Philaret Drozdov

Philaret, born Vasily Mikhaylovich Drozdov, was Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna and the most influential figure in the Russian Orthodox Church from 1821 to 1867. Born in Kolomna to a clerical family, he taught at the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra and the academy of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, became Archbishop of Tver in 1819, moved to Moscow in 1821 and became metropolitan in 1826. A leading preacher and author of many theological works, he worked toward a Russian translation of the Bible and is said to have prepared Alexander II's proclamation freeing the serfs; he also had Old Believer churches sealed and their clergy imprisoned. He was canonized in 1994.