. and bj Brucker's elaborate ex- position of the Platonic tenets in his well-known flisto- < .. 1'. 11.)
A iiti<iue liust of Plato.
he use of the teachers, and the other for their pupils. He was also intrusted with the charge of instructing the princess of Wurtemberg, Maria Feodorowna, the grand-duke's consort, in the tenets and doctrines of the u -ian Church. At the beginning of 177.". he received the empress at Twer, and proceeded with lier and the grand-duke to Moscow, where he was advanced to that see. with permission to retain the archiman- driteship of the Sergius Lawra. With the exception of some intervals occasioned by his being Bummoned to St Petersburg, where he preached before the court, it was in that convent that he chiefly resided, until he erected another in his vicinity at his own expense, in 1785, called the Bethania, Two years afterwards he was made metropolitan of the Russian < Shurch, in which capacity he crowned the emperor Alexander, al Mos- cow, in 1801, delivering on that occasion a discourse that was translated into several modem languages, be- sides Latin and Greek. He died in hi- convent of Bethania, Nov. 11 23, 1812. His works, printed at different times, amount in all to twenty volumes, con- taining, besides various other pieces, 595 sermons, dis- courses, and orations, many of which are considered masterpieces of style and of eloquence. A selection from them, consisting of the finest passages and thoughts, was published in two volumes in 1805.- English Cyclop. s. v. See Mouravieff, Hist, of the Church ofSussiai I »xf. 1842); Otto, Hist, of Russian Literature, p. 327 330; Hagenbach, Hist, of Christian Doctrines, ii. 459, 4G0; Schlegel, Kirchengesch.des I8len Jahrh. i, 59 sq.
Platonic Philosophy, or the philosophy of Pla- to. The term is loosely and ambiguously applied. It is sometimes used to signify the collection of fragmen- tary views scattered through the writings of Plato; sometimes it is employed to denote the systematic co- ordination and development of those views by the later academicians: and. most frequently, it is extended to
embrace the whole chain of opinion which may be de- duced from, or which claims filiation with, th. ings oi Plato. These diverse applications of the name
Platon, a celebrated Russian prelate of modern
tiroes, w hose family name was Beffschin, was horn June are randy discriminated in ordinary use, and its specific
29,1737. He was* the son of a village priest near Mo.- import is left vague and undetermined. This incuV
cow. in the university of which capital he received his tinctness cannot be wholly avoided, lor it rises out «\'
education, and, besides studying the classical tongues, the disconnected utterances and unsystematic presen-
made considerable proficiency in the sciences. His tal
em- s i caused him to be noticed, and. while yel a
student in theology, he was appointed, in 1757, teacher at the Moscow academy, and in the following
year teacher of rhetoric al the seminary of the St. Ser- gius Lawra, or convent, lie shortly afterwards entered the Church, became successively hieromonach, prefect of the seminary, and. in I7i'r_\ rector and professor of theology. That same year was marked by an event in his life which greatly contributed to his advancement, for on the visit of Catharine II to the St. Sergius Law- ra, after her coronation, he addressed the empress in an eloquent discourse, and on another occasion preached before lor. So favorable was the impression he made, that he wis forthwith appointed court preacher and preceptor in matters of religion to the grand-duke (afterward- the emperor Paul), for whose instruction he drew up hi- Orthodox Faith, or Outlines of Christian Theology, which i- esteemed one of his best and most useful productions, and ha- been reproduced in Eng- lish by Pinkerton (Lond. 1814), by Coraj (1857 .and by lot I- During the four years of his
residence at St. Petersburg, Platon frequently preached before t he court, and also delu ered on various occasions many of the discourses and oral ion- which are among his printed work-. Alter being created member of the
synod al M w, by an imperial order, he was mad.'
archbishop ol Twer in i77o. His attention to the duties
tatious of Plato himself, together with the concurrence of his successors in the arrangement and exposition of his doctrines. In attempting an out line of the Platon- ic philosophy, the effort will be made to adhere as
closely a- practicable to the authentic text- in the « rii- ings accredited to Plato, and to borrow as little a- may l.e In. m the later luminaries ol the school.
Numerous .i.\ ices have l. ecu emploj ed for the exhi- bition of the Platonic doctrine, and none of them arc entirely satisfactory. It i- necessary for a synoptical exposition that -..me thread should he discovered or invented for the support and connection of its several members, and thai some definite commcncemenl should l.e assumed to which the thread may be attached. The fixed point of departure has been varioush cho the tenets of Plato have been strung varioush . and with various degrees of skill, on the thread adopted. The Germans, with their inner light and their divaricating assumptions, have I. ecu peculiarly ingenious, and often peculiarly unhappy, in the performance ,.f their task. They abound in luminous views and in acuti lions. Inn they generate such an intricate labyrinth of cross-lights that they dazzle, bewilder, and blind as much a- they illuminate. They impose their own ar- bitrary opinions on Plato, as regards both the import and the coherence of hi- doctrines. They .■i-eil de- sign where no design can be Bafely asserted. They magine dependence where all is disconnected; and