person
Vladimir Karlovich Sabler
Sabler
also: Саблер
Vladimir Karlovich Sabler, at this period a senior official (later Ober-Procurator himself, 1911-1915) serving as deputy to Konstantin Pobedonostsev at the Holy Synod. Invoked here only as the punchline of a household joke: Suvorin's son Aleksei Alekseyevich had signed a letter to Chekhov "K. Pobedonostsev," and Chekhov's answering letter -- intercepted by the elder Suvorin before it could be read -- was signed only "Sabler," topping the joke by invoking Pobedonostsev's own real-life deputy.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Suvorin, 19 December 1891. Moscow. §7 I, so as not to be outdone and to show my modesty,
signed the reply only Sabler.
Vladimir Karlovich Sabler, Pobedonostsev's real deputy at the Holy Synod, invoked here purely for the punchline: since Aleksei Alekseyevich signed as the Ober-Procurator himself, Chekhov tops the joke with feigned modesty by signing his answering letter as the deputy rather than claim the senior title -- a small piece of mock church-authority role-play between father, son, and Chekhov, undercut by the fact that the elder Suvorin intercepted the letter before his son ever saw it.