AMDG
One of the curiosities about the restoration era is that soon after the bull was promulgated by Pope Pius VII the Jesuits were exiled from Russia. This is curious as it was the Russian Empire that harboured the Society when no-one else would take them. There are a few factors that may explain this turn in events. A resurgent Orthodox Church that was concerned by the success of the Jesuit colleges and the danger of conversions of the aristocracy to Catholicism. When the nephew of a Prince announced that he was to convert to Catholicism it was a thunderbolt - leading to accusations that his Jesuit teachers had violated rules of neutrality. In an age when the favour of powerful patrons was necessary, a cooling of the relationship with the Tsar was a decisive factor. At the heart of this was the Russian Bible Society.
A full-scale translation of the Bible into the Russian language began in 1813, after the establishment of the Russian Bible Society. It was an offshoot of the British & Foreign Bible Society and a sign of the growing influence of English merchants who were establishing a trading network in St Petersburg and other Russian cities. The full edition of the Bible with both the Old Testament and the New Testament were eventually published in 1876. This edition is called the Russian Synodal Bible, is widely used by Protestant and even Catholic communities all over Russia and in the former Soviet States, and by many Russian Orthodox for teaching and private study, outside of liturgical use (for which the Old Church Slavonic version is preferred).
A Prince was was very influentials with Tsar Alexander I, saw the Society as an opportunity to raise the educational level of the Orthodox Clergy. He was also convinced that a dividend of encouraging his subjects to read the Bible would be peace and stability. This idealism was heavily influenced by similar movements in N.America. The Prince was a close friend of General Brozozowski, and knowing that the Jesuits had a large amount of influence with the nobility, was keen the General and the Jesuits threw their weight behind this new Bible Society. The newly restored Jesuits, still traumatised by the Supression wanted to tread carefully. They were unwilling to approve a new translation without explicit approval from the Pope. This intransigence poisoned the relationship with the Prince and thus the Tsar - and thus their chief protectors would become enemies.
One of the curiosities about the restoration era is that soon after the bull was promulgated by Pope Pius VII the Jesuits were exiled from Russia. This is curious as it was the Russian Empire that harboured the Society when no-one else would take them. There are a few factors that may explain this turn in events. A resurgent Orthodox Church that was concerned by the success of the Jesuit colleges and the danger of conversions of the aristocracy to Catholicism. When the nephew of a Prince announced that he was to convert to Catholicism it was a thunderbolt - leading to accusations that his Jesuit teachers had violated rules of neutrality. In an age when the favour of powerful patrons was necessary, a cooling of the relationship with the Tsar was a decisive factor. At the heart of this was the Russian Bible Society.
A full-scale translation of the Bible into the Russian language began in 1813, after the establishment of the Russian Bible Society. It was an offshoot of the British & Foreign Bible Society and a sign of the growing influence of English merchants who were establishing a trading network in St Petersburg and other Russian cities. The full edition of the Bible with both the Old Testament and the New Testament were eventually published in 1876. This edition is called the Russian Synodal Bible, is widely used by Protestant and even Catholic communities all over Russia and in the former Soviet States, and by many Russian Orthodox for teaching and private study, outside of liturgical use (for which the Old Church Slavonic version is preferred).
A Prince was was very influentials with Tsar Alexander I, saw the Society as an opportunity to raise the educational level of the Orthodox Clergy. He was also convinced that a dividend of encouraging his subjects to read the Bible would be peace and stability. This idealism was heavily influenced by similar movements in N.America. The Prince was a close friend of General Brozozowski, and knowing that the Jesuits had a large amount of influence with the nobility, was keen the General and the Jesuits threw their weight behind this new Bible Society. The newly restored Jesuits, still traumatised by the Supression wanted to tread carefully. They were unwilling to approve a new translation without explicit approval from the Pope. This intransigence poisoned the relationship with the Prince and thus the Tsar - and thus their chief protectors would become enemies.
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