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Theophan Prokopovich and the Ecclesiastical Ordinance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Hugh F. Graham
Affiliation:
University of California

Extract

The period of the reforms in the reign of Peter the Great shook Russia to her very foundations, drastically altering her historical course. It is noteworthy in many respects, particularly in the sudden appearance of many men in various walks of life capable of envisaging and of carrying out these novel measures. In the Orthodox Church, which was as profoundly affected as any other Russian institution, this phenomenon is admirably illustrated in the career of Theophan Prokopovich, the Ukrainian ecclesiastic. The range and power of his intellect were enormous; a theologian, scholar, teacher, poet, dramatist, and man of affairs, he merits respectful treatment both from students of theology and literature as well as politics. He was the Tsar's intimate associate, well-known to Catholic and Protestant theologians abroad, friend of the poet Kantemir and the historian Tatischev, and a man who could influence the imperial succession itself.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1956

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References

1. A list confined simply to the titles of his works occupies 19 pages in his Life by Evgenii, Metropolitan of Kiev, Slovar Istoricheski o Byvshikh v Rossii Pisateliach Duchovnaga China Grekorossiiskoi Tserkvi, Part II, SPb., 1827, pp. 303322.Google Scholar

2. For a discussion of the attitudes and attainments of this group, see Morozov, P., Theophan Prokopovich kak Pisatel, SPb., 1880, pp. 1218.Google Scholar

3. On Vladimir, see Morozov, P. O., Istoriia Russkago Teatro, SPb., 1889, pp. 360371.Google Scholar

4. Polevoi, P. N., Istoriia Russkoi Slovesnosti, Vol. 1, SPb., 1903, p. 402.Google Scholar

5. For a selection of Theophan's theological writings, see Jugie, M., Theologia Dogmatica Christianorum Orientalium ab Ecclesia Catholica Dissidentium, Vol. 1, Paris, 1926, pp. 587592.Google Scholar

6. Iu. Samarin, Th., “Stefan Yavorsky i Theophan Prokopovich,” Sochineniia Iu. Th. Samarina, Vol. V, Moscow, 1880, p. 72.Google Scholar

7. Pypin, A. N., Istoriia Russkoi Literatury, Vol. III, SPb., 1902, p. 203, n. 3.Google Scholar

8. A modern critique of Theophan's theological position by a foreign scholar is found in Koch, Hans, Die russische Orthodoxie im Petrinisohen Zeitalter, Breslau & Oppeln, 1929, pp. 93117.Google Scholar

9. A short hostile account of Theophan and the Ordinance is given by Palmer, W., The Patriarch and the Tsar, Vol. VI, London, 1876, pp. 15911656Google Scholar. An excellent, though biased, edition of the Ordinance is by Tondini, C., Règlement Ecclésiastique de Pierre le Grand, Paris, 1874Google Scholar. The present citations are taken from Polnoe Sobranie Postanovleni i Rasporiazheni po Vedomstvy Pravoslavnago Ispovedaniia Rossiiskoi Imperii, Vol. 1, SPb., 1869, pp. 331.Google Scholar

10. Pypin, , op. cit., p. 208.Google Scholar

11. A good example of the popular attitude to religion is to be found in Theophan 's own “Story of a Martyr,” quoted by Pekarski, P., Nauka i Literatura v Rossii pri Petre Velikom, Vol. II, SPb., 1862, p. 560.Google Scholar

12. Chistovich, I., “Theophan Prokopovich i ego vremia,” Sbornik Statei chitannych v Otdelenii Russkago lazyka i Slovesnosti Imperatorskoi Akademii Nank, Vol. IV, SPb., 1868, p. 626.Google Scholar

13. Chistovieh, I., “Delo o Theophane Prokopoviche,” Chteniia v Imperatorskom Obshchestve Istorii i Drevnostei Rossiiskikh pri Moskovskom Universitete, Vol. I, 0103, Moscow, 1862, p. 30.Google Scholar

14. It is significant that the newly appointed Metropolitan of Siberia in 1721 vowed to model the schools in his diocese along the lines indicated in the Ordinance. Likhovitsky, A., “Prosveshehenie v Sibiri v pervoi polovine XVIII stoletiia,” Zhnrnal Ministerstva Narodnogo Prosveshcheniia, Vol. 360 (1905), 07, pp. 910.Google Scholar

15. Samarin, , op. cit., p. 79.Google Scholar