1841 enrolled at the St. Petersburg School of Jurisprudence; 1846 assigned to the eighth department of the Senate in Moscow; 1853 appointed Secretary of the seventh department of the Senate in Moscow; 1859 became a lecturer in Russian civil law at Moscow University; 1861 appointed tutor of the tsarevich Aleksandr Aleksandrovich. Taught Russian history and law and had a great influence on the future tsar; 1872 appointed member of the State Council advising the Tsar on legal questions; 1880 appointed head of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. He also remained a member of the State Council and Senate for the duration of his life; 1881 after Alexander II’s assassination, Pobedonostsev advised Alexander III regarding ministerial selections, and served as a major ideological spokesman for Russian autocracy. The Tsar followed many of the policies Pobedonostsev advocated, including the Russification of minorities, increased censorship, and opposition to constitutionalism; Tutor to future Tsar Nicholas II, maintaining a similar influence as he had on Alexander III, until the Revolution of 1905; January 1905 in the wake of Bloody Sunday, Pobedonostsev persuaded his colleagues of the Moscow Assembly of the Nobility to circulate a pastoral letter accusing foreigners of having instigated the tumult in Russia; April 17, 1905 fought against the edict of religious tolerance; October 19, 1905 received an imperial mandate to retire from the Holy Synod; March 23, 1907 died in St. Petersburg