'To act according to the power of my testament': the second testament of metropolitan Platon (Levshin)

2024

Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ II. Istoriâ, Istoriâ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi, Vol 118, Iss 118, Pp 151-163 (2024)

The article examines the circumstances of the peaceful death of Metropolitan Plato on October 11, 1812 and the fulfillment of the last will of the late hierarch. A sealed morocco case with two wills was taken to Vologda at the most dramatic moment of the Patriotic War of 1812. It contained two spiritual wills of Metropolitan Plato in 1801 and 1807 . Both wills were written with his own hand, in free form, without observing the form of this type of documents that had developed by that time. When they were written, there were no witnesses and they did not go through the usual procedures of appearance in the relevant authorities. One of them, written in 1801 in the form of a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord, has been published and is well known. The second, of an administrative nature, written in 1807, demonstrates the hierarch's caring attitude about monastic monasteries, almshouses, established educational spiritual institutions, his successor, his circle of like-minded people, friends and students, as well as about his blood relatives and his own commemoration. There is only a brief mention of this second will in historiography. The author comes to the conclusion that the publication and full introduction into scientific circulation of the text of the testament of 1807 is an urgent necessity. A significant addition is the comments made, which relate both to the personalities mentioned in the text and explain the terminology used. In addition, some items named in the will were correlated with the inventory of the property of the Metropolitan of 1812 and the exhibits of the collection of the Sergiev Posad State Historical and Art Museum-Reserve (SPMZ).

article

Russian

St. Tikhon's Orthodox University, 2024.

metropolitan platon, trinity-sergius lavra, bethany, spiritual testament, property, heirs, museum exhibits., митрополит платон, троице-сергиева лавра, вифания, духовное завещание, имущество, наследники, музейные экспонаты., History of Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics, DK1-4735, History and principles of religions, BL660-2680