Philaret

▪ Russian Orthodox theologian

also spelled  Filaret,  original name  Vasily Mikhaylovich Drozdov 

born Dec. 26, 1782, [Jan. 6, 1783, New Style], Kolomna, near Moscow, Russia

died Nov. 19 [Dec. 1], 1867, Moscow

      Russian Orthodox biblical theologian and metropolitan, or archbishop, of Moscow whose scholarship, oratory, and administrative ability made him the leading Russian churchman of the 19th century.

      Upon his graduation from the Trinity Monastery, near Moscow, in 1803, Philaret was appointed as a teacher there and, in 1806, as a monastery preacher. In 1808 he took monastic vows and also was named professor of philosophy and theology, and subsequently rector, at St. Petersburg's Theological Academy. Rising rapidly in his church career, he became a member of the Holy Synod in 1818 after serving with numerous ecclesiastical-reform commissions, was named archbishop of Tver in 1819, and in 1821 was transferred to Moscow. An activist, Philaret quickly established himself as a power in church and state. Considered as charismatic by the Russian Orthodox, he served as the final authority in theological and legal questions, his decisions eventually being published in 1905 with the title “Views and Comments.”

      By 1858, having overcome extended opposition, Philaret successfully directed the translation of the Bible into modern Russian. His chief theological work was the “Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Greco-Russian Church,” treating the 4th-century Nicene Creed, the theology of prayer, and the Mosaic Law. First published in 1823, Philaret's “Catechism” was subjected to several revisions to expunge its Lutheran influences, but after 1839 it exercised widespread influence on 19th-century Russian theology.

▪ patriarch of Moscow

also spelled  Filaret,  original name  Fyodor Nikitich Romanov 

born c. 1554, /55

died Oct. 12 [Oct. 22, New Style], 1633, Moscow, Russia

      Russian Orthodox patriarch of Moscow and father of the first Romanov tsar.

      During the reign (1584–98) of his cousin, Tsar Fyodor I, Philaret served in the military campaign against the Swedes in 1590 and later (1593–94) conducted diplomatic negotiations with them. After Fyodor's death, Philaret was banished to a monastery by Boris Godunov (reigned 1598–1605). On Godunov's sudden death in 1605 and the subsequent shift of power to the first False Dmitry, Philaret was released and made metropolitan (archbishop) of Rostov. In 1610 he was imprisoned by the Poles while trying to arrange the accession of Prince Władysław of Poland to the Russian throne, but he was freed in 1619 after the election of his son Michael as tsar. Philaret was made patriarch of Moscow that year.

      Exercising both ecclesiastical and political rule in Russia, Philaret reformed church administration, instituted a program to establish a divinity college in each diocese, and established libraries to upgrade theological scholarship. In a Moscow synod he decreed that all Latin Christians coming into the Russian Orthodox church must be rebaptized. His ecclesiastical policy strove to minimize the influence of the Roman Catholic church among Russian and Polish bishops. In addition to further developing the Russian liturgical books, Philaret also sponsored social legislation to stabilize the peasant farmers, reformed the tax structure, and reorganized the military.

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