use of the clergy, and in 1776 a short catechism for children, as well as one in the form of a dialogue, while his brief history of the Russian Church (1777) is the first systematic treatise of its kind in the Russian language. In 1787 Platon reluctantly consented to become metropolitan of Moscow. He visited the city but seldom, however, passing the winter in the Troitsky monastery and the summer in the Pererva Monastery close to Moscow. Here he supervised personally the studies of the seminarians, who included three destined to succeed him as archbishop of Moscow. Compared to his predecessors, Platon was rather lenient towards the Old Believers and allowed them to establish their first chapels in Moscow, notably the Preobrazhenskoe cemetery. He also formalized the arrangement, known as Edinoverie, earlier introduced by Archbishop Nikephoros of Slaviansk, that allowed Old Believer communities to join the established church, while maintaining their traditional form of worship. It was Platon who crowned both Paul (1797) and Alexander I (1801); but despite his close and cordial relations with the court he preserved to the last his firmness and his independence. Shortly before his death he aided in preparing the way for the foundation of the Russian Bible Society which was established in the year in which he died. Shortly before his death, Platon was evacuated from Moscow, which was about to be surrendered to Napoleon. The collected works of Platon were published at Moscow in twenty volumes in 1779–1807, the greater portion of these writings being sermons, of which there are about 500. An abridged English translation of Platon's catechism was prepared from a Greek version of the Russian original (London, 1867), and his sermon preached at the request of the empress to celebrate the victory of Chesma also appeared in English (London, 1770). Notes References External links Site scientific theological portal "bogoslov.ru" and the Savior of Bethany monastery, dedicated to the life and works of Platon Levshin Article in the Biographical Dictionary of Alexander Men Biography Russian theologians Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow 1737 births 1812 deaths 18th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops 19th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops Historians of the Russian Orthodox Church 18th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians 19th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians Russian historians of religion