STEFAN (SEMEN I[symbol omitted]VORSKIĬ)

Russian theologian; b. Javor, near Lvov, Russia, 1658; d. Moscow, June 12, 1722. He was born of Ukranian parents; he studied at Kiev, Lvov, and in the Jesuit schools in Poland at Lublin, Vilna, and Posen. In 1684 he entered the Roman Catholic Church, but in 1687 returned to Orthodoxy. On becoming a monk, he changed his name to Stefan. He became from 1689 successively professor, prefect, and rector of the Academy of Kiev. In 1700 he was named bishop of Ryazan; and in 1701, exarch or representative of the Moscow patriarch. When peter i (the Great) suppressed the patriarchate (1721), Stefan was appointed the first president of the newly established holy synod. Stefan's principal book, Petra fidei (Keystone of Faith), appeared originally in Latin (1728) and was directed against the Protestant tendencies introduced into Russia, especially by Feofan prokopovich. Stefan accepted the Czar's political reforms, but vigorously opposed his Protestant leanings and his church policies, which intruded the state into the realm of Orthodox teachings and discipline.

Bibliography: m. jugie, Theologia dogmatica christianorum orientalium ab ecclesia catholica dissidentium, 5 v. (Paris 1926–35) 1:583–584. j. ledit, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant, 15 v. (Paris 1903–50; Tables générales 1951–) 14.1:326–329; Tables générales 2421–22. b. stasiewski, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 5:885.

[j. papin]