Karion Istomin
Istomin, Karion
Born in the late 1640’s in Kursk; died 1717 in Moscow. Russian poet; monk.
Istomin, one of the first Moscow enlighteners, was a pupil of Simeon Polotskii. He wrote and also translated from Latin many dogmatic, historical, and pedagogical works. He presented a collection of syllabic verse in 1681 to Tsarevna Sophia; it celebrated “freedom of scholarship” and appealed for the establishment of a school of higher learning. Istomin’s Book of Edification instructed 11-year-old Tsar Peter I in “wisdom.” He compiled the Large Primer and the Polis, an encyclopedia in verse that described the areas of knowledge, the seasons, the world’s countries, and the sacraments of the church.