Metropolitan Gavriil (Petrov) of Novgorod and St. Petersburg led the Eparchy of St. Petersburg and Novgorod in Russia from 1770 to 1799. This was a period of change in St. Petersburg as well as the eparchy that included establishment of St. Petersburg Theological Academy, elevation of Alexander Nevsky Monastery to a Lavra, construction of Holy Trinity Cathedral in the Lavra complex, and reordering the administrative structure of the eparchy.