Luka Zhidiata

(or L. Zhiriata), Died Oct. 15, 1059. First Russian bishop of Novgorod (1036-59).

Luka Zhidiata was raised to the rank of bishop at the insistence of the grand prince of Kiev, laroslav the Wise. According to A. A. Shakhmatov’s hypothesis, Luka Zhidiata commissioned the writing of the first Novgorod Chronicle Codex (1050). During his bishopric, the stone Cathedral of Sophia was built in Novgorod, and church books were written and transcribed. Luka Zhidiata was the author both of translations from the Greek and of original works on religious themes, of which only a short didactic composition, Instructions to the Brethren, has come down to us (the oldest surviving Old Russian work of this type). The Instructions contain an exhortation to fear god and revere the prince. Luka Zhidiata was canonized by the Russian church.