Sylvester

Sylvester was a priest of Moscow's Cathedral of the Annunciation and, with Aleksey Adashev, the most powerful adviser to Tsar Ivan IV. After the great Moscow fire of 1547 he became the leading voice of the Chosen Council, shaping the government's church and administrative reforms until 1560.

Having lost Ivan's favour, he withdrew to monasteries in the north, where under the monastic name Spiridon he copied books. He is thought to have died around 1566.