Metropolitan of Kyiv is an episcopal title that has been created with varying suffixes at multiple times in different Christian churches, though always maintaining the name of the metropolitan city — Kiev (Kyiv) — which today is located in the modern state of Ukraine. The church was canonically established and governed by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in Kievan Rus'. Following the Council of Florence and the Union of Brest, there are now parallel apostolic successions: in the Russian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ruthenian Uniate Church and its successors. This list contains the names of all the metropolitan bishops (hierarchs) who have claimed the title. It is arranged chronologically and grouped per the claimed jurisdiction.
| Post: | Metropolitan of Kyiv |
| Residence: | Saint Sophia's Cathedral |
| Appointer: | Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople |
| Formation: | 988 |
| First: | Michael I |
| Last: | Maximus |
| Abolished: | 1299 |
| Succession: | Metropolitan of Kyiv and Moscow (Vladimir) |
See main article: Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus'.
| Post: | Metropolitan of Kyiv, Galicia and all Rus |
| Appointer: | Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople |
| Precursor: | Metropolitan of Halych (Lithuania) Metropolitan of Kyiv, Moscow and all Rus |
| Formation: | 1458 |
| First: | Gregory |
| Last: | Michael |
| Abolished: | 1595 |
| Succession: | Ruthenian Uniate Church Metropolitan of Kyiv, Galicia and all Rus |
In the 14th century, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos sanctioned the creation of two additional metropolitan sees: the Metropolis of Halych (1303)[3] and the Metropolis of Lithuania (1317).[4]
Metropolitan Roman (1355–1362) of Lithuania and Metropolitan Alexius of Kiev both claimed the see. Both metropolitans travelled to Constantinople to make their appeals in person. In 1356, their cases were heard by a Patriarchal Synod.[5] The Holy Synod confirmed that Alexis was the Metropolitan of Kiev while Roman was also confirmed in his see at Novogorodek. In 1361, the two sees were formally divided. Shortly afterwards, in the winter of 1361/62, Roman died. From 1362 to 1371, the vacant see of Lithuania–Halych was administered by Alexius. By that point, the Lithuanian metropolis was effectively dissolved.
| Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' (See in Vladimir) | Metropolis of Halych (See in Halych) | Metropolis of Lithuania (See in Navahrudak) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximus (1285 - 1305) | Niphont (1303–1305)[6] | ||
| Peter of Moscow (1308 - 1326) | sede vacante (1305 - 1326) (Administered by Peter of Moscow) | Theophilus 1317 - 1330 |
| Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' (See in Moscow) | Metropolis of Lithuania (See in Vilno) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1326 - 1328 | vacant | 1317 - 1330 | Theophilus | 1326 - 1329 | Gabriel |
| 1328 - 1353 | 1352 | Teodorite | 1337 - 1347 | Theodore II | |
| 1354 - 1378 | 1354 - 1362 | Roman (united) | |||
| 1384 - 1385 | 1376 - 1406 | 1370–1391 | Antoniy | ||
| 1382 - 1389 | |||||
| 1376 - 1406 | Cyprian (united) | ||||
| 1410 - 1431 | 1415 - 1419 | ||||
| 1433 - 1435 | Gerasimus (united) | ||||
| 1436 - 1458 | Isidore (united) | ||||
See also: List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow.
An Ecumenical council of the Church — the Council of Florence — took place from 1431 to 1449. Although he resisted at first, the Grand Prince of Moscow — Vasily II of Moscow — eventually permitted the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus' — Isidore of Kiev — to attend the council. Isidore, who was of Greek origin, submitted to the articles of the Bull of Union with the Greeks which united the Eastern Orthodox Church with the Holy See. The Great Prince of Moscow voided the union in his lands and imprisoned Isidore for some time. In September 1443, after two years of imprisonment, Metropolitan Isidor escaped to Tver, then to Lithuania and on to Rome. He was graciously received by the pope in 1443. Pope Nicholas V (1447–1455) sent him as legate to Constantinople to arrange the reunion there in 1452, and gave him two hundred soldiers to help the defence of the city.
See main article: Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' (1441–1596).
Following the Fall of Constantinople, the Union of Florence disintegrated. The patriarchy of Constantinople resumed the Eastern Orthodox succession with Simeon of Kiev. His tenure was challenged by the anti-Eastern Orthodox sentiments of the King of Poland Casimir IV Jagiellon and the 1482 plundering of Kiev by the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray,[8] an ally of the Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow.
In 1595, most Eastern Orthodox leaders in the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' signed the Union of Brest with the Holy See, thereby establishing the Ruthenian Uniate Church.
See main article: Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia (Ruthenian Uniate Church).
Following the failure of the Union of Florence, a second attempt at union was essayed in 1595/6. It resulted in the Union of Brest which re-established full communion with the Holy See. The effect was to create the Ruthenian Uniate Church. This is a list of Metropolitans of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia in the Ruthenian Uniate Church before the partitions of Poland:[9]
See main article: Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' (1620–1686). Some clergy in the Commonwealth refused to subscribe to the Union of Brest and continued with the old rites and their allegiance to the Ecumenical Patriarch. More than 25 years of struggles within parishes for possession of church buildings and monasteries ensued. In 1620, the patriarch of Jerusalem — Theophanes III — entrenched the schism by establishing an "Exarchate of Ukraine" for those dissenting clergy and laity who refused to conform to the union. Parallel successions to the title of "Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus'" continued until 1686. In that year, the Metropolis was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Moscow, which then assumed the right to consecrate the Kievan metropolitans.
