Platon, born Paul Kulbusch (also spelled ''Kuhlbusch'' or ''Kuldbush''; – 14 January 1919) was an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

bishop and the first Orthodox

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

of Estonian ethnicity."Platon, Bishop of Estonia"
''Estonica - Encyclopedia about Estonia'', Estonian Institute.

History

Paul Kulbusch was born on in

Pootsi Pootsi is a village in Pärnu, Pärnu County, in southwestern Estonia. It has a population of 79 (as of 1 January 2011). Notable people *Platon Platon may refer to: People * Plato (Πλάτων, romanized as ''Plátōn''), Greek philosopher ...

, Pärnumaa, in the southwest of present-day Estonia (then part of

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

).Poska, Jüri
"Bishop Platon - His Life And Martyrdom"
Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church website. Kulbusch graduated in 1894 from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy with a master's degree and soon became a priest at the Estonian Orthodox Church of Saint Isidore in St. Petersburg, where he oversaw the expansion of church institutions and buildings and actively reached out to the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church. In 1917 a plenary council in

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 ...

elected Kulbusch to be bishop of Reval (modern Tallinn, then a

vicariate A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

of the Riga diocese). He was consecrated as Bishop Platon on 31 December 1917. It was a tumultuous time. World War I was raging on, Russia's emperor had been overthrown, and Estonia yearned for independence, which Platon staunchly supported. Under the threat of German invasion, Russian troops withdrew from Estonia, enabling the declaration of Estonian independence on 24 February 1918, only to be ended by German occupation days later. During the occupation Platon traveled extensively through Estonia, visiting parishes by horse. Following the

German Revolution German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, in November 1918 Germany formally handed over political power to the Estonian national government. In response, Bolshevik Russia

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

, attempting to regain control over the territory. At this time, Platon was in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

(Dorpat), having fallen ill with pneumonia. The Bolsheviks took Tartu on 24 December, and on 2 January Platon was arrested and imprisoned in a cellar. On 14 January 1919, he was executed along with two other priests, Michael Bleive and Nikolai Bezhanitsky, just before the city was retaken by the Estonian Army.Shubin, Daniel H
A History of Russian Christianity, Volume IV
Algora Publishing, p.56, 2006. Platon and the two murdered priests were canonised as martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church in exile in 1982, 12 August 2000 by Russian Orthodox Church and by the Patriarchate of Constantinople on 15 September 2000.

References

{{Authority control 1869 births 1919 deaths People from Pärnu People from the Governorate of Livonia Eastern Orthodox Christians from Estonia Eastern Orthodox saints Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church 20th-century Estonian people 20th-century Eastern Orthodox martyrs Eastern Orthodox people executed by the Soviet Union Estonian people executed by the Soviet Union Victims of Red Terror in Soviet Russia