BARANOVIĆ, LAZZARO. - Russian preacher of the 17th century, archbishop of Cernigov from 1657, d. 1693. The date of his birth is unknown. A native of Little Russia, B. was first a professor and, in 1650, rector of the Kiev Academy. A zealous pastor, he founded some ten monasteries.
There survive by him «Collections of Sermons for Preaching» (Moscow 1674 and Kiev 1679); The Spiritual Sword (Kiev 1667 and 1686), in which B. clearly teaches the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary; a poetic collection of more than 1,000 verses, about half of which are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; and a refutation of P. Böhme’s Antica fede, entitled Nuova misura dell'antica fede, published in 1676.
BIBL.: N. Sumtsov, in Dizion. biogr. russo, XXII, Pietrogrado 1914, pp. 40-43; A. Palmieri, s. V. in DThC, II, col. 381; M. Th. Didier, s. V. in DHC, VI, col. 560. B.’s letters are published in Atti della Russia meridionale e occidentale, vols. V-XII. Martino Jugie