Archbishop Filaret (Филарет Гумилевский, born Dmitry Grigorievich Gumilevsky; 1805-1866) was the

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

(1841–48),

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

(1848–59), and Archbishop of

Chernigov Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative ...

(1859–66). The son of a priest from the Shatsk district, Filaret is best known as a

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and

church historian Church Historian and Recorder (usually shortened to Church Historian) is a priesthood calling in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The role of the Church Historian and Recorder is to keep an accurate and comprehensive record of th ...

. At the precocious age of 30 he was appointed Dean of the

Moscow Theological Academy Moscow Theological Academy (russian: Московская духовная академия) is a higher educational institution of the Russian Orthodox Church, training clergy, teachers, scholars, and officials. The Academy traces its origin to ...

based in the

Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (russian: Тро́ице-Се́ргиева ла́вра) is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Pos ...

. During his tenure in Riga (1841-1848) the

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

saw a religious conversion movement, as a result of which more than one hundred thousand Estonian and Latvian peasants converted to Orthodoxy. He also established a school in Riga in February 1846, which grew four years later into a seminary (Latvian: ''Rīgas Garīgais seminārs''). His magnum opus is ''The History of the Russian Church'' (1847–48), the first complete and systematic outline of the evolution of the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. It was seen as a clerical counterpart to

Karamzin Karamzin (russian: Карамзин) is a Russian masculine surname, its feminine counterpart is Karamzina. It originates from the Tatar surname Kara-Murza, meaning ''black lord'', and may refer to *Aurora Karamzin (1808–1902), Finnish-Swede phil ...

's great history of the Russian state and went through many reprints. This work was later revised and expanded by the likes of

Macarius Bulgakov Metropolitan Macarius (russian: link=no, Митрополи́т Мака́рий, born Mikhail Petrovich Bulgakov, russian: link=no, Михаи́л Петро́вич Булга́ков; –), was the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna in 1879–8 ...

and Yevgeny Golubinsky. Filaret Gumilevsky was a very popular prelate. He is buried in the Trinity Cathedral, Chernihiv. In 2009, the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) The Ukrainian Orthodox Church ( uk, Українська православна церква, Ukrainska pravoslavna tserkva; russian: Украинская православная церковь, Ukrainskaya pravoslavnaya tserkov', UOC), common ...

recognized him as a saint for local veneration.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gumilevsky, Filaret Historians of the Russian Orthodox Church Russian theologians Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox theologians 1805 births 1866 deaths Russian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church 19th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops 19th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians Russian historians of religion Bishops of Chernihiv