Lebedev Aleksey

Lebedev Aleksey (1845‒1908) – historian of the Church, specialist in the Byzantine studies.

He was born in the family of a priest, learnt at the Perervinskoe Spiritual School, and at the Moscow Seminary. In 1870, he graduated from the Moscow Spiritual Academy and started to work there, teaching ecclesiastic history. Since 1875, he was Ass. Professor; since 1879 – Full Professor; he worked there till 1905.

At the defense of his Doctor thesis ‘Ecumenical Councils of the Fourth and Fifth centuries: A Survey of Their Dogmatic Activity in the Context of the Trends of the Schools of Alexandria and Antiochia’, there was a scandal mentioned in the media. His opponent, Archpriest A. M. Ivantsov-Platonov – obviously, with a support of Rector of the Academy, accused L. in sympathy to Arianism, praising heretics, and even in the proximity to the views of ‘Rationalist Bauer’. It created L a reputation of Liberal.

In 1896-1908, he was Professor of the Chair of Ecclesiastic History at the Historical and Philological Faculty of the Moscow University. He put ecclesiastic history higher than theology, and in his works on all the long history of East Orthodoxy presented the newest achievements of European ecclesiastic history to his readers.

Compositions

Darwin’s Attempt to Reconcile His Theory with Religious and Moral Feelings of Christian. (ON Characteristic of Englishmen). Moscow University, 1878. (in Rus.)
History of Ecumenical Councils. Part I: Ecumenical Councils of the Fourth and Fifth centuries: A Survey of Their Dogmatic Activity in the Context of the Trends of the Schools of Alexandria and Antiochia. 2nd publ., Sergiev Posad, 1896. (in Rus.)
The Epoch of Persecution of Christians and Affirmation of Christianity in the Greek-Roman World under Constantine the Great. 2nd publ., Moscow, 1897. (in Rus.)
History of Ecumenical Councils. Part 2: Ecumenical Councils of the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Centuries. 2nd publ., Moscow, 1897. (in Rus.)
Narrations in Ecclesiastic History of Common Essence and Style: From the Ancient Times of Christian Church. Moscow, 1900. (in Rus.)
History of the Great Schism in the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Centuries: with a Detailed Index of Russian Literature on the Subject, from 1841 till 1900. Moscow, 1900. (in Rus.)
Historical Essays on the State of East Byzantine Church from the Late Eleventh till the Mid-Fifteenth Centuries: From the Start of the Crusades till the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. 2nd publ., revised, Moscow, 1902. (in Rus.)
Essays on the Inner State of East Byzantine Church in Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Centuries: from the End of Iconoclastic Controversies till the Start of the Crusades in 1096. 2nd publ., add., Moscow, 1902. (in Rus.)
Ecclesiastic Historiography in Its Main Representatives from the Fourth till the Twentieth Centuries. 2nd publ., revised, St. Petersburg, 1903. (in Rus.)
History of East Greek Church under Turks: From the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 till Nowadays. 2nd publ., St. Petersburg, 1903 (or 1904). (in Rus.)
The Clergy of Ancient Ecumenical Church. Moscow, 1905. (in Rus.)
Brothers of the Lord (1 Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:19): A Survey and Analysis of Ancient and New Opinions on this Matter: Historical-Critical Research. Moscow University, 1905. (in Rus.)

D. B.