GOLITSYN, ALEXANDER N

GOLITSYN, ALEXANDER N., ober-procurator (1773–1844). A favorite of Tsar Alexander I, this prince enjoyed a religious temperament characterized by extreme biblicism and mysticism. These traits, peculiarly juxtaposed, would have been of little consequence had Golitsyn not been appointed ober-procurator of the Holy Synod, chief of the department of foreign confessions, minister of public education, and elected president of the Russian Bible Society, as well as other offices. A philanthropist and aristocrat, Golitsyn’s tenure in religious affairs has been described as dictatorial and ruthless. He advocated his understanding of the Bible and mysticism by advancing like-minded obscurantists to official posts; but he did help initiate a Russian Bible (q.v.) translation project with Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) that produced a new translation of the complete Bible into Russian rather than Church Slavic, a translation that is the basis of the current Russian Bible. His career in religious matters ended abruptly in 1824 due to charges of insufficient Orthodoxy, although he remained head of the postal department and on the Council of Ministers and State Council.