ADRIANO DI MOSCA

ADRIAN of Moscow. — Tenth and last Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, b. 2 Oct 1627, d. 15 Oct 1700. As archimandrite in the Čudov monastery, he was consecrated Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsk in 1686 and became Patriarch of Moscow on 26 Aug 1690. At that time the Russian Church faced two tendencies fostered by the westernizing wave promoted by the regent Sofia and her favourite Basil Golitsyn: one seeking rapprochement with Roman Catholicism, the other, favoured by Peter I, inclining toward Protestantism. ADRIAN especially opposed the first tendency; yet, against his will, he had to witness the bloody suppression of the revolt of the “strel’tsy,” loyal to old Russia, and to accept the new civil calendar. At his death the see remained vacant until 1721, when patriarchal functions were exercised by the Holy Synod.