Irenaeus, Klementievski

Irenaeus, Klementievski a very able Russian theologian, was born at Klementief (Vladimir district) in 1753. Of his early history but little is known to us. He enjoyed the reputation of a great savant, and held the bishopric of Tvar, and, later, the archbishopric of Pskof, and died at St. Petersburg April 24, 1818. Of course he belonged to the monastic order of the Russo Greek Church, for, as is well known, the higher ecclesiastical offices of Russia are accessible only to monastic orders (compare Eckardt, Modern Russia). Archbishop Irenaeus wrote Commentaries on the Twelve minor Prophets: — St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans and to the Hebrews: — and also published some of his sermons, delivered before the royal household at St. Petersburg (1794). He likewise translated into Russian the writings of several of the Church fathers, and cardinal Bellarmine's Commentary on the Psalms (Moscow, 1807, 2 vols. 4to); and two other works on ascetism by Bellarmine. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 25, 949.