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Theophan Prokopovich

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Religious leader and scholar (1681–1736)

Theophan Prokopovich
Metropolitan and archbishop of Moscow
Posthumous portrait, mid-18th century
ChurchRussian Orthodox Church
SeeMoscow
Installed1722
Term ended1736
PredecessorStefan Yavorsky
SuccessorJoseph Volchansky
Personal details
Born(1681-06-18)18 June 1681
Kiev, Cossack Hetmanate, Tsardom of Russia
Died19 September 1736(1736-09-19) (aged 55)
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire

Theophan or Feofan Prokopovich (Russian: Феофан Прокопович; Ukrainian: Феофан Прокопович, romanized: Feofan Prokopovych; 18 June [O.S. 8 June] 1681 – 19 September [O.S. 8 September] 1736) was a Russian Orthodox bishop, theologian, pietist, writer, poet, mathematician, astronomer, pedagogue and philosopher of Ukrainian origin. He was the rector of the Academia Mohileana in Kiev (1711–1716), the bishop of Pskov (1718–1725), and the archbishop of Novgorod (1725–1736).

Prokopovich elaborated upon and implemented Peter the Great's reform of the Russian Orthodox Church; he served as the first vice-president of the Most Holy Synod from 1721, which replaced the office of the patriarch. Prokopovich also wrote many religious verses and some of the most enduring sermons in the Russian language.

Biography

Childhood and education

Theophan (born Eleazar or Elisei) Prokopovich was born in Kiev, Cossack Hetmanate, a vassal state under the Tsardom of Russia. His father, Tsereysky, was a shopkeeper from Smolensk. After the death of his parents, Eleazar was adopted by his maternal uncle, Feofan Prokopovich. Feofan Prokopovich was the abbot of the Kiev Brotherhood Epiphany Monastery, professor, and rector of the Academia Mohileana.

Prokopovich's uncle sent him to the monastery for primary school. After graduation, he became a student of the Academia Mohileana.

In 1698, after graduating from the Academia Mohileana, Eleazar continued his education at the Volodymyr Uniate Collegium. He lived in the Basilian monastery and was tonsured as a Uniate monk under the name of Elisha or Elisey. The Uniate Bishop of Volodymyr, Zalensky, noticed the extraordinary abilities of the young monk and contributed to his transfer to the Catholic Academy of St. Athanasius in Rome, which was created by theologians to spread Catholicism among Eastern Orthodox adherents.

In Rome, he enjoyed access to the Vatican Library. In addition to theology, Prokopovich also studied the works of ancient Latin and Greek philosophers, historians, attractions of old and new Rome, and the principles of the Catholic faith and of the Pope. Throughout his studies, he became acquainted with the works of Tommaso Campanella, Galileo Galilei, Giordano Bruno, and Nicolaus Copernicus.

In 28 October 1701, Prokopovich left Rome without completing his full course at the academy. He passed through France, Switzerland, and Germany, before studying in Halle. There he became acquainted with the ideas of the Protestant Reformation.

Return to Russia

He returned to Ukraine (then part of the Tsardom of Russia) in 1704, first to Pochayiv Lavra, then to Kiev, where he renounced the Catholic union as well as his penance and tonsure with the Orthodox monks, taking the name Feofan in memory of his uncle.

Beginning in 1705, Prokopovich taught rhetoric, poetics, and philosophy at the Kiev-Mogila Collegium. He also wrote the tragicomedy "Vladimir"(«Влади́мир»), dedicating it to Hetman Ivan Mazepa. At the same time, he wrote the theological and philosophical sermons which were seen by the Kiev governor-generals Dmitry Golitsyn and Alexander Menshikov.

In 1707, he became the prefect of the Kiev Academy. In 1711, Prokopovich gave a sermon on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Poltava. The tsar of Russia, Peter I, was struck by the eloquence of this sermon, and upon his return to Kiev, Feofan Prokopovich was appointed as the rector of the Kiev-Mogila Academy and a professor of theology. At the same time, he also became abbot of the Kiev Brotherhood Epiphany Monastery. He entirely reformed the teaching of theology there, substituting the historical method of the German theologians for the Orthodox scholastic system.

In 1716, he went to Saint Petersburg. From that point, Prokopovich spent his time explaining the new scholastic system and justifying its most controversial innovations from the pulpit. Despite the opposition of the Russian clergy, who regarded the "Light of Kiev" as an interloper and semi-heretic, he became invaluable to the civil power. He was promoted to bishop of Pskov in 1718, and archbishop of Novgorod in 1725. He died in Saint Petersburg.

