The Russian historian Sergei L. Firsov was born on this day in 1967. As a reader of these daily reports may see during this year, I believe that history is a potent means, if not to fix our imperfect reality, then at least to help us to reconcile with it. Just yesterday I wrote about the importance of sources for a historian’s work, and today I am writing about someone who knows how to use these sources. Sergei L’vovich Firsov is Professor of Saint Peterburg University and the author of more than 400 publications. In 1999, Prof. Firsov published the book Vremia v sud’be: Sviateishii Patriarch Moskovskii i vseia Rusi [Time in One’s Fate: The Most Holy Sergii Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia]. The work contributed to an understanding of the complex realities in recent church history through emphatic analysis of Patriarch Sergii without, at the same time, a defense of all his actions. Prof. Firsov’s short book, more like an extended essay, contributed toward understanding of the genesis of “sergianism” and its Byzantine roots. In 2002, Sergei Firsov, along with Dr. Mikhail V. Shkarovskii (also from Saint Petersburg), participated in the first conference on the history of the Russian Church in the twentieth century organized in Szentendre, Hungary. This book was well received by Metropolitan Laurus, who wrote to the author a letter thanking him for his work. Now when the Moscow Patriarchate actively supports the Russian state, we see the new line of Patriarch Sergii’s promotion. However, this time there are no voices from Russia heard to foster conversation about Patriarch Sergii and his political philosophy. No dialogue time. Relevant Resource: “Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), an Orthodox Publicist and Polemicist of the Late 19th – Early 20th century – a Sociological and Psychological Portrait,” Historical Studies of the Russian Church Abroad. | 
