Teofan Prokopovych

Feofan Prokopovich
A posthumous portrait from the mid-18th century
Born	18 June 1681 (1681-06-18) Kiev
Died	19 September 1736 (1736-09-20) (aged 55) St. Petersburg
Occupation	Archbishop

Feofan/Theophan Prokopovich (18 June 1681, Kiev, Cossack Hetmanate, protectorate of Tsardom of Russia — 19 September 1736, St. Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Ukrainian-born Russian theologian, writer, poet, mathematician, philosopher, rector of the Kiev-Mogila Academy, and Archbishop of Novgorod. He elaborated upon and implemented Peter the Great's reform of the Russian Orthodox Church and was one of the founding fathers of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Prokopovich wrote many religious verses and some of the most enduring sermons in the Russian language.

Feofan (born Eleazar) Prokopovich was born in Kiev. His father, Tsereysky, was a shopkeeper from Smolensk. After the death of his parents, Eleazar was adopted by his maternal uncle, Feofan Prokopovich. Feofan Prokopovich was the governor of the Kiev Brotherhood Epiphany Monastery, professor, and rector of the Kiev-Mogila Academy.

Prokopovich's uncle sent him to the monastery for primary school. After graduation, he became a student of the Kiev-Mogila Academy.

In 1698, after graduating from the Kiev-Mogila Academy, Eleazar continued his education at the Volodymyr-Volynskyi Uniate Collegium. He lived in the Basilian monastery and was tonsured as a monk under the name of Elisha. The Uniate Bishop of Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Zalensky, noticed the extraordinary abilities of the young monk and contributed to his transfer to the Catholic Academy of St. Athanasius in Rome, which was created by theologians to spread Catholicism among Eastern Orthodox adherents.