This work celebrates the 355th anniversary of the birth of the eminent Russian pedagogue Leonty Filippovich Magnitsky (1669-1739.The principal sources for this work are biographical studies focusing on the scholar's life and work. In terms of methodology, use was made of content analysis, the biographical method, the historical-systems method, and synthesis.The study's findings revealed that this preeminent Russian pedagogue and educationist owed his fame largely to his book 'Arithmetic' (to use the shortened title), Russia's first formal mathematics textbook. An expert in the methodology of teaching mathematics, a highly erudite specialist, and a solid philologist, L.F. Magnitsky devoted a significant portion of his career to teaching at the School of Mathematics and Navigation in Moscow, which he headed up in the latter years of his life.Descended from an unprivileged social background, L.F. Magnitsky achieved everything in life through his own talent and hard work. Not only did his innate passion for learning and science earn him wealth and honors but it also garnered him his catchy surname. The scholar was expertly competent in mathematics, astronomy, navigation, and geodesy and had a command of several languages -Latin, Greek, Dutch, German, French, and Italian.