ANTHONY, Archbishop of Novgorod. - Various political vicissitudes brought this monk, whose secular name was Dobrynia Jadrejkovič, in 1211 to the episcopal see of Novgorod, his native city, then to that of Przemysl in Galicia in 1219, and again to Novgorod in 1225. Having become mute, he retired to the monastery of Khutyn, where he died, probably in the year 1231. The Russian Church commemorates him on 10 February. Thanks to his support the rich commercial city of Novgorod concluded treaties with the Germans of the Baltic, resisted the princes who wanted war, and entered into relations with the legates of the Pope.

He is known for his Book of the Pilgrim, which first describes the church and the treasures of St. Sophia in Constantinople, then lists the riches, the images and especially the relics, even the most fabulous ones, that were preserved in 1200 in the various churches of the imperial city. This document, with its brief but precise information, is of great importance for archaeology and hagiography because it was drawn up before the sack of 1204 (ed. by Loparev, in Pravoslavni Palestinskii Sbornik, XVII, fasc. III, 1899; French trans. in B. de Khitrovo, Itinéraires russes en Orient, Geneva 1889, pp. 85-111).

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: A. Palmieri, Nomenclator litterarius theologiae orthodoxae, I, Prague 1910, pp. 86-87; id., s. v. in DIIG, III, col. 968.

Alfonso Raes

@incollection{ec1_antonio_arcivescovo_di_novgoro, author = {Raes, Alfonso}, title = {Antonio, arcivescovo di novgorod}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {1547--1548}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/antonio-arcivescovo-di-novgorod} }

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Anthony, Archbishop of Novgorod

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