Philaret Drozdov

(1782–1867)

   Metropolitan and Theologian.

   Philaret was the son of a church cantor. He took monastic vows in 1808 and, in the same year, was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the Ecclesiastical Academy of St Petersburg. In 1820 he was consecrated Bishop of Jaroslav and in 1821 he became Archbishop of Moscow. This title was changed to ‘Metropolitan’ in 1826. Among his theological works was his Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Greco-Russian Church. Although this was criticised for being in- fluenced by Protestantism, it was much used in the Russian Church throughout the nineteenth century. He is particularly remembered as the Metropolitan who encouraged the reforming Czar Alexander II in his determination to abolish serfdom in Russia.

   C. Kern, ‘Pilarète, Métropolite de Moscou: Cinquante ans de gloire épiscopale’, Istina, v (1958) [no English translation available],