended the throne, and his uncle Ivan Miloslavsky, previously exiled as the Governor of Astrakhan, returned to Moscow to serve as Chief Minister.
Feodor and his half-sister, Tsarevna Sophia, were among those who received comprehensive education from Kiev’s religious scholars, gaining proficiency in Latin and Polish.
[10][11] Nikita Zotov, a former church clerk[12] or “Duma secretary”[13] from the tax-collection department of the government bureaucracy, was selected to instruct Peter in reading and writing.
[6] Despite being initially assigned to teach only reading and writing, Zotov recognized Peter’s intellectual curiosity and expanded his lessons to include Russian history, battles, and heroes.
[6][15] To keep Peter engaged, Zotov, with the Tsaritsa’s approval, introduced engravings of foreign cities, palaces, sailing ships, weapons, and historical events into the study room.
[6] In addition to Zotov, other informal tutors and servants were brought in to instruct Peter in a variety of subjects, such as royal and military history, blacksmithing, carpentry, joinery, and printing.
In the first week of Lent, a procession of “penitents” followed Zotov through the city, riding on donkeys, oxen, and sleighs pulled by various animals, including goats, pigs, and bears.
[29][30] The Russian forces surrounded the city by land and sea, breached the walls, and compelled the Pasha of Azov to surrender honorably.
Peter delayed his return to allow Andrew Vinius, a fellow member of the All-Joking Company, to organize a victory parade in the capital.
The triumphant return on October 10 was marked not by a traditional Orthodox reception, but by a procession through an arch symbolically supported by Hercules and Mars.
[29] Breaking with tradition, Peter did not lead the procession; instead, it was led by 18 horsemen escorting carriages carrying Zotov and war hero Fedor Golovin.
After quelling the rebellion, he ordered the secret torture of the instigators, a task carried out by members of his Jolly Company, including Fyodor Romodanovsky, Boris Golitsyn, and himself.
His eldest son, Vasily Zotov (d. 1729),[38] received his education abroad and was appointed Revisor-General of Ukazes (Inspector General of Decrees) in November 1715.
[37][43] The youngest, Konon Zotov (1690–30 December 1742), pursued his studies in England and held various positions in the Russian Navy and judicial system.
[46][47] However, other sources, including the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary and Sergey Solovyov, suggest that Zotov himself proposed the marriage in 1714 and that his monastic aspirations were merely a jest.
[51] The wedding procession included stammering invitation deliverers, crippled bridesmen, gout-ridden runners, and a purportedly centenarian (and blind) priest.
[51][52] Lindsey Hughes suggests that the event may have been a variation on the Western charivari or shaming ceremonies, demonstrating the Tsar’s control over his subjects’ lives.
[50] During the wedding, the Drunken Synod sang carols in Moscow’s streets and solicited money, which effectively became a New Year tax for the affluent.
