Simon Todorski

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Simon, Archbishop of Pskov and Narva

Simon Todorski ( Russian Симон Тодорский ; real name Симеон Фёдорович Теодо́рский / Simeon Fjodorowitsch Teodorski, born October 1, 1701 in Solotonoscha ; † February 22, 1754 in Pskologic Church, and a Ukrainian Orthodox theologian, as well as a Ukrainian -Orthodox theologian and translator of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as February 22, 1754 in Pskolov ) was a Ukrainian -Orthodox theologian and translator .

Life

Student of the Theological Seminary in Kiev

Simon Todorski was the son of a Cossack ; his father or grandfather had converted from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity . From 1718 Todorski studied at the Theological Seminary in Kiev and also learned Latin; In 1727 he broke off his studies without a degree and moved to Saint Petersburg . From there he traveled to the Baltic States and then by sea via Lübeck to Prussia to study theology at the University of Halle . He wanted to learn primarily Hebrew, Greek and oriental languages ​​there. Todorski brought a letter of recommendation from Albert A. Viehrorth, who worked as a Protestant pastor and private tutor in Livonia . Viehrorth had good contacts with the Russian Archbishop Theophan Prokopowitsch on the one hand , and on the other hand he belonged to the international network of August Hermann Francke in Halle. Thanks to this recommendation, the destitute Todorski received a scholarship from the Halle Orphanage, which enabled him to study.

Student in hall

Todorski's Translation of True Christianity (Halle 1735)

Todorski enrolled as Simeon Todorski Russus . Although he could hardly speak German, he began to learn Hebrew straight away and taught himself German on the side, mainly by reading the Luther Bible . At the same time he studied the Tanakh and after four years had mastered Hebrew so well that he taught himself. After learning the Greek language, he not only familiarized himself with the New Testament in the original text, but also compared the Septuagint with the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. He then learned Arabic, read the original Koran and wrote a commentary on it.

In parallel to his language studies, Todorski also studied (Lutheran) theology. He took part in the weekly German-language edification hours ( Hallischer Pietismus ) and also led such meetings himself in Russian and Polish. He was probably the pastor of the Russian soldiers who belonged to the Prussian garrison stationed in Halle. During his almost six-year stay in Halle, he translated pietistic literature into Russian; His translation of Johann Arndt's Four Books from True Christianity into Church Slavonic was particularly well received in Russia.

Lecturer in Hebrew, Greek and German in Kiev

On July 8, 1735, Todorski left Halle with a cart full of books. The return trip to Kiev lasted three years, during which he took classes at various Jesuit schools. The certificates he had brought with him from Halle qualified him to teach new types of courses in Hebrew, Greek and German at the Theological Seminary in Kiev from 1738, with Hebrew and Greek being combined with a study of the biblical original texts using the method customary in Halle . In 1739 he had himself dressed as a monk.

Church career

Ipatios monastery

In 1742 Todorski was appointed religious teacher to the heir to the throne from Germany ( Peter III ) and his bride, Princess Sofia Frederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, who later became Empress Catherine II . Todorski's steep ecclesiastical career began. In 1743 he was appointed to the Most Holy Governing Synod and at the same time Archimandrite of the Ipatios Monastery near Kostroma . From 1745 he was bishop of Kostroma and Pskow. As a confessor, he accompanied Sofia's conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church (1744). Sofia wrote to her father, concerned about the imminent conversion: “Between the Lutheran and the Greek [d. H. Russian Orthodox] religion there is almost no difference. ”On March 20, 1748, Simon Todorski became Archbishop of Pskov and Narva and held this office until his death.

However, Todorski could not prevent Arndt's True Christianity from being banned by imperial decree as a heresy-suspect work on September 9, 1743, and from then on had to fear being exposed as its translator into Russian. He wrote to Halle that he had numerous enemies and therefore "had to be very secret and quiet".

literature

  • Swetlana Mengel, Stefan Schorch : The Harmonia vocum hebræarum cum Sclavonicis rutenicis et polonicis by Simon Todorskij: A new archive find on comparative language and Bible studies at the University of Halle in the early 18th century . In: Anna Briskina-Müller et al. (Ed.): Logos in Dialogos. Denomination of the Orthodox Church in word and deed. Festschrift Hermann Goltz . LIT Verlag Münster 2011, pp. 545-567. ( PDF )
  • Art. Симон (Тодорский). In: Русский биографический словарь, Volume 18 (1904), p. 498 ( digitized version )

swell

The following sources, evaluated by Mengel and Schorch, are available for Todorski's biography:

  • Gotthilf A. Francke : Some news from Mr. Simeon Todorski (1735)
  • Autograph curriculum vitae by Todorski (1739)
  • Information on his tombstone.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Art. Симон (Тодорский). In: Русский биографический словарь, Volume 18 (1904), p. 498.
  2. ↑ Swetlana Mengel, Stefan Schorch: The Harmonia vocum hebræarum cum Sclavonicis rutenicis et polonicis by Simon Todorskij , Münster 2011, p. 546, note 6. Todorski himself mentioned the year of birth 1701 in his résumé.
  3. ↑ Swetlana Mengel, Stefan Schorch: The Harmonia vocum hebræarum cum Sclavonicis rutenicis et polonicis by Simon Todorskij , Münster 2011, p. 546.
  4. ↑ Swetlana Mengel, Stefan Schorch: The Harmonia vocum hebræarum cum Sclavonicis rutenicis et polonicis by Simon Todorskij , Münster 2011, p. 547.
  5. ↑ Hermann Goltz, Alexei Tomiouk: The orthodox house church of the Holy Cross in the Franckische Stiftungen zu Halle an der Saale. Retrieved June 29, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Hans-Dieter Döpmann : The Russian Orthodox Church in Past and Present , Böhlau, Vienna et al. 1977, p. 134.
  7. ↑ a b c Swetlana Mengel, Stefan Schorch: The Harmonia vocum hebræarum cum Sclavonicis rutenicis et polonicis by Simon Todorskij , Münster 2011, p. 548.
  8. ↑ Igor Smolitsch : History of the Russian Church , Volume 1: 1700-1917. Brill, Leiden 1964, p. 249.
  9. ↑ Swetlana Mengel, Stefan Schorch: The Harmonia vocum hebræarum cum Sclavonicis rutenicis et polonicis by Simon Todorskij , Münster 2011, p. 549. Francke's addendum in his biography Todorskis.
  10. ↑ Wirtschaftsarchiv of the Francke Foundations, Signature: Afst / W IX / III / 40th
personal data
SURNAME Todorski, Simon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Тодорский, Симон (Russian); Теодо́рский, Симеон Фёдорович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ukrainian theologian, philologist and translator and Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1701
PLACE OF BIRTH Zolotonosha
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1754
Place of death Pskov