LEBEDEV, ALEKSANDR ALEKSEVIČ

LEBEDEV, ALEKSANDR ALEKSEVIČ. - Archpriest, Russian theologian, polemicist. Born in Moscow in 1823 to a priest, he studied from 1854 to 1858 at the Moscow Theological Academy. He was especially influenced by the Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret (Drozdov), Fr. Feodor (Bucharev), and the Slavophile A. S. Chomjakov. He engaged in the care of souls in St. Petersburg (from 1874-82), and was later rector of the

With his three anti-Catholic works (On the Immaculate Conception. Differences between the Eastern and Western Churches in the doctrine of the Most Holy Virgin Mary Mother of God, [Warsaw 1881]; On the Latin Cult of the Heart of Jesus. Differences between the Eastern and Western Churches in the view and doctrine of love [ibid. 1887]; On the Primacy of the Pope, or the Differences Between Orthodox and Papists in the Doctrine of the Church [St. Petersburg 1887; 2nd ed. of all three volumes ibid. 1903]), he exerted a considerable influence on Russian polemical theology. It should be noted that L. was one of the first Russians to methodically and systematically combat the primacy of the pope, the first Russian to write a monograph on the Immaculate Conception, and to address the question of the cult of the Sacred Heart. Other works by L.: Compendium of the History of the Christian Church (St. Petersburg 1873, 2nd ed. ibid. 1896); Tikhon Zadonsky, Saint and Wonderworker of All Russia (ibid. 1865; 3rd ed. ibid. 1896).

Bernardo Schultze