LEBEDEV, ALEKSEJ PETROVIČ. — Russian Orthodox theologian and ecclesiastical historian, b. 2 March 1845 at Očacov, d. 14 July 1908 at Moscow. Professor of Church History at the Ecclesiastical Academy in 1879 and at Moscow University from 1905 until his death.
L. was the founder of ecclesiastical historiography in Russia and introduced the positivist method into the study of his discipline, often clashing with the prejudices and traditions of the Russian ecclesiastical circles. His interpretations of Orthodox Church history drew censure from the Holy Synod, which sought to transfer him as punishment to Kazan, but this measure was opposed by the Ministry of Education, which entrusted him with teaching at Moscow University. Among his works, all written in Russian, we recall: I concili ecumenici greci del IV e V sec. (Greek Ecumenical Councils of the 4th and 5th centuries, St. Petersburg 1879); Storici ecclesiastici greci del IV e V sec. (Greek Ecclesiastical Historians of the 4th and 5th centuries, ibid. 1890); Storia della Chiesa greco-orientale durante il dominio turco. Dalla caduta di Costantinopoli ad oggi (History of the Greek-Orthodox Church during Turkish Rule. From the Fall of Constantinople to the Present Day, 2 vols., Moscow 1896–1901); La storiografia ecclesiastica nei suoi rappresentanti principali dal IV al XX sec. (Ecclesiastical Historiography in its Principal Representatives from the 4th to the 20th Century, St. Petersburg 1899); Storia dello scisma nei secc. IX, X e XI (History of the Schism in the 9th, 10th and 11th Centuries, ibid. 1900).