NICOLAE MILESCU (1704)

Born 1626 Vaslui Romania.
Died 1708 Moscow Russia.

Writer, scholar and traveller.

After studies at the Greek patriarchate college in Constantinople he returned in 1653 to Iasi (Jassy) Moldavia and was appointed secretary to Prince Gheorghe Stefan.

Hoping to be appointed prince of Moldavia he intrigued against Prince Ilias Alexandru who in 1668 punished him by cutting his nose.

So disgraced Milescu left his native country never to return.

He revisited Constantinople where his friend Dositheos patriarch of Jerusalem gave him a letter to Tsar Alexis (Aleksey Mikhaylovich).

He travelled to Moscow where he arrived in 1671 and was appointed translator to the posolski prikaz (foreign office) as Nikolay Gavrilovich Spafari.

He gained the confidence of two boyars who had great influence with the Tsar and in 1675 was sent as ambassador to Peking returning in January 1678. In the meantime Alexis had been succeeded by his son Fedor III and Spafari-Milescu lost his official position. He was compesated for his mission to China only in 1693 under Peter I.

A highly educated man who could write in Greek, Latin, Romanian and Russian he left many manuscripts. He translated the Bible from Greek into Romanian and the Bible printed in 1688 by the Walachian prince Serban Cantacuzino was based on his translation.

The most valuable of his writings is the Puteshestviye cherez Sibir... do Kitaya (Journey Across Siberia... to China). It was printed in 1882.