Philaret, Theodore Nikitich Romanov

(c. 1553–1633)

   Patriarch.

   Philaret was a cousin of Theodore I, the last Ruvik Czar of Russia. He had a successful military career in the war against Sweden, but, after Theodore’s death, he was imprisoned by his successor, Boris Godunov. He was appointed the Metropolitan of Rostov by the impostor Pseudo-Dmitri in 1609. Although his son Michael Romanov was elected Czar in 1613, Philaret, who had been imprisoned by the Poles in 1609, was not released until the Truce of Deulino in 1619. That year he was enthroned as Patriarch of Moscow and was, in effect, a ruler of Russia for the rest of his life. In the history of the Russian Church, he is remembered for his energetic reorganisation of every diocese and for the establishment of the Patriarchal Library.

   R.N. Bain, The First Romanovs (1905).