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Apostle of Obscurantism: the Archimandrite Photius of Russia (1792–1838)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

Joseph L. Wieczynski
Joseph L. Wieczynski
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of History, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A.
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Extract

The archimandrite Photius of Russia, one of the most unusual figures to appear in a national history hardly lacking in the bizarre, played a unique role in the development of the modern Russian State. Possibly no other Russian churchman in modern times enjoyed so much power, however briefly, and used it for such unfortunate purposes as Photius. Through his influence upon the emperor Alexander i he determined the history of the Russian empire in such a manner that beneficial trends of growth were terminated and salutary movements aborted, to the great disadvantage of later generations. Had he lived during the reign of Nicholas ii, not a century earlier, Photius would undoubtedly have garnered something of the immortality accorded to those who brought Russia to its final dissolution; yet his role in the decline and fall of the Romanovs was no less than that of those who followed later.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , October 1971 , pp. 319 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

page 319 note 1 See, for example, Panaev, V. I., ‘Zapiski’, Viestnik Evropy, iv (1867), 79–80Google Scholar; Grand Prince Nikolai Mikhailovich, Imperator Aleksandr I; opyt istoricheskago izsledovaniia, St. Petersburg 1912, i. 194–5; Iakushkin, I. D., Zapiski, stat’i, pis’ma, Moscow 1951, 54Google Scholar; A. S. Sturdza, ‘Vospominaniia o Mikhaile Leont’eviche Magnitskom’, Russkii Archiv (1868), 932.

1 page 320 note 1 Lampert, E., Studies in Rebellion, London 1957, 5Google Scholar; Jenkins, Michael, Arakcheev: Grand Vizier of the Russian Empire, New York 1969, 226Google Scholar.

2 page 320 note 2 S. G. R., ‘Fotii’, Russkii biogrqficheskii slovar’, St. Petersburg 1901, xxi. 206–7. Although the Church early marked him for a career in teaching, Photius was interested in preaching and apologetics, to the abandonment of all else. Later he remarked that he read only the Bible and had no use for other books. See Miropol’sky, S., ‘Fotii Spassky, Iur’evskii arkhimandrit; istoriko-biograficheskii ocherk’, Viestnik Evropy, lxxiv (1878) 37–8Google Scholar.

3 page 320 note 3 Miropol’sky, op. cit., 43; for a psychologist’s appraisal of these manifestations of illness, see Chizh, V. F., ‘Psikhologiia fanatizma (Fotii Spasskii)’, Voprosy Jilosofii i psikhologii, xvi (1905), 21–5Google Scholar.

1 page 321 note 1 ‘Avtobiografiia Iur’evskago arkhimandrita Fotiia’, Russkaia Starina (March 1894), 147–8. Photius’s autobiography was serialised in the following issues of Russkaia Starina: March 1894, 135–63; April 1894, 99–123; May 1894, 91–114; July 1894. 195–230; September 1894, 204–33; October 1894, 127–42; February 1895, 174–217; March 1895, 177–84; July 1895, 167–84; August 1895, 169–200; November 1895, 207–36; December 1895, 189–203; July 1896, 163–99; August 1896, 423–43. This work is cited hereafter as ‘Avtobiografiia’.

2 page 321 note 2 Miropol’sky, op. cit., 46–7.

1 page 322 note 1 When Orlova’s father died on 24 December 1807 he bequeathed to her an immense estate that included an annual income of one million roubles, jewels worth 20 million and real estate valued at 45 million roubles. Although many grand suitors had sought her hand and Russian society regarded her highly (the poet Derzhavin had once extolled her intelligence and spiritual qualities in one of his poems), Orlova had never married. See Alekseevsky, B., ‘Orlova-Chesmenskaia’, in Russkii biogrqficheskii slovar’, xii. 312Google Scholar; E. P. Karnovich, ‘Arkhimandrit Fotii, nastoiateF Novgorodskago Iur’eva monastryia’, Russkaia Starina, July 1875, 316.

