Demetrius of Rostov

Saint Demetrius of Rostov
Hierarch
Born	11 December 1651 Makariv, Cossack Hetmanate
Died	28 October 1709 Rostov, Tsardom of Russia
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Church
Canonized	22 April 1757 by Russian Orthodox Church
Feast	21 September (Uncovering of Relics) 28 October (Repose) 23 May (Synaxis of All Saints of Rostov)[1]
Attributes	Vested as a bishop, right hand raised in blessing

Demetrius of Rostov (

at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Demetrius is sometimes credited as composer or compiler of the first Russian opera, the lengthy Rostov Mysteries of 1705, though the exact nature of this work, as well as its place in history, is open to debate.^[2]

He is the author of several written works, out of which the most famous is The Lives of Saints (Четьи-Минеи).^[3] He was also involved in the creation of the forged document Synodic act on the heretic of Armenia, the monk Martin.^{[citation needed]}

Life

He was born into a

.

During the 1680s, Demetrius lived mostly at the

Menologion

in 1684-1705. He also found time to study ecclesiastical history of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1701 Demetrius was appointed

to undermine the Old Believers by portraying them as adherents of heresy. He also made invaluable contributions to the Russian education, opening a school and a small theatre in Rostov, where his own plays could be staged.

Work as composer

Demetrius was also active as a composer, although his musical education is undocumented aside from the standard music curriculum established by Feofan Prokopovich at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Many of his Penitential Psalms achieved wide circulation, not only in the Ukraine but in the Balkans too, and many have become an integral part of Ukrainian folk-song tradition through the kobzari, itinerant blind singers.

Demetrius is credited as composer or compiler of the first Russian opera, the six-hour-long Rostov Mysteries of 1705. Though this has been staged, notably by

in 1825 to write Boris Godunov.

Death

Upon Demetrius' death, on 28 October 1709, his relics were placed at St. Jacob's Monastery, which his followers would rebuild as Demetrius' shrine. A fortress on the

.

• 
  Saint Demetrius of Rostov (18th-century painting from the Museum of Ukrainian Art in

  Kiev

  ).
• 
  Church of St. Demetrius in Rostov (photo 1913).
• 
  Reliquary with Dmitry's remains (photo 1913).
• 
  Crozier of Demetrius of Rostov (photo 1913).

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• Chrysostom Press Translations of St Demetrius' Lives of the Saints
• Repose of St Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov Orthodox icon and
  synaxarion
• Works by Demetrius of Rostov at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Uncovering of the relics of St Demetrius the Metropolitan of Rostov icon and synaxarion
• Prelate Demetrius of Rostov www.fatheralexander.org