Stefan Iavorsky was one of the most educated and prominent figures in the Russian church during the Petrine period: he became, despite his wishes, the head of the Russian Orthodox church during the difficult period of its subordination to the state under Peter the Great's reforms. Throughout his life, he aspired to a quiet life of independent literary activity rather than a great career, and it was precisely his involvement in church politics and polemics that hindered him in fully developing his considerable literary talent. As he complained to his close friend Dimitrii Rostovsky in 1707: "Believe me, the man who has lived happily is the one who has been able to hide himself away. Pray, divine prelate, for the deliverance of the unfree--of whom the first am I!"

Stefan Iavorsky, whose lay name was Semen Ivanovich, was born in 1658 into a wealthy noble family on the right bank...