List of metropolitans of the "Exarchate of Ukraine":
Appointed by Romanov civil authorities (residence in Kyiv):
| Post: | Metropolitan (Archbishop) of Kyiv, Galicia (and all Little Rus) |
| Seat: | Kyiv, Kiev Governorate (Cossack Hetmanate) |
| Appointer: | Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia |
| Precursor: | Metropolitan of Kyiv, Galicia and all Rus, Exarch of Ukraine |
| Formation: | 1685 |
| First: | Gedeon |
| Last: | Anthony |
| Abolished: | 1919 |
| Succession: | Metropolitan of Kyiv, Galicia, Exarch of Ukraine Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church |
According to the Russian Orthodox Church, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox metropolis was transferred from the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the Moscow Patriarchate in 1686 thereby establishing the Metropolis of Kiev (Patriarchate of Moscow). This interpretation is disputed by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (see 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism).
In 1718 Peter the Great abolished metropolitan.
In 1743 metropolitan was reinstated.
In 1767 Catherine the Great stripped the Metropolitan Arsenius of title "of all Little Rus"
In 1770, the Romanov civil authorities stripped the metropolis of its suffragan sees. The title became an honorific with no practical sense of governing an ecclesiastical territory beyond its own geographic remit. This is a list of bishops who retained this empty title:
| Post: | Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine (Exarchate of Ukraine) |
| Seat: | Kyiv, Ukraine (formerly the Ukrainian SSR) |
| Appointer: | Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' |
| Incumbent: | Metropolitan Onuphrius |
| Incumbentsince: | 2014 |
| Precursor: | Metropolitan of Kyiv, Galicia and all Rus, Exarch of Ukraine |
| Formation: | 1921 |
| First: | Michael Yermakov |
The Russian Orthodox Church erects exarchates which have a limited autonomy within a defined geographical territory (e.g. Belarusian Exarchate). Such an exarchate was erected for Kyiv in 1921. This is a list of exarchs of the Patriarchate of Moscow to date:
In 1990, the Russian Orthodox Church accorded a limited form of self rule to the Ukrainian Exarchate. The additional freedoms were not enumerated. The church is currently styled the "Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)" (UOC-MP). The metropolitan is styled "Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine". There have been three metropolitans of the UOC-MP to date:
In 1923, a split occurred in the Patriarchate of Moscow. A majority (initially) of bishops associated themselves with a wing of the Church that was supported by the OGPU (the Soviet secret police). A minority, called "The Living Church", was spread across the territory of the USSR. Many episcopal sees in the 1920s and 1930s had 2 parallel bishops: one from the Living Church, another from the Moscow Patriarchate. The Living church had its headquarter in Kharkiv and was active in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.[12]
Due to Soviet pressure, the is liquidated in 1936, some of its members emigrated to the United States.
Created in 1923, the church was part of all-Soviet Renovation movement (Obnovlenichestvo).[13] It was liquidated in 1935, but after the remaining communities were headed by acting primate.
In 1925 there was created another organization which opposed both the Living Church and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. After 1937 it disappeared.[14]
Following the partition of Poland between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, the Soviet Union annexed most of territory of the Polish Orthodox Church. Most of bishops were forced to switch to the Russian Orthodox Church except for very few. In 1942, UAOC was re-established with help of those few bishops left within the Polish Orthodox Church. Polikarp Sikorsky was appointed as temporary administrator of the Church by the primate of the Polish Orthodox Church, Dionizy (Waledyński).
This relative freedom lasted till the return of the Red Army in 1944, after that the was again liquidated and remained structured only in the diaspora. In 1944 the Orthodox Metropolitan of Warsaw, Dionizy Waledynski, was appointed "Patriarch of All Ukraine", but the Soviet Union did not allow any operation in Ukraine.
Patriarch Mstyslav (Stepan Ivanovych Skrypnyk) was the Patriarch of Kyiv and all Rus' and the primate of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) (UOC–KP) from 1991 to 1993. After Mstyslav's death in 1993, the temporary union ended; the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church separated. After being dismissed in 1992 by the Archhierarch Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Metropolitan Filaret joined the UOC–KP under Patriarch Mstyslav. Patriarch Mstyslav did not recognize the union. The primates of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Kyiv Patriarchate continue to style themselves as patriarch:
In 1989 the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church was legally registered in the Ukrainian SSR. This was made possible by the President Gorbachev's policies of Perestroyka. Previously, only the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow was allowed to function in Ukraine. It was not in communion with the Patriarchate of Moscow. It was disestablished in 2018. It had four metropolitans during that time:
On 15 December 2018, the UAOC along with the UOC–KP merged into the unified Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
| Post: | Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine |
| Incumbent: | Metropolitan Epiphanius I |
| Incumbentsince: | 2018 |
| Formation: | 2018 |
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) was established by a unification council on 15 December 2018. The council voted to unite the existing Ukrainian Orthodox churches (UOC-KP, UAOC and parts of the UOC-MP) through their representatives, on the basis of complete canonical independence. The primate of the Church is styled the "Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine". The unification council elected Epiphanius I as its first primate. The Church was officially granted autocephaly on 5 January 2019 by decree of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I.[15] [16]
In June 2019, however, Filaret and a few clergymen declared a split from the UOC, in a dispute over the leadership of the Church.
As of December 2019, the OCU is recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Church of Greece, and the Church of Cyprus.
This is a list of Metropolitans of Kyiv and all Ukraine: