In the collection of the Bishop’s House, there is a portrait of Metropolitan Philotheus of Tobolsk and Siberia (Leshchinsky). An unknown artist created this painting in the 18th century. He portrayed a clergyman in a long black cassock with wide sleeves. The blue robe of the metropolitan is worn over it. Rectangular pieces of red cloth with gold trim are sewn on the top and bottom of it. They symbolize the tablets of the Old Testament with the Ten Divine Commandments. In his right hand, Philotheus holds a four-pointed altar cross, and in his left — a metropolitan staff, a symbol of wise and fair administration of a church congregation.
Philotheus — the secular name Raphael Leshchinsky — was born in 1650 into a family of Little Russian nobles. There is a version that his father was a Polish prince Bogusław Leszczyński and his mother was a German princess Anna von Dönhof. However, historians consider it implausible: it is unlikely that the son of noble Catholics could abandon the faith of his parents, graduate from a seminary and become an Orthodox priest.
The future metropolitan graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy, married, and served as a parish priest. But after the death of his wife, he took monastic vows in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Philotheus was soon appointed the person in charge of household matters “for his rare piety, distinct experience, and administrative ability in affairs”, and then transferred to the Bryansk-Svensky monastery as vice-rector.
In 1702, Peter the Great by his decree appointed Philotheus Metropolitan of Tobolsk and Siberia. His diocese then stretched from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. In 1703, he opened the first Slavic-Russian school in Tobolsk — before such institutions had operated only in Moscow, Kyiv, Rostov, and Chernihiv. A year later the Metropolitan ordered the expansion of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Tobolsk and ordered a new iconostasis for it. He also founded the city”s first church choir, which consisted of Cossacks exiled to Siberia.
Philotheus himself visited the remote villages of his diocese and preached Orthodoxy among the indigenous peoples — mainly the Khanty and Mansi, who at the time adhered to pagan beliefs. The metropolitan held his position for 18 years, baptized more than 40,000 people, and ordered the construction of nearly 300 new churches. In 1720, Philotheus retired with a commendation from Peter the Great, and in May 1727, he died.
Philotheus — the secular name Raphael Leshchinsky — was born in 1650 into a family of Little Russian nobles. There is a version that his father was a Polish prince Bogusław Leszczyński and his mother was a German princess Anna von Dönhof. However, historians consider it implausible: it is unlikely that the son of noble Catholics could abandon the faith of his parents, graduate from a seminary and become an Orthodox priest.
The future metropolitan graduated from the Kyiv Theological Academy, married, and served as a parish priest. But after the death of his wife, he took monastic vows in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Philotheus was soon appointed the person in charge of household matters “for his rare piety, distinct experience, and administrative ability in affairs”, and then transferred to the Bryansk-Svensky monastery as vice-rector.
In 1702, Peter the Great by his decree appointed Philotheus Metropolitan of Tobolsk and Siberia. His diocese then stretched from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. In 1703, he opened the first Slavic-Russian school in Tobolsk — before such institutions had operated only in Moscow, Kyiv, Rostov, and Chernihiv. A year later the Metropolitan ordered the expansion of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Tobolsk and ordered a new iconostasis for it. He also founded the city”s first church choir, which consisted of Cossacks exiled to Siberia.
Philotheus himself visited the remote villages of his diocese and preached Orthodoxy among the indigenous peoples — mainly the Khanty and Mansi, who at the time adhered to pagan beliefs. The metropolitan held his position for 18 years, baptized more than 40,000 people, and ordered the construction of nearly 300 new churches. In 1720, Philotheus retired with a commendation from Peter the Great, and in May 1727, he died.
