FILARET GUMILEVSKIJ. - Archbishop of Chernigov (1805-66), born Konobejevskij, called "humilevskij" from the Latin humilis, on account of his small stature and humility.
After brilliant ecclesiastical studies he became a monk, taking the name F. in honor of F. Drozdov, then metropolitan. He taught ecclesiastical history, Holy Scripture, and moral and pastoral theology at the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy; he then became archimandrite and rector of the Academy. In 1841 he became bishop of Riga, where he propagated his doctrine among the Protestant peasants, in 1848 of Kharkov, and in 1859 archbishop of Chernigov. F. was one of the most learned and erudite prelates of his time. He founded the journal of the Ecclesiastical Academy entitled The Works of the Sts. Fathers in Russian Translation, with additions of ecclesiastical content (these additions form the journal properly so called, which, from 1891, was replaced by the Bogoslovskij Vestnik, that is, "Theological Messenger"). F. was one of the most prolific Russian ecclesiastical writers, though not free from the defects ordinary in polygraphs; 159 works of his are counted. Among the most important: Compendium of Russian Ecclesiastical Literature (2 vols., Kharkov and St. Petersburg 1859-61; 3rd ed. St. Petersburg 1884); Historical Teaching on the Sts. Fathers (3 vols., St. Petersburg 1859); History of the Russian Church (down to the year 1827 [4th ed. Chernigov 1862-63]), which served for a long time as a manual, but today is superseded; Orthodox Dogmatic Theology (2 vols., Chernigov 1864; 3rd ed. St. Petersburg 1882), the author's theological masterpiece. F. also wrote on the hymnographers and hymns of the Greek Church, on the Russian saints, on the Letter to the Galatians and on the doctrine of St. John concerning the Word, and he published 6 vols. of sermons, homilies and orations.