Ober-Procurator

Constantine Petrovich Pobedonostsev - Ober-Procurator: 1880 - 1905

Ober-Procurator, Russian: обер-прокурор, ober-prokuror, also Chief Procurator, was the title of the lay supervisor of the Apostolic Governing Synod, who effectively was the lay head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a member of the Tsar's cabinet. The Synod was established as the highest hierarchical authority under Tsar Peter I's reorganization of the Church of Russia, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, that abolished the position of patriarch as the senior hierarch. The reorganization, in 1721, was Peter's means of his controlling the Church.

The position of Ober-Procurator was established in 1722 to supervise the activities of the Office of the Synod. An independent office of the Chief Procurator, with increased powers, was established in 1836.

The office of Ober-Procurator ceased to exist upon the abolition of the Department of Orthodox Denomination by the Provisional Government on August 5, 1917 of which the office of the Ober-Procurator and the Apostolic Governing Synod were part. The restoration of the position of Patriarch of Russia occurred during the Local Regional Russian Council of 1917-1918, with the election of Patriarch Tikhon on November 5, 1917.

List of Ober-Procurators

• Ivan Vasilievich Boltin (May 22, 1722 – May 29, 1725).
• Alexei Petrovich Baskakov (May 29, 1725 – July 25, 1726).
• R. A. Rayevsky (July 25, 1726 – ?).
• Nikita Sergeyevich Krechetnikov (December 31, 1741 – March 29, 1753).
• A. I. Lvov (December 18, 1753 – April 17, 1758).
• Alexei Semenovich Kozlovsky (April 17, 1758) – June 9, 1763).
• Ivan Ivanovich Melissino (June 10, 1763 – October 24,1768).
• Peter Petrovich Chebyshev (October 24,1768 – May 7, 1774).
• Sergei Vasilievich Akchurin (May 12, 1774 – July 28 1786).
• Apollos Ivanovich Naumov July 28, 1786 – July 26, 1791).
• Count Aleksei Ivanovich Musin-Pushkin (July 26, 1791 – July 8, 1797).
• Prince Vasily Alexeevich Khovansky (July 14, 1797 – June 5, 1799).
• Count Dmitri Ivanovich Khvostov (June 10,1799 – December 12,1802).
• Alexander Alexeevich Yakovlev (January 9, 1803 – October 1, 1803).
• Prince Alexander Nikolaevich Golitsyn (1803 – 1817).
• Prince Peter S. Meshersky (1817 – 1833).
• Steven Dmitrievich Nechayev (1833 – June 25, 1836).
• Count Nicholas Alexandrovich Protasov (1836 – January 16,1855).
• A. I. Karasevsky December 25, 1855 – September 20, 1856).
• Count Alexander Petrovich Tolstoy (September 20, 1856 – February 28, 1862).
• Alexei Petrovich Akhmatov (March 1862 – June 1865).
• Count Dmitry Andreyevich Tolstoy (June 23, 1865 – April 23, 1880).
• Constantine Pobedonostsev April 24, 1880 – October 19, 1905).
• Duke Alexander Dmitriyevich Obolensky (October 20, 1905 – April 4, 1906). See discussion comment
• Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Shirinsky-Shikhmatov April 26, 1906 – June 9, 1906).
• Peter Petrovich Izvolsky (June 27, 1906 – February 5, 1909).
• Sergei Mikhailovich Lukianov (February 5, 1909 – May 2, 1911).
• Vladimir Karlovich Sabler (May 2, 1911 – July 4, 1915).
• ‎Alexander Dmitrievich Samarin (July 5, 1915 – September 26, 1915).
• Alexander Nikolayevich Volzhin (October 1, 1915 – August 7, 1916).
• Nicholas Pavlovich Rayev (August 7, 1916 – March 3, 1917).
• Vladimir Nikolayevich Lvov (March 3, 1917 – July 24, 1917).
• Anton Vladimirovich Kartashev July 25, 1917 – August 5, 1917).

See also

• Church reforms of Czar Peter I

Source

• ОБЕР-ПРОКУРОР (In Russian)
• w:Procurator_(Russia)
• History of Russian Christianity 1894 to 1990
• Catholic Enc: Religion in Russia