Procurator (Russia)
The Procurator (, prokuror) was an office initially established in 1722 by Peter the Great, the first Emperor of the Russian Empire, as part of reforms to bring the Russian Orthodox Church more directly under his control. The Russian word also has the meaning of prosecutor. The Chief Procurator (also Ober-Procurator; обер-прокурор, ober-prokuror) was the official title of the head of the Most Holy Synod, effectively the lay head of the Russian Orthodox Church, and a member of the Tsar's cabinet. Konstantin Pobedonostsev, a former tutor both of Alexander III and of Nicholas II, was one of the most powerful men to hold the post, from 1880 to 1905. The General Procurator (Procurator General) and the Chief Procurator were major supervisory positions in the Russian Governing Senate, which functioned from 1711 to 1917, with their meaning changing over time. Eventually Chief Procurator became the title of the head of a department of the Senate. List of Most Holy Synod Ober-Procurators 1722–1725 Ivan Boltin 1725–1730 Aleksei Baskakov 1730–1740 no appointments 1740–1741 Nikita Krechetnikov 1741–1753 Yakov Shakhovskoy 1753–1758 Afanasiy Lvov 1758–1763 Aleksei Kozlovskiy 1763–1768 Ivan Melissino 1768–1774 Pyotr Chebyshyov 1774–1786 Sergei Akchurin 1786–1791 Apollos Naumov 1791–1797 Aleksei Musin-Pushkin 1797–1799 Vasiliy Khovanskiy 1799–1802