Gavriil Petrov
Gavriil Petrov, born Peter Petrovich Shaposhnikov on May 18, 1730, in Moscow, was a significant figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. Initially educated at the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy, where he excelled academically, Petrov chose a humble path as a baker of communion bread rather than pursuing an ecclesiastical career. His dedication led to editorial roles in religious publishing, and in 1758, he was appointed an instructor at the seminary of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius Monastery, where he was eventually tonsured as a monk. Rising through the monastic hierarchy, he became the archimandrite of the Zaikonospassky Monastery and was later appointed bishop of Tver by Catherine the Great.
Petrov played a crucial role in the legislative reform efforts of Catherine, representing the Orthodox clergy on a commission aimed at creating a new legal code and advocating for the clergy’s rights. He served on the Holy Synod, effectively governing the church until Catherine’s death and contributing significantly to Russian literature through his sermons. Although he enjoyed favor under Emperor Paul, political rivalries eventually forced him into retirement in Novgorod, where he fell ill and died on January 26, 1801. He was interred at the local cathedral, leaving a legacy as a devoted cleric and reformer within the Russian Orthodox Church.
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Gavriil Petrov
Writer
- Born: May 18, 1730
- Birthplace: Moscow, Russia
- Died: January 26, 1801
- Place of death: Novgorod, Russia
Biography
Gavriil Petrov was the monastic name taken by Peter Petrovich Shaposhnikov, son of a subdeacon who subsequently became a priest of the white (married) clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was born in Moscow on May 18, 1730. At the age of ten, he was sent to the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy, where he finished first in his class in 1753.
Such an excellent showing would usually have meant the beginning of an illlustrious ecclesial career, starting with a position as an instructor in the academy. However, young Peter instead became a baker of communion bread, a position usually given to old women, in order to have sustenance and a regular place at church. He then took a number of editorial positions at religious publishing houses, where he began to show his scholarly talent. However, clerical advancement was impossible for him because of his intense distaste for the thought of becoming a monk.
That impasse was forcibly resolved in 1758 when he was made an instructor at the seminary attached to the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius monastery, and its archimandrite (abbott), Gedeon Krinovsky, imposed the tonsure upon him. With the question settled, he rose quickly through the monastic ranks, and was soon himself the archimandrite of the Zaikonospassky Monastery. There he soon attracted the attention of Catherine the Great, who decided he would be useful for her purposes and made him bishop of Tver.
His work there was satisfactory, and in 1768 he was made a member of the Legislative Commission for the Creation of a New Law Code, part of Catherine’s drive for legal and social reform. He was thus the representative of the entire Orthodox clergy on the commission, and he applied himself diligently to the problem of developing comprehensible laws that would replace the tangled confusion of rules left over from before the reforms of Peter the Great. He also sought to develop a special status for the clergy, separate from the developing middle class of craftsmen and merchants, and to protect clerics from the indignities of corporal punishment.
He then became a member of the Holy Synod, the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church since Peter the Great’s abolition of the Patriarchate, and became the effective ruler of the church until Catherine’s death. During this period, he wrote and delivered a large number of sermons, his primary contribution to Russian literature. At the beginning of Emperor Paul’s reign, the new emperor got along well with Petrov, and granted him various awards. However, the ambitious archbishop of Kazan was able to drive him out of St. Petersburg, and he retreated to Novgorod, where he soon became severely ill. He petitioned to be allowed to retire to the Simonov Monastery in Moscow, but while Emperor Paul did relieve him of his episcopal duties, he would not allow him to leave the bishop’s residence in Novgorod. He died there on January 26, 1801, and was interred at the cathedral.