Stephen Yavorsky
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Stephen Yavorsky (c. 1658-1722) was an archbishop and statesman in the Russian Empire, of Ukrainian descent, one of the ablest coadjutors of Peter the Great and the first president of the Most Holy Synod.
Born in Jaworow near Lwow, Yavorsky was educated at the Kiev Academy and various Polish schools. Becoming a monk, he settled at the Kiev Academy as a preacher and professor, being appointed prefect of the institution and prior of the monastery of St. Nicholas. He attracted the attention of Peter by his funeral oration over the boyar Aleksei Shein, and was made archbishop of Ryazan in 1700.
In 1702, on the death of the last patriarch of Moscow, Yavorsky was appointed custodian of the spiritualities of the patriarchal see. Notwithstanding frequent collisions with Peter, and his partiality for the unfortunate Tsarevich Alexius, Yavorsky was too valuable a man to be discarded. In 1721 he was made first president of the newly erected Holy Synod, but died in the following year. After that Stephen's duties were conferred on Feofan Prokopovich.
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- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Stephen Yavorsky", a publication now in the public domain.
