Platon, born Paul Kulbusch (also spelled ''Kuhlbusch'' or ''Kuldbush''; – 14 January 1919), was an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

bishop and the first Orthodox saint of Estonian ethnicity."Platon, Bishop of Estonia"
''Estonica - Encyclopedia about Estonia'', Estonian Institute.

History

Paul Kulbusch was born on in

Pootsi Pootsi () is a village in Pärnu, Pärnu County, in southwestern Estonia. It has a population of 79 (as of 1 January 2011). Notable people *Platon Platon is a masculine given name and surname which may refer to: Given name * Plato (exarch) ...

, Pärnumaa, in the southwest of present-day

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

(then part of

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

).Poska, Jüri
"Bishop Platon - His Life And Martyrdom"

Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church (EAOC; , officially the Orthodox Church of Estonia) is an Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox church in Estonia under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Under Estonian law i ...

website. Kulbusch graduated in 1894 from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy with a master's degree and soon became a priest at the Estonian Orthodox Church of Saint Isidore in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, where he oversaw the expansion of church institutions and buildings and actively reached out to the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church. In 1917 a

plenary council In the Roman Catholic Church, a plenary council is any of various kinds of ecclesiastical synods, used when those summoned represent the whole number of bishops of some given territory. The word itself, derived from the Latin ''plenarium'' (complete ...

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

elected Kulbusch to be bishop of Reval (modern

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, then a

vicariate A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of the Riga

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

). He was consecrated as Bishop Platon on 31 December 1917. It was a tumultuous time.

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

was raging on, Russia's emperor

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

had been overthrown, and Estonia yearned for independence, which Platon staunchly supported. Under the threat of German invasion, Russian troops withdrew from Estonia, enabling the declaration of Estonian independence on 24 February 1918, only to be ended by

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

days later. During the occupation, Platon traveled extensively through Estonia, visiting parishes by horse. Following the

German Revolution German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, in November 1918 Germany formally handed over political power to the Estonian national government. In response,

Bolshevik Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...

, attempting to regain control over the territory. At this time, Platon was in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

(Dorpat), having fallen ill with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. The Bolsheviks took Tartu on 24 December, and on 2 January Platon was arrested and imprisoned in a cellar. On 14 January 1919, during the

Tartu Credit Center Massacre The Tartu Credit Center Massacre () was the mass execution of 19 people in the basement of the former Credit Center in Tartu, Estonia, on 14 January 1919. The execution was carried out by order of the Tartu Commission for Combating Counter-Revol ...

, Platon was executed along with two other priests, Michael Bleive and Nikolai Bezhanitsky, just before the city was retaken by the

Estonian Army The Estonian Land Forces (), unofficially referred to as the Estonian Army, is the name of the unified ground forces among the Estonian Defense Forces where it has an offensive military formation role. The Estonian Land Forces is currently the ...

.Shubin, Daniel H
A History of Russian Christianity, Volume IV
Algora Publishing, p.56, 2006. Platon and the two murdered priests were

canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

s by the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (), also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR, or Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Pat ...

in 1982, 12 August 2000 by

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 ...

and by the

Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed ...

on 15 September 2000.

References

{{Authority control 1869 births 1919 deaths People from Pärnu People from Kreis Pernau Eastern Orthodox Christians from Estonia Eastern Orthodox saints from the Russian Empire Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church 20th-century Estonian people 20th-century Eastern Orthodox martyrs Eastern Orthodox Christians executed by the Soviet Union Estonian people executed by the Soviet Union Victims of the Red Terror in Soviet Russia