Joseph Volotsky

Joseph Volotsky (1439–1515) was a Russian Orthodox monk and theologian. About 1459 he entered a monastery at Borovsk and in 1477 became its hegumen, but in 1479 left to found the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery.

In his book The Enlightener he attacked the Judaizer heresy, demanding death for unrepentant heretics, and at the councils of 1503–1504 led the Possessors, defending monastic landownership against the Non-Possessors. He also taught that the tsar held autocratic power. He died in 1515 and was canonized in 1579.