Kosta Khetagurov

Born in the mountain village of Nar in Ossetia, Khetagurov studied at the Stavropol Gymnasium from 1871 to 1881 and entered the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, but had to abandon his studies in 1885 when his stipend was withdrawn ¹. Back in Ossetia his poems, composed in Ossetic, spread orally through the towns and villages; he also published verse, stories and articles in Russian newspapers, editing Severny Kavkaz himself from 1893 to 1902, and his painting of Saint Nino, the fourth-century baptiser of the Georgians, was particularly welcomed in Georgia ¹. His collection The Ossetian Lyre, first published in 1899, has been cherished among Ossetian books ever since ¹.

For his criticism of the imperial government Khetagurov was twice exiled, from 1891 to 1896 and again from 1899 to 1902; the second exile destroyed his health, and he died shortly after his return, at Laba in 1906 ¹. He was carried to Vladikavkaz and buried in the necropolis of the Ossetian Church there ².

No edition read names Khetagurov an Orthodox Christian in so many words, no infobox carries a religion field, and Wikidata carries no religion value ^{1 3}. The Russian article documents that he attended services at the Ossetian Church in Vladikavkaz, that the Orthodox funeral rite was sung for him there in Russian and Ossetian, and that he was buried in that church's necropolis ². Church attendance, funeral rites and the Ossetians' historic Orthodoxy are milieu and rite, short of two independent texts naming his own affiliation. His faith segment is therefore recorded as unknown, flagged, with the evidence preserved in the record's note.

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