Catechizing in the Diocese: The Place of Mary in Dimitrij Rostovskij's Questions and Answers

While serving as the Metropolitan of Rostov, Dimitrij Tuptalo (Saint Dimitrij Rostovskij) composed a catechism entitled Brief Questions and Answers on Faith and Other Matters for a Christian to Know. This text constituted the first catechism actually composed in Muscovy specifically for Great Russian Orthodoxy, and it reflected Dimitrij's anxiety over the spread of what he perceived to be heretical practices and beliefs among the laity. Beyond setting out the basic creed, Questions and Answers emphasized the central place of Mary as the personal and immediate intercessor for all believers. This message contrasts with the primacy of obedience to God and Tsar that characterized the catechism of Feofan Prokopovič and subsequent hierarchs, and by implication reduced the place of secular authority in the search for salvation.