A major religious figure and one of the central figures in the history of Russian homiletics, Gedeon Krinovsky was the first to preach in Russian rather than in Church Slavonic, and at the same time he modified the rhetorical structure of the sermon. In his homilies the central place was not given to theological debate with examples taken from divine history, as had been characteristic of the earlier homiletic tradition, but to entertaining stories--often from classical rather than biblical sources--interspersed with edifying teachings. As a rule, Gedeon's sermons were lacking in serious theological content, focusing instead on elementary ethical postulates. His sermons were written for the court and brought Gedeon exceptional fame in his position as court preacher.

Gedeon Krinovsky (born Georgii Andreevich) was born in Kazan into the family of a sacristan. The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is most likely around...