1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Platon, Levshin

PLATON, LEVSHIN (1737-1812), Russian divine, was born at Chashnikovo near Moscow, and educated in the academy of that city. In 1763 the empress Catherine II. invited him to instruct her son Paul in theology, and he became one of the court chaplains. Three years afterwards Platon was appointed archimandrite of the monastery of the Trinity (Troitskaya Lavra) near Moscow, in 1770 archbishop of Tver, and in 1787 archbishop of Moscow and metropolitan. He died in 1812, one of his last acts having been to write an encouraging letter to the emperor Alexander I. in view of the French invasion. Platon was a brilliant and learned man, and the author of several works which enjoyed a high reputation in their time, including A Short History of the Russian Church, which has been translated into English.