# Matvey — Short Fiction character guide

> Matvey in Short Fiction by Anton Chekhov.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** the perspiring Matvey, Poor mild Matvey, the ignorant Matvey, The verger Matvey, the verger Matvey, Matvey Savitch, Matvey Vassilitch

**First appearance:** 0000-a-living-chattel

## Who they are

A verger who plays a role in a story.

## In the story

### [Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/art)

The church beadle; a fine-looking old man in a new sheepskin and high felt boots, patient and mild, who endures Seryozhka's abuse while doing the heavy labor of breaking ice and preparing materials.

### [The Requiem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/the-requiem)

The verger who sets up the memorial table and assists during the requiem.

### [Peasant Wives](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/peasant-wives)

The traveler and narrator, a tradesman who adopted the orphan Kuzka after a complicated affair with Mashenka.

### [The Murder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/the-murder)

The perspiring Matvey, a mild-mannered man who becomes the perpetrator of a brutal murder.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/i)

Matvey Terehov, a middle-aged man with poor health, sings tenor at the station service and later laments his unhappy home life with his cousin.

### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/ii)

Narrates his spiritual fall and redemption, from extreme fasting and self-imposed penance to being rebuked by Osip Varlamitch.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/iii)

Yakov's cousin, recently returned from a tile factory, who disrupts the household by questioning Yakov's religious practices and moral choices.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/iv)

Matvey, sick and seeking a share of the common property, is denied by Yakov; he is also haunted by his past relationship with a factory woman.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/v)

Yakov's cousin, who is attacked and killed after a dispute over eating oil during Lent.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/vi)

The murdered uncle; his body is hidden in the kitchen and later transported to the forest of Limarovo.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/chapters/iv)

Not present in this chapter.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters/matvey
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_5_se/characters