tsar of Russia
Russian in full Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov
born July 22 [July 12, old style], 1596
died July 23 [July 13, O.S.], 1645, Moscow
tsar of Russia from 1613 to 1645 and founder of the Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia until 1917.
Son of Fyodor Nikitich Romanov (later the Orthodox patriarch Philaret), Michael was related to the last tsar of the Rurik dynasty, Fyodor I (reigned 1584–98) through his grandfather Nikita Romanov, who was Fyodor's maternal uncle. When the zemsky sobor (assembly of the land) met in 1613 to elect a new tsar after the Time of Troubles—a period of chaotic internal disorders, foreign invasions, and a rapid succession of rulers following the death of Fyodor I—it chose Michael Romanov as tsar (February 1613).
Emissaries came from Moscow to the monastery near Kostroma where Michael was living with his mother—who had been compelled to become a nun during the reign of Boris Godunov (ruled 1598–1605)—and in March he accepted the offer of the throne with great reluctance.
Only 16 years old and poorly educated at the time of his coronation on July 21 (July 11, O.S.), 1613, Michael at first allowed his mother's relatives to gain control of governmental affairs. Although they promoted their personal interests, they also restored order to Russia, suppressed internal uprisings, and made peace both with Sweden (Treaty of Stolbovo, 1617) and with Poland (Truce of Deulino, 1618).
In 1619 Michael's father, who had been forced to become a monk under the name Philaret (Filaret) in 1601 and had later been taken to Poland, was released from captivity. Upon his return to Russia, he was installed as patriarch of the church and Michael's co-ruler. From then until his death in 1633, he dominated Michael's government, which increased diplomatic, commercial, and cultural contact with western Europe, made extensive use of the zemski sobor as a popular consultative body, employed a variety of means to solve Russia's continuing financial dilemmas, reformed the structure of local government to increase the authority of the central administration, and strengthened the institution of serfdom. When his father died, Michael's maternal relatives again played prominent roles in his government until he died and left his throne to his son Alexis.
Philaret
▪ Russian Orthodox theologian
also spelled Filaret, original name Vasily Mikhaylovich Drozdov
born Dec. 26, 1782, [Jan. 6, 1783, New Style], Kolomna, near Moscow, Russia
died Nov. 19 [Dec. 1], 1867, Moscow
Russian Orthodox biblical theologian and metropolitan, or archbishop, of Moscow whose scholarship, oratory, and administrative ability made him the leading Russian churchman of the 19th century.
Upon his graduation from the Trinity Monastery, near Moscow, in 1803, Philaret was appointed as a teacher there and, in 1806, as a monastery preacher. In 1808 he took monastic vows and also was named professor of philosophy and theology, and subsequently rector, at St. Petersburg's Theological Academy. Rising rapidly in his church career, he became a member of the Holy Synod in 1818 after serving with numerous ecclesiastical-reform commissions, was named archbishop of Tver in 1819, and in 1821 was transferred to Moscow. An activist, Philaret quickly established himself as a power in church and state. Considered as charismatic by the Russian Orthodox, he served as the final authority in theological and legal questions, his decisions eventually being published in 1905 with the title “Views and Comments.”
By 1858, having overcome extended opposition, Philaret successfully directed the translation of the Bible into modern Russian. His chief theological work was the “Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Greco-Russian Church,” treating the 4th-century Nicene Creed, the theology of prayer, and the Mosaic Law. First published in 1823, Philaret's “Catechism” was subjected to several revisions to expunge its Lutheran influences, but after 1839 it exercised widespread influence on 19th-century Russian theology.
▪ patriarch of Moscow
also spelled Filaret, original name Fyodor Nikitich Romanov
born c. 1554, /55
died Oct. 12 [Oct. 22, New Style], 1633, Moscow, Russia
Russian Orthodox patriarch of Moscow and father of the first Romanov tsar.
During the reign (1584–98) of his cousin, Tsar Fyodor I, Philaret served in the military campaign against the Swedes in 1590 and later (1593–94) conducted diplomatic negotiations with them. After Fyodor's death, Philaret was banished to a monastery by Boris Godunov (reigned 1598–1605). On Godunov's sudden death in 1605 and the subsequent shift of power to the first False Dmitry, Philaret was released and made metropolitan (archbishop) of Rostov. In 1610 he was imprisoned by the Poles while trying to arrange the accession of Prince Władysław of Poland to the Russian throne, but he was freed in 1619 after the election of his son Michael as tsar. Philaret was made patriarch of Moscow that year.
Exercising both ecclesiastical and political rule in Russia, Philaret reformed church administration, instituted a program to establish a divinity college in each diocese, and established libraries to upgrade theological scholarship. In a Moscow synod he decreed that all Latin Christians coming into the Russian Orthodox church must be rebaptized. His ecclesiastical policy strove to minimize the influence of the Roman Catholic church among Russian and Polish bishops. In addition to further developing the Russian liturgical books, Philaret also sponsored social legislation to stabilize the peasant farmers, reformed the tax structure, and reorganized the military.
Russian Orthodox church
largest autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, Eastern Orthodox church in the world. Its membership is estimated at more than 85 million.
Christianity was apparently introduced into the East Slavic state of Kievan Rus by Greek missionaries from Byzantium in the 9th century. An organized Christian community is known to have existed at Kiev as early as the first half of the 10th century, and in 957 Olga, the regent of Kiev, was baptized in Constantinople (Istanbul). This act was followed by the acceptance of Christianity as the state religion after the baptism of Olga's grandson Vladimir (Vladimir I), prince of Kiev, in 988. Under Vladimir's successors, and until 1448, the Russian (Russia) church was headed by the metropolitans of Kiev (who after 1328 resided in Moscow) and formed a metropolitanate of the Byzantine patriarchate.
While Russia lay under Mongol (Golden Horde) rule from the 13th through the 15th century, the Russian church enjoyed a favoured position, obtaining immunity from taxation in 1270. This period saw a remarkable growth of monasticism. The Monastery of the Caves (Pechersk Lavra) in Kiev, founded in the mid-11th century by the ascetics St. Anthony (Anthony of Kiev) and St. Theodosius, was superseded as the foremost religious centre by the Trinity–St. Sergius monastery, which was founded in the mid-14th century by St. Sergius of Radonezh (in what is now the city of Sergiyev Posad). Sergius, as well as the metropolitans St. Peter (Peter) (1308–26) and St. Alexius (1354–78), supported the rising power of the principality of Moscow. Finally, in 1448 the Russian bishops elected their own patriarch without recourse to Constantinople, and the Russian church was thenceforth autocephalous (autocephalous church). In 1589 Job, the metropolitan of Moscow, was elevated to the position of patriarch with the approval of Constantinople and received the fifth rank in honour after the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.