Monk Barlaam (; secular name Gregory Stepanovich Shyshatsky, 12 March 1750, village Krasilovka, Kozeletskyy uezd, Chernigov province - 23 July 1820, Novgorod-Seversky) was a defrocked Archbishop of Mogilev and Vitebsk of the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. During the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...

he was accused of taking a loyalty oath to

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, forcing junior clergymen to do the same, celebrating Napoleon's birthday and saying prayers for Napoleon instead of the

tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

's family.Napoleon in Russia: Saviour or anti-christ?
''History Today'' (1991), vol. 41 After a long trial by the Most Holy Synod, Varlaam was found guilty, stripped of the rank and confined to a monastery.

Life

Varlaam was born in Chernihiv Guberniya in the Malorossian family and studied first in the Pereiaslav Seminary, then in the

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Church Academy. As the best alumnus of the academy he was sent to Italy, but due to military activities there returned to Kiev. In 1787 Varlaam was sent to Poland to manage the Vilno Monastery of the Holy Spirit. During the French invasion to the Russian Empire the Russian officials escaped, but clergymen stayed. On 25 July 1812, the

Marshal of France Marshal of France (, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to General officer, generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1793–1804) ...

Louis-Nicolas Davout ordered Archbishop Varlaam to induce the population to swear an allegiance oath to Napoleon. Yevgeny Tarle. ''Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812'', Oxford University Press, 1942 Varlaam had served a public service in the cathedral, which mentioned "the great-power sovereign, French Emperor and Italian King, the great Napoleon and his wife, the Empress and Queen Marie Louise". The Mogilev clergy, as well as the

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

ones, were then accused of collaboration with the French. On May 1, 1813, Varlaam was deprived of his church ranks and sent to the Novgorod-Seversky Monastery of Transfiguration, where he died.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shyshatsky 19th-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church 1750 births 1820 deaths