GENNADIUS, Archbishop of Novgorod. - He governed this see from 1485 to 1504; he was elected to it by the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan II (1472-1505). He suffered greatly from the confiscation of ecclesiastical property carried out ruthlessly by the Grand Duke, to which G. opposed himself in vain. Toward the end of his life he was imprisoned, probably for that very reason. In 1487 he discovered in his diocese the sect of the Judaizers (v.), against whom he held at least three synods. Together with Joseph of Volokolamsk he sought to proceed energetically against them, taking inspiration from the Spanish Inquisition. Probably prompted by the Psalter translated by the Judaizers, he entrusted the Croatian Dominican Benjamin with the translation of the Sacred Books not yet translated into Old Slavonic. With this G. gave to the Russian Church the first complete version of the Bible, still in use to this day. Then, to facilitate studies concerning the reform of the calendar, in 1495 he had the Rationale divinorum officiorum of William Durandus translated.

Bibliography

BIBL.: A. M. Ammann, Storia della Chiesa russa e dei paesi limitrofi, Turin 1948, index.

Alberto M. Ammann

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Gennadius, Archbishop of Novgorod

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