As the author of the spiritual regulation for the reform of the Russian Orthodox Church, Feofan is regarded as the creator of the spiritual department superseding the patriarchate, better known by its later name of the Holy Governing Synod, of which he was made vice-president. A pitiless enemy of superstitions of any kind, Prokopovich continued to be a reformer even after the death of Peter the Great. He simplified Russian preaching, introducing popular themes and a simple style into Orthodox pulpits.

Notes

  1. He had served as vicar to the previous Archbishop of Novgorod since the early 18th century. See Pavel Tikhomirov, Kafedra Novgorodskikh Sviatitelei (Novgorod, 1895–1899).

References

  1. Пыляев, Михаил Иванович (1996). Забытое прошлое окрестностей Петербурга: издание с дополнениями М.И. Пыляева, научным комментарием, полным именным указателем, аннотированными иллюстрациями [The Forgotten Past of the Environs of St. Petersburg: Edition with Additions by M.I. Pylyaev, Scientific Commentary, Complete Index of Names, Annotated Illustrations] (in Russian). Лениздат. p. 241. ISBN 978-5-289-01736-9. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  2. Petrov, Lev Aleksandrovich (1974). Общественно-политическая и философская мысль России первой половины XVIII века [Socio-political and philosophical thought of Russia in the first half of the 18th century] (in Russian). Иркутский государственный университет им. А.А. Жданова. p. 45. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  3. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Prokopovich, Theofan". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 434.
  4. ^ Drozdek, Adam (4 February 2021). Theological Reflection in Eighteenth-Century Russia. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 15, 23. ISBN 978-1-7936-4184-7.
  5. Worobec, Christine D. (16 January 2009). The Human Tradition in Imperial Russia. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-4422-0253-5.
  6. Collis, Robert (1 January 2015). The Petrine Instauration: Religion, Esotericism and Science at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725. Retrieved 27 July 2024 – via www.academia.edu.
  7. "Theophan Prokopovich (Great Russian Encyclopaedia)". Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  8. "До 340-ї річниці від дня народження видатного українського церковного і громадського діяча Феофана Прокоповича". cdiak.archives.gov.ua. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  9. "Феофан Прокопович – визначний діяч епохи бароко. (Видання після смерті архієпископа з фондів відділу бібліотечних зібрань та історичних колекцій НБУВ) | Національна бібліотека України імені В. І. Вернадського". www.nbuv.gov.ua. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  10. "Прокопович Феофан: Біографія на УкрЛібі". www.ukrlib.com.ua. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  11. Kostomarov, Nikolaĭ Ivanovich (1997). Русская история в жизнеописаниях ее главнейших деятелей: в четырех томах (in Russian). Terra. p. 81. ISBN 978-5-300-01215-1. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  12. Санников, И. А. "Риторическое начало в творчестве Феофана Прокоповича (на примере трагедокомедии "Владимир" и "Слова на погребение Петра Великого")" (PDF). elar.urfu.ru. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  13. "Феофан Прокопович как просветитель и человек" (PDF). herzenlib.ru. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  14. "Prokopovych, Teofan". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  15. "UKRAINIAN EDUCATIONAL BAROQUE MAN: THEOPHAN PROKOPOVICH AND EDUCATION" (PDF). pedagogicaljournal.lugniv.edu.ua. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  16. Collis, Robert (9 December 2011). The Petrine Instauration: Religion, Esotericism and Science at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725. BRILL. p. 296. ISBN 978-90-04-21567-2.
  17. Bushkovitch, Paul (18 March 2021). Succession to the Throne in Early Modern Russia: The Transfer of Power 1450–1725. Cambridge University Press. p. 314. ISBN 978-1-108-47934-9.
  18. Graham, Hugh F. (June 1956). "Theophan Prokopovich and the Ecclesiastical Ordinance". Church History. 25 (2): 127–135. doi:10.2307/3161197. ISSN 1755-2613. JSTOR 3161197. S2CID 153363456. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  19. Перевощиков, В.М. "Материалы для Истории Российской словесности. Феофан Прокопович 1 (1822)" (PDF). kpfu.ru. Retrieved 11 March 2024.

Sources

  • I. Chistovitch, Theofan Prokopovich and his Times (Russian; Petersburg, 1868)
  • P. Morozov, Theophan Prokopovich as a Writer (Russian; Petersburg, 1880)

External links

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