07 — Metropolitan of Moscow

The improbable final ascent: in 1868 the missionary bishop of the Aleutians was raised to the throne of Moscow, succeeding St. Philaret (Drozdov), who had once tonsured and consecrated him; and from that throne he founded the Orthodox Missionary Society, went blind in his old age, and died on Holy Saturday 1879.

Tradition: Russian Orthodox / American (canonized 1977)

Files in This Section

File Description
succeeding-filaret-1868.md The death of Filaret of Moscow (1867); Innocent’s reluctant elevation to Metropolitan of Moscow in 1868; the symmetry by which he came to sit in his patron’s place.
the-missionary-society.md The founding of the Orthodox Missionary Society (1870); his blindness in old age; his death on Holy Saturday, 31 March 1879, and burial at the Trinity–St. Sergius Lavra.

See Also