Gavriil (Petrov) (1730-1801), Metropolitan of Nivgorod and St. Petersburg 1770-99

Categories / Religion. Church/Personalia
GAVRIIL (lay name Petr Petrovich Petrov-Shaposhnikov) (1730-1801), Church figure, honorary member (1776) and full member (1783) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He graduated from the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy in Moscow (1754). In 1758, he took monastic vows under the name of Gavriil, and was appointed Rector of Holy Trinity Theological Seminary and Vicar of Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. From 1761, he was Rector of Moscow Theological Academy. From 1763, he was Bishop of Tver. From 1768, Gavriil participated in the work of the Legislative Commission. From 1769, he was a member of the Holy Synod; from 1770, Archbishop of St. Petersburg and Revel and Archimandrite of Alexander Nevsky Monastery. In 1775, he became an archbishop, and in 1783-99 was made the Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg. Under Gavriil the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary was transformed into an Academy (1797), Alexander Nevsky Monastery received the status of Lavra (1797), and the monasteries of Valaam, Konevets and Cheremets joined the St. Petersburg Eparchy. In 1778, Gavriil broke the ground on the construction site of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Alexander Nevsky Monastery, and in 1790 consecrated the cathedral (a marble bas-relief of Gavriil was placed in the western side-chapel of the church). In many respects on account of Gavriil’s efforts the clergy were freed from corporal punishment (1796), and became a separate privileged class. Gavriil contributed to establishing a unified faith, paid attention to spiritual education and missionary work, and reordered the church structure within St. Petersburg, dividing the capital into districts headed by deans (1771). From 1799, he was Metropolitan of Novgorod and Olonets. He retired in 1800 and lived in the Novgorod Bishops House. He wrote and edited a number of theological works and initiated publishing of the anthology of ascetic scriptures entitled Love for the Good (1793). Gavriil was also in charge of the academic commission working on the dictionary of the Russian language.

References: Здравомыслов К. Я. Иерархи Новгородской епархии от древнейших времен до настоящего времени: Крат. биогр. очерки. Новгород, 1897. С. 105-112.

A. I. Razdorsky. Gavriil (Peter Petrovich Petrov-Shaposhnikov), Metropolitan
Здравомыслов К. Я. Иерархи Новгородской епархии от древнейших времен до настоящего времени: Крат. биогр. очерки. Новгород, 1897 Russian Academy of Sciences
Synod
Alexander Nevsky Lavra
Theological Academy
Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra