Nikephoros Theotokis

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Nikephoros Theotokis or Nikiforos Theotokis Greek: Νικηφόρος Θεοτόκης; Russian: Никифор Феотоки (1731-1800) was a Greek scholar and theologian, who became an archbishop in the southern provinces of the Russian Empire. A polymath, he is respected in Greece as one of the "Teachers of the Nation".[1]

Born in Corfu, he studied in Bologna and Padua in Italy.[2]. In 1748, he returned to Greece to join the church as a monk, reaching the rank of hieromank in 1754. However, he was interested in educating the youth of his country than in church services, and by 1758 he was able to set up his own school in Corfu, the first ever school in the island where a range of subjects were taught: Greek and Italian literature, grammar, geography, rhetorics, physics and mathematics, philosophy. He acquired some renown as a preacher at the local church of John the Baptist and author of textbooks on physics and mathematics.

His achievements were noticed by Ecumenical Patriarch Samuel I Chatzeres, who appointed him as the preacher at Constantinoplpe's main church (1765). Nikephoros did not stay that long in Constantinople though; he shared much of his time in the next two decades between Leipzig, where he published his Physics, and Jassy.

During the reign of Russian Empress Catherine II, a fair number of Greek professionals were invited to come to her empire to help in the administration of the recently conquered lands of Novorossiya ('New Russia') on the north shore of the Black Sea (today's southern Ukraine). In 1776, Nikiforos came as well, invited by his countryman Eugenios Boulgaris, who occupied at the time the seat of Archbishop of Sloviansk and Kherson. [3]

Nikephoros joined Eugenios at the diocese, which covered much of the south-central Ukraine; its seat was actually located in Poltava, and remained there even after the diocese was renamed to that of Yekaterinoslav. Eugenios groomed the younger theologian as his successor, and Nikephoros indeed replaced his as Eugenios retired in 1779. Later on, in 1786, Nikephoros was transferred to Astrakhan, where he served as the Archbishop of Astrakhan and Stavropol.

Besides his scholarly and theological work, Nikephoros is known for polemics against dissenter religious groups, such as Old Believers and Spiritual Christians. Disappointed at success of propaganda and enforcement approaches meant make Old Believers abandon their rights and join the established church, he, starting in the summer of 1780, started reaching out to the Old Believer communities, offering to legalize their churches and their form of worship, as long as they accepted the authority of the official church. After a number of Old Believer communities in the Ukraine and southern Russia accepted such arrangements over the next two decades, they became adopted nationwide, under the name of Edinoverie ('Unity in Faith').[4][5]

Nikephoros is credited by some scholars[6] for coining the term Doukhobor around 1786, although others ascribe it to his successor at the Poltava chair, Archbishop Ambrosius.

Nikephoros retired from his archbishop position in 1792, and spent the rest of his days as the abbot of Danilov Monastery in Moscow.

The main shopping street in the City of Corfu, Nikiforou Theotoki, is named after him.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Corfu Greece - Literature
  2. ^ Literaries - Philosophers - Scholars
  3. ^ [1] (Russian)
  4. ^ Yu.A. Katunin (Катунин Ю. А.), A.V. Belsky (Бельский А. В.) ЭТАПЫ БОРЬБЫ ЗА СОЗДАНИЕ ЦЕРКВИ У СТАРООБРЯДЦЕВ (Stages of the struggle for creating a church among the Old Believers) (Russian)
  5. ^ Irina Paert. "Old Believers, Religious Dissent and Gender in Russia, 1760-1850". Manchester University Press, 2003. ISBN 0719063221 On Google Books
  6. ^ Spiritual Origins and the Beginnings of Doukhobor History. A keynote address given by Russian ethnographer and archivist Svetlana A. Inikova at the Doukhobor Centenary Conference, held at the University of Ottawa on October 22-24, 1999.
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