GENNADIO, Archbishop of NOVGOROD. - He governed this see from 1485 to 1504; he was elected to it by the Grand Duke of Moscow Giovanni II (1472–1505). He suffered greatly from the confiscation of ecclesiastical property ruthlessly carried out by the Grand Duke, which G. vainly opposed. Toward the end of his life he was imprisoned, probably for that same reason. In 1487 he discovered in his Judaizers (v.), against whom he held at least three synods. Together with Giuseppe di Volokalamsk he sought to proceed vigorously against them, taking inspiration from the Inquisition in Spain. Probably prompted by the Psalter translated by the Judaizers, he entrusted the Croatian Dominican Beniamino with the translation of the Sacred Books not yet translated into Old Slavonic. Thus G. gave the Russian Church the first complete version of the Bible, still in use today. In order to facilitate studies concerning calendar reform, he had Guglielmo Durando’s Rationale divinorum officiorum translated in 1495.
Alberto M. Ammann