FILARETE, Vasiliy Michajlovič Drozdov, metropolitan of Moscow. - B. Dec. 26, 1782, d. Nov. 19, 1867, studied at Kolomna and at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity, where he also began to teach. After becoming a monk he was rector of the ecclesiastical academy of St. Petersburg and later vicar bishop. In 1819 he was elected archbishop of Tver and member of the Holy Synod. In 1820 he was transferred to the see of Yaroslavl, and in 1826 he was installed as metropolitan of Moscow. F. was a zealous pastor and eloquent preacher; his activity extended throughout all Russia, Church and State.
For about 50 years he was regarded as an oracle and showered with honors and decorations. Except during the period of influence of the Procurator General of the Holy Synod, Protasov, F. decided theological and canonical questions. He encountered resistance in his ultimately successful attempt to translate Holy Scripture into Russian and to replace Church Slavonic in certain common prayers (Our Father, Creed, etc.) with Russian. The celebrated reform of Protasov in 1836, which interrupted the Protestantizing tradition of Feofan Prokopovich, forced him to conceal his Protestant opinions (cf. his writing Istorija raznosti meždu vostočnoj i zapadnoj Cerkoviju v učenii vary s Sulišu [History of the differences between the Eastern and Western Church in the doctrine of faith]), traces of which are found in the first two editions of his great catechism (Christianiskij katechizis pravoslavnyja greko-vostočnyja Cerkvi, etc., Moscow 1823, 1827), corrected in the third edition of 1839. The catechism had many editions and was translated into many languages. F.’s numerous writings—reports, opinions, replies, doctrinal, canonical, administrative, and political decisions—were published largely after his death. F.’s influence on Russian theology is immense.