Symeon of Polotsk

Symeon of Polotsk or Symeon Polotsky (born Samuel Piotrowski-Sitnianowicz, Russian: Симео́н По́лоцкий; Самуи́л Петро́вский-Ситнянович; December 12, 1629, Polotsk - August 25, 1680, Moscow) was an academically-trained Baroque Belarusian-born Russian poet, dramatist, churchman, and enlightener who laid the groundwork for the development of modern Russian literature.

A native of Polotsk, Symeon studied at the Kiev Ecclesiastical Academy and probably continued on to the Jesuit college of Wilno: the influence of Jesuit theology and school dramas was very pronounced in his mature work. He became a Greek-Catholic monk (he described himself as "Simeonis Piotrowskj Sitnianowicz hieromonachi Polocens.[is] Ord.[inis] S.[ancti] Bas.[ilii] M.[agni] ") in 1656.

His name became known later that year, when he presented to Tsar Alexis, then visiting his native Polotsk during the war, several panegyrics in verse. The monarch was pleased to discover what looked like propaganda of the Third Rome doctrine in the modern Western style that would appeal to Ruthenian and Polish intellectuals alike. Symeon was recognized as an invaluable asset to Moscow's campaign to cast the Tsar as a champion of Eastern Rite in the region.

The Tsar invited Symeon to relocate to Moscow, where at the request of Tsar Alexis he opened the first school aimed at educating Russian clerks in Latin, then the language of diplomacy in 1664. By 1668, the school no longer was in operation. Apart from Latin, Symeon was the first to teach grammar, poetics, and rhetoric to the Russians. He revived the long-forgotten art of preaching, and his sermons proved quite popular with the Muscovite courtiers, such as Fyodor Rtishchev and Bogdan Khitrovo. His erudition made him famous in other Orthodox countries. At the request of the Oriental patriarchs, he delivered an address urging the promotion of Greek learning in the country.

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