a celebrated archbishop of Moscow, whose family name was Leoshin, was born 24th June 1737. He was the son of a priest near Moscow, and while yet a student at the university there, he was made teacher of poetry and rhetoric at the convent. He shortly afterwards entered the church; and after various stages of advancement, he was, in 1762, made rector and professor of theology. The visit of Queen Catherine II. to the St Sergius Lavra was made after her coronation in 1762, and Platon preached a discourse before her remarkable for its eloquence. So favourable was the impression, that he was at once appointed court preacher and preceptor in matters of religion to the Grand Duke, for whose instruction he drew up the Orthodox Faith, or Outlines of Christian Theology, esteemed the best of his works. He was created archbishop of Tver in 1770; and after a four years' residence at St Petersburg he was removed. During his residency at his new office he established a number of minor schools for religious instruction, and wrote two separate treatises, one for teachers, and the other for pupils. He had also entrusted to him the education of the Princess of Württemberg-Stuttgart, Maria Pheodorovna, in the tenets of the Graeco-Russian church. He was advanced to the see of Moscow in 1775; and in 1785 he erected a convent in Bethania, where he afterwards resided. As metropolitan of the Russian church he enjoyed the privilege of placing the crown on the Emperor Alexander at Moscow 1801. He died at Bethania during the following year, 1802.

His works, printed at different times, amount in all to 20 volumes. A selection from them, consisting of the finest passages, was published in 2 volumes in 1805.