Gennady of Novgorod

Who was Gennady of Novgorod?

Gennadius was Archbishop of Novgorod the Great and Pskov from 1484 to 1504.

He was most instrumental in fighting the Heresy of the Judaizers and is famous for compiling the first complete codex of the Bible in Slavic in 1499, known as the Gennady Bible. Gennady is a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. His feast day is December 4 OS/December 17 in the Gregorian Calendar.

Gennady was from the Gonzov boyar clan of Moscow and was, prior to his archiepiscopate, hegumen of the Chudov Monastery in the Moscow Kremlin. His immediate predecessor in Novgorod, Sergei, served less than a year and was recalled and confined to the Chudov Monastery apparently due to mental illness.

Gennady was named Archbishop of Novgorod in Moscow and placed in office on December 12, 1484, the first Novgorodian prelate not chosen by lots since 1359. He arrived in Novgorod in January 1485 with the task of bringing the newly conquered Novgorodian church more in line with Muscovite ecclesiastical practices. He faced opposition from the local clergy by his commemoration of several Muscovite saints, but dealt with this opposition by including several local saints in his commemoration.