Metropolitan Ignatius (Rimsky-Korsakov) from Siberia and his attitude to the Greeks

Abstract

Siberian metropolitan Ignatius (Rimsky-Korsakov) active took part in the church’s life in the last third of the XVII
century and was one of the ideologists of the Moscow kingdom. His attitude to the Greeks, Greek Orthodoxy, language
and culture is well discovered on an analysis of his published and unpublished writings and other works. Ignatius can be
called as a philhellenist. In his works he referred to the authority of the Orthodox East and apparently he knew the Greek
language. His respectful attitude to the Greeks was not simply the delight of their faith. He was also a strong desire to free
them from the Ottoman rule. His views of the Eastern patriarchates and their representatives were based on the concept
of “Constantinople (Byzantium) heritage”. This theory prevailed in the official Moscow ideology in the second half of
the XVII century.