2 page 322 note 2 It was later widely rumoured that Orlova and the monk were lovers. This gossip became so prevalent that Pushkin, who was always alert to such talk and often made it the subject of his poetry, composed three highly defamatory epigrams on this theme. See Akademiia Nauk SSSR, Pushkin: polnoe sobranie sochinenii, Leningrad 1947, ii. 496, 497, 499. Chizh, op. cit., 19–20 and 163–6, doubts that a sexual union was consummated and suggests that Orlova, who was haunted by guilt because of the sinful doings of her family at Catherine’s court, found in Photius one to whom she could submit her conscience with full assurance that he would imperiously lead her to salvation.

3 page 322 note 3 Petr V. Znamensky, ‘Chteniia iz istorii russkoi tserkvi za vremia Aleksandra I’, Prewoslavnyi sobesednik, October 1885, 237, reports that Golitsyn was responsible for Photius’s transfer, but corroborating evidence is lacking.

1 page 323 note 1 On Golitsyn, see Stelletsky, N., Kniaz’ A. N. Golitsyn i ego tserkovno-gosudarstvennaia deiatel’nost’, Kiev 1901Google Scholar, passim. For his role in Alexander’s conversion, Strakhovsky, Leonid I., Alexander I of Russia, New York 1947, 130–3Google Scholar.

2 page 323 note 2 Karnovich, art. cit., 461–2.

3 page 323 note 3 ‘Pis’ma kniazia Aleksandra Nikolaevicha Golitsyna k grafine Anne Alekseevne Orlovoi-Chesmenskoi v 1822 i 1823-m godakh’, Russkii Arkhiv (1869), 943–4; N. I. Barsov, ‘Kniaz’ A. N. Golitsyn i arkhimandrit Fotii v 1822–1825gg.’, Russkaia Starina (1882), 778–80.

1 page 324 note 1 For the importance of the Semenovsky affair in Alexander’s domestic policy, see my ‘The Mutiny of the Semenovsky Regiment in 1820’, in Russian Review, xxix (1970), 167–80Google Scholar.

2 page 324 note 2 ‘Iz zapisok arkhimandrita Fotiia’, Russkii Archiv (1869), op. cit., 938–42; Miropol’-sky, op. cit., 598–9; Karnovich, art. cit., 472. Photius’s claim that Alexander knelt before him is supported by Alexander’s similar behaviour with other religious figures; see the account of the Quaker Etienne de Grelle de Mobillier in ‘Zapiski kvakera o prebyvanii v Rossii’, Russkaia Starina, January 1874, 14, 20.

1 page 325 note 1 ‘Iz zapisok arkhimandrita Fotiia’, op. cit., 942–5.

2 page 325 note 2 The Iur’ev Monastery, one of the oldest in Russia, was located on the left bank of the river Volkhov a short distance from Novgorod. Founded in 1030 by Prince Iaroslav Vladimirovich, it was one of the most prominent in the land; this appointment brought Photius new respect and authority. For information on the monastery, see ‘Opisanie Novgorodskago Iur’eva monastyria,’ Chteniia obshchestva istorii i drevnostei rossiiskikh (1868), ii. 29.ff.

3 page 325 note 3 ‘Avtobiografiia’, Russkaia Starina (July 1895), 167–70. Suspicions were not allayed when it was learnt that on the very day of the fire 40,000 roubles of building materials, donated by Orlova, arrived at the monastery. See Miropol’sky, op. cit., 601.

1 page 326 note 1 Karnovich (art. cit., 308) estimates that Orlova spent about two million roubles on the reconstruction of Iur’ev.

2 page 326 note 2 For a listing of the various persons and organisations that Photius deemed dangerous, see P. I. Mel’nikov, ‘Iz zapisok Iur’evskago arkhimandrita Fotiia o skoptsakh, khlystakh i drugikh tainykh sektakh v Peterburge v 1819 godu’, Russkii Arkhiv (1873), 1434–53. A Christian defence of those vilified by Photius is offered by Pavel Kukol’nik, in ‘Anti-Fotii’, Russkii Arkhiv (1874), i. 589–611.

