 Labzin revived the tradition of Novikov's "libertine" magazines with "The Messenger of Sion", a religious monthly that celebrated a "religion of the heart" and rebelled against the ritualistic side of Orthodox worship.The magazine was attacked by the church officials led by Archimandrite Photius and was discontinued.In 1822 he was exiled to Simbirsk for opposing Arakcheyev's election to the Academy of Arts.