Philaret, Theodorus Romanoff

Philaret, Theodorus Romanoff third patriarch of Russia, a near relative by his mother of the last czar of the blood of Rurik, was born in the 16th century. This relationship caused him, in 1599, to be made a monk by Boris Godounof. Elevated in 1605 to the episcopal chair of Rostof by Dmitri, he was in 1610 sent on an embassy to Poland, where he was retained, against the law of nations, a prisoner for nine years. On his return to Moscow, in 1619, he found his son czar, who appointed him, June 24, of this year, patriarch, and shared with him his sovereignty, so that all the ukases were given in their name, and in all solemnities each had a throne, one as high as the other. This interference of the patriarch in political affairs was fatal to Russia. Michael Romanoff had been called to the throne on the express condition of reigning with the colcurrence of the chamber of the boyards and of the states-general, which, from 1613 to 1619, had come to be regarded as a legislative assembly. Philaret exiled the most distinguished boyards, and reduced the states- general to a merely consultative relation. Into spiritual affairs he carried the same retrograde spirit. Without caring for the advice of Oriental patriarchs, he ordained, in 1620, that every member of a Christian confession who should embrace the Russian religion must be baptized again, a regulation which is still in force. He died at Moscow October 1, 1633. His pastoral epistles have been collected in the A ncienne Bibliotheque Russe, volume 16. See Chronique de Nikon; Ilst. of'the Patriarch Philutrete (in Russian) (Moscow, 1802, 8vo); Satiehtchefet Solovief, History of Russia; EugBne, Diet. Hist. s.v.; Philarbte, archi). of Kharkof, Hist. de l'Eglise Russe; Dolgoroukow, La Verite sur la Russie, chapter 6. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 39:838.