Dimitri of Rostov

Dimitri of Rostov, born Daniel Savvich Tuptalo near Kyiv in December 1651, was an Orthodox monk, preacher, monastic superior, scholar, and bishop. He entered the Kyiv-Mohyla College in 1662, studied Greek, Latin, and the classical curriculum, and received monastic tonsure in 1668. Ordained a hieromonk in 1675, he preached and served in monasteries across the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands. In 1684 he was called to the Kyiv Caves Lavra to undertake the work for which he became most famous: compiling and presenting an extensive collection of saints’ lives for Slavic Orthodox readers. That project occupied roughly twenty years.

Consecrated Metropolitan of Tobolsk in 1701, Dimitri was reassigned because of poor health and became Metropolitan of Rostov in 1702. He preached, wrote devotional and theological works, and addressed the Old Believer schism. He died on October 28, 1709, leaving few possessions beyond books and manuscripts, and was formally glorified as a saint in 1757. The prayer indexed as An Invitation to Christ is attributed to him, but the consulted records do not identify its original title, manuscript, exact date, or the translator of the familiar English form. Its attribution should therefore be distinguished from the later English publication and permission history.