Juggling with Three Hands: Archbishop Afanasii of Kholmogory and the Law

Abbot Afanasii, head of a small Siberian monastery, went to Moscow in the 1670s seeking alms and found a home in the capital’s intellectual circles, where he participated in the lively debates of the post-Nikon reform era. In 1682 he was appointed Archbishop of Kholmogory and Vaga, a vast new northern eparchy, where he served until his death in 1702. He was charged with the spiritual care of his flock and establishing the new church order, with handling administrative responsibilities (which increased heavily as Peter co-opted his services after entering the Great Northern War), and with uncovering and rooting out the evil of Old Belief while also protecting the Orthodox from the dangers of contact with foreigners as trade through Arkhangel’sk expanded. Afanasii thus had to juggle a shifting mix of legal and moral obligations, both ecclesiastical and civil. In the process he proved himself to be a new man for a new age.