Symeon of Polotsk

Symeon (Simeon) of Polotsk or Symeon Polotsky (; born as Samuel Piotrowski-Sitnianowicz, ; December 12, 1629 – August 25, 1680) was an academically-trained Baroque poet, dramatist, churchman, and enlightener of Belarusian descent who came from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Tsardom of Russia. Life A native of Polotsk, Symeon studied at the Kiev Ecclesiastical Academy and probably continued on to the Jesuit college of Wilno: the influence of Jesuit theology and school dramas was very pronounced in his mature work. He became a Greek-Catholic monk (he described himself as "Simeonis Piotrowskj Sitnianowicz hieromonachi Polocens.[is] Ord.[inis] S.[ancti] Bas.[ilii] M.[agni] ") in 1656. His name became known later that year, when he presented to Tsar Alexis, then visiting his native Polotsk during the war, several panegyrics in verse. The monarch was pleased to discover what looked like propaganda of the Third Rome doctrine in the modern Western style that would appeal to Ruthenian and Polish intellectuals alike. Symeon was recognized as an invaluable asset to Moscow's campaign to cast the Tsar as a champion of Eastern Rite in the region.