3 page 326 note 3 M. I. Sukhomlinov, ‘Materialy dlia istorii obrazovaniia v Rossii v tsarstvovanie imperatora Aleksandra I’, in Izsledovaniia i stat’i po russkoi literature i prosveshcheniiu, St. Petersburg 1889, i. 168. On the Bible Society, see Tompkins, Stuart R., ‘The Russian Bible Society—a Case of Religious Xenophobia’, The American Slavic and East European Review, vii (1948), 255 ffGoogle Scholar.

4 page 326 note 4 In 1816 Alexander had given the Society a house in Petersburg for use as a bookstore, printing shop and library, and had donated 15,000 roubles of his own funds to its up-keep: A. N. Pypin, Religioznyia dvizheniia pri Aleksandre I, Petrograd 1916, 49.

1 page 327 note 1 In 1820, for example, the French ambassador, La Ferronays, had warned that the Bible Society would beget ‘ideas of liberty among these people’ and prophesied that such notions would lead the Russian masses to renounce their religion and all other restraints that prevent them from rising and overturning the political and social structure. See Paléologue, Maurice, The Enigmatic Tsar, London 1938, 279–80Google Scholar. For Seraphim’s early opposition to the Society, see Skabichevsky, A., Ocherki po istorii russkoi tsenzury, 1700–1863, St. Petersburg 1892, 197Google Scholar.

2 page 327 note 2 Miropol’sky, op. cit., 610–12. Alexander had recently recovered from an illness that had almost led to the amputation of his leg and, perhaps, was mentally ill-prepared for another crisis. See Madame la Comtesse de Choiseul-Gouffier, Historical Memoirs of the Emperor Alexander I and the Court of Russia, Chicago 1900, 259Google Scholar.

3 page 327 note 3 Miropol’sky, op. cit., 612–14.

1 page 328 note 1 Billington, James H., The Icon and the Axe, New York 1966Google Scholar, op. cit., 286–7; Pypin, op. cit., 132–5.

2 page 328 note 2 ‘Avtobiografiia’, Russkaia Starina, November 1895, 233–4.

3 page 328 note 3 Miropol’sky, op. cit., 615–18; Pypin, op. cit., 205–6.

1 page 329 note 1 The year 1836 struck Photius as apocalyptic because the number 1836 is composed of 18 and 36; 18 is the sum of three sixes, and 666 is the number to be found on the fore-head of the apocalyptic beast. 36 is simply six times six.

2 page 329 note 2 ‘Avtobiografiia’, Russkaia Starina, July 1896, 183–6; Miropol’sky, op. cit., 620—3.

3 page 329 note 3 Miropol’sky, op. cit., 624–5.

1 page 330 note 1 One contemporary recounts how Photius drove with him across Vasilevsky Island in St. Petersburg and pointed out with satisfaction the many homes where once Masonic lodges had met and where unorthodox religious groups had held services. Now they were no more. See Ia. L. Moroshkin, ‘Arkhimandrit Fotii, nastoiatel’ Novgorodskago Iur’eva monastyria; vospominaniia sviashchennika’, Russkaia Starina, October 1876, 299.

2 page 330 note 2 Admiral Shishkov, whom Nicholas had asked to sort out Alexander’s personal papers, discovered the denunciation and informed Nicholas. See Pypin, op. cit., 262; Riasanovsky, Nicholas V., Russia and the West in the Teaching of the Slavophiles: a Study of Romantic Ideology, Cambridge Mass. 1952, 6nCrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 page 330 note 3 See, for example, ‘Pis’mo Fotiia k imperatoru Nikolaiu I’, Russkaia Starina, May 1905. 431–8.

1 page 331 note 1 Miropol’sky, op. cit., 629.

2 page 331 note 2 A. Slezkinsky, ‘Fotii i grafinia A. Orlova-Chesmenskaia (po podlinnym pis’mam)’, Russkaia Starina, February 1902, 452–3.

3 page 331 note 3 Moroshkin, art. cit., 315–16; I. I. Evropeus, ‘Vstrechi s Fotiem’, Russkaia Starina, September 1875, 209–10. For an account of Photius’s earlier fasts and illnesses, see F. Gorbunov, ‘Primechanie k svedeniam o Fotii’, Russkii Arkhiv (1870), 904.