Theodoret of Kola

Grand Duke Ivan IV sent Theodoret to Constantinople

Theodoretus, Theodorit (es) or Theodoret of Kola (* 1489 in Rostov , Grand Duchy of Moscow ; † August 17 ^jul. / 30 August ^greg. 1571 in Solovetsky Monastery , Russia ), Russian Feodorit Kolski (Феодорит Кольский ) was a Russian missionary of the Solovetsky monastery, which is why he is sometimes referred to as theodoret (of) Solowezki . He is considered the apostle of the Lapps (Sami) and is venerated as a saint in parts of the Russian Orthodox Church (Memorial Day August 17).

At the age of 13 he moved to northern Russia on the coast of the White Sea and entered the Solovetsky Monastery, where he lived as a monk for the next 15 years. He then spent a few years in Novgorod and in the Kirillo Belozersky Monastery . Sometime between 1526 and 1542 he lived for a few years in northern Finland, the northern Norwegian Finnmark and on the Kola peninsula and tried together with his fellow believer Mitrofan ( Tryphon von Petschenga ) to convert the Sami. While Mitrofan v. a. missionary in the Scoltsamian settlement areas, Theodoret first settled in the area of ​​today's city of Kandalakscha . He later moved to the area of ​​today's city ​​of Kola , which was built on the site of the monastery he founded.

He is said to have baptized a few thousand seeds and also translated the Holy Scriptures into Sami . Whether he actually developed a Sami alphabet specifically for this is controversial. Then he first returned to Novgorod before he was appointed archimandrite of the St. Euthymius Monastery in Suzdal by Tsar Ivan IV in 1551 . However, he came into conflict with the Bishop of Suzdal and was also involved in the conflicts of the Moscow church princes as well as in the power struggles at court, whereupon from 1554 he was again exiled to the Solovetsky Monastery and then to the Kirillo Belozersky Monastery. After a few years he was pardoned or rehabilitated and in 1557 sent by the tsar on a diplomatic mission to the Patriarch in Constantinople .

After the death of his long-time patron and protector, the Metropolitan Makarij (Makarios, Macarius, † 1563), Theodoret retired to the Solovetsky Monastery and again devoted his last years to converting the Sami. A church in Murmansk has been named after him since 2008 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Jukka Korpela (Joensuu): Feodorit (Theodorit) Kol'skii: Missionary and Princely Agent . In: Ludwig Steindorff (Ed.): Religion and Integration in Moscow Russia - Concepts and Practices, Potentials and Limits 14.-17. Century . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, pages 201-226.
2. ↑ Not to be confused with Saint Feodor von Rostow , an archbishop of the 14th century
3. ↑ Geoffrey Parker (ed.): Weltbild Atlas zur Weltgeschichte . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998, page 41.
4. ^ Neil Kent, 2014. The Sámi peoples of the North . Pp. 95-96
5. ↑ Jukka Korpela (Joensuu): Feodorit (Theodorit) Kol'skii: Missionary and Princely Agent . In: Ludwig Steindorff (Ed.): Religion and Integration in Moscow Russia - Concepts and Practices, Potentials and Limits 14.-17. Century . Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, pages 217/218.
6. ^ Jukka Korpela: The World of Ladoga - Society, Trade, Transformation and State Building in the Eastern Fennoscandian Boreal Forest Zone C. 1000-1555 . LIT Verlag, Münster 2008, page 145.
7. ^ Günter Schulz: The theological history position of Starzen Artemij within the movement of the dispossessed in Russia of the first half of the 16th century . Chair for the History and Theology of the Christian Orient, Erlangen 1980, pages 40 and 283.
8. ↑ JLI Fennell: Prince AM Kurbsky's History of Ivan IV . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008, pages 252-285.
9. ↑ Voice of Russia: New Orthodox church was consecrated in Murmansk ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.