(LARGE PRINT EDITION) 1854. The biographies contained in this volume abound in expressions and allusions which must be but partially, if at all, intelligible to persons unacquainted with the geography, history, and customs of the Russians. The life of Nikon, Sixth Patriarch of Moscow, furnishes the reader with some particulars of Russian history relative to the extinction of the dynasty of Rurik and the election of Michael, son of Philaret; Saint Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostoff, who from his earliest years was devoted to God and the holy Church, contains much that is calculated to improve and to teach; and Michael, Metropolitan of Novgorod and St. Petersburg whose example is striking and worthy of all imitation: it is that of a man, raised from the very lowest rank of society to the most exalted position in the Church of Christ, and performing the duties of each successive station he filled with singular ability, energy and success. His whole life was devoted to the service of God and the good of his fellow men.