Konstantin Pobedonostsev
1827 – 1907 Russian Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod
The arch-conservative who bound the Orthodox Church to tsarist autocracy.
- Religion
- Militantly Orthodox; the leading theorist of the union of Church and autocracy and a foe of parliamentary rule and religious minorities.
- Affiliations
- Imperial government; head of the Orthodox Church administration; tutor to Alexander III and Nicholas II.
Pobedonostsev ran the Orthodox Church for the state for a quarter century and was the intellectual force behind Russian reaction. He tutored two tsars and preached that democracy and a free press would ruin Russia. His policies of Russification and pressure on Jews and religious minorities hardened the empire's repressive character.
Connections
- associate of Alexander III of Russia — His pupil and the tsar whose reactionary reign he shaped.
- associate of Alexander III of Russia — His tutor and chief ideologue of Orthodox autocracy.
- mentor of Nicholas II — Tutored the future last tsar in the ideology of unlimited autocracy.