The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Mogila, Peter

MOGILA, or Mogilas, Peter, a Russian author, born in Moldavia about 1597, died Dec. 31, 1646. He studied at several of the European high schools, but stayed longest at the university of Paris. He served in the Polish army with distinction, and in 1625 entered a monastery at Kiev. In 1629 he became archimandrite, and in 1633 metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia, and Little Russia. He was the first to introduce in the study of theology at Kiev the developments which it had acquired in the European universities. He improved the courses of study in every particular, obtained permission to erect a printing press, invited many learned men to the academy, settled upon them sources of revenue which had formerly gone to the metropolitan, and gave them his own valuable collection of books. To confirm the views and feelings of the oriental church in opposition to the encroachments of Roman and Protestant elements, Mogila wrote a “Confession of Faith,” which was examined and approved by two councils, and, being indorsed by the four œcumenical patriarchs, and by the Russian patriarchs Joachim and Adrian, became the first symbolic book of the eastern church, and has continued to be the standard book in theology. Mogila published also a “Catechism” (Kiev, 1645), and some pamphlets. Many of his dramas were acted by his pupils at Kiev, and that on the nativity of Christ was for a long time very popular.