The article was written after the book of I. J. Krachkovskij «Works on the history and philology of the Christian Orient» had appeared. It was prepared and published by St Petersburg Arabists headed by A. A. Dolinina and S. A. Frantsuzov. The book introduces the little-known research direction of Academician I. J. Krachkovskij (1883-1951) - the study of the Christian Orient. It includes articles, reviews and notes of the scholar stored in the archive, the compilers collected and reprinted his works previously published in small-circulation editions or written for the journals which are not available to a wider audience. The author of the article draws attention to the most significant publications, in particular, comments and translations of well-known apocryphal texts: «Infancy Gospel» and «History of Joseph the carpenter», which are first presented in this book in translation from the original language. The author supplements this book with new details based on the present state of consideration of these texts, and outlines some perspectives for the development of the theme «I. J. Krachkovskij and the Christian Orient».