Russia: Notable Religious Figures, Theologians, Philosophers, and Scholars

1314 - 1392 - St. Sergius of Radonezh (All Facts)

• He founded the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at Zagorsk, in central Russia

  • He founded several other monasteries, either directly, or indirectly

• He also intervened to keep peace among several quarreling Russian princes

• Renowned for his humility and simplicity, he taught his monks to be selfless

• He was born in Rostov

• He and his parents were forced to flee with him during civil war to the namesake location, northeast of Moscow

• When he was 20, he and his brother Stephen became hermits in the forest, where they eventually attracted followers

• He led a proper monastic community and his name spread across northern Russia

• He died at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity

1482 - 1563 - St. Macarius (All Facts)

• Metropolitan of Moscow

• He was the closest advisor for Tsar Ivan IV

1589 - 1605 - Job (All Facts)

• First Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia

  • He was promoted to the newly created post of patriarch by Boris Godunov

  • He was fifth in rank after that of the Patriarch of Jerusalem

1652 - 1666 - Nikon (All Facts)

• Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia during the Russian Orthodox Church Schism / Raskol during the reign of Tsar Alexis

  • He was born a peasant

  • He became a monk

  • He then became Patriarch

  • He was strongminded and tactless

  • He was backed by Tsar Alexis

• He partially caused the Russian Orthodox Church Schism / Raskol with his reforms

  • He changed some traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, which he believed were long overdue, including

    • making changes to the liturgy, including such details as

      • the making of the sign of the cross with three fingers instead of with two

      • the use of the threefold “alleluia”

  • He pursued his reforms with little concern for the simple-minded faithful

• He was denounced as a heretic by Avvakum Petrov

  • Avvakum Petrov was eventually exiled to Siberia and thousands of his “Old Believers” followers were hanged

1620 - 1682 - Avvakum Petrov (All Facts)

• Founder (and Popularizer) of the “Old Believers” and “Old Believers” Movement in Russia

• He was a talented but fanatical priest

• He produced a string of sermons and treatises rejecting the influence of the Catholic and Orthodox (Latin and Greek) Churches

  • He created the “Old Believers” Movement, which drew large numbers of strictly Orthodox Russians

  • His “Old Believers” Movement was persecuted by the Russian authorities

• He fiercely denounced Nikon, the Patriarch of Moscow at the time, as a heretic and denounced his reforms

  • He was exiled to Siberia and thousands of his followers were hanged, as a result of his denunciation of Nikon

  • As many as 2,500 of his followers turned to mass suicide by burning, a death preferable to eternal hellfire

• He spent fifteen years in a subterranean prison in northern Russia

• He was burnt at the stake for his beliefs and “Old Believers” Movement