This article is an attempt to analyze and classify the sources for the study of the philosophy of Archbishop Nikanor (Brovkovich) (1826-1890). Archbishop Nikanor is little known as a philosopher, in spite of the fact that he was the author of one of the first Russian philosophical systems. This is unfortunately due to the diffi culties involved with accessing the works of Nikanor as well as to the fact that the texts themselves are very obscure and complicated. Thus it falls to the author of this article to provide an analysis of the content of the archive of Nikanor, to fix the date of the writing of certain of his more important philosophical texts, to reveal the existence of unpublished texts, to explore the meaning of Nikanor’s theological works and teachings, as well as to reconstruct his biographical material. The article is based on a scrupulous analysis of all available archival material as well as on a painstaking selection of published books from hard to access sources.The author of the article sets out to evaluate the philosophical output of nikanor comparing it with that of his contemporaries as well as with the work of later philosophers. He underscores the problems connected with research on Nikanor especially those stemming from the lack of accessibility of his work. Special attention is given to the most important source for students of his philosophy — Nikanor’s personal archive conserved in Odessa. The author concludes that it is without a doubt necessary to close the gap in Russian philosophy by restoring Nikanor, one of its brightest fi gures, to his rightful place in its history