See main article: History of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church traces its beginnings to the Christianization of Kievan Rusʹ at Kiev in 988 AD. In 1316 the Metropolitan of Kiev changed his see to the city of Vladimir, and in 1322 moved again to Moscow. In 1589, the see was elevated to a Patriarchate. The Patriarchate was abolished by the Church reform of Peter the Great in 1721 and replaced by the Most Holy Governing Synod, and the Bishop of Moscow came to be called a Metropolitan again. The Patriarchate was restored by the 1917–18 Local Council and suspended by the Soviet government in 1925. It was reintroduced for the last time by the 1943 Bishops' Council, during World War II by the initiative of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.To this date, 19 of the Metropolitans have been glorified in the Russian Orthodox Church.
For a list of metropolitans before the seat of the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' was moved to Moscow, see List of metropolitans and patriarchs of Kyiv.
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Peter | 1308–1326 | ||
| Seat vacant 1326 - 1328 | ||||
| 2 | St. Theognostus | 1328–1353 | ||
| 3 | St. Alexius | 1354–1378 | ||
| Mikhail (Mityay) (ru) | 1378–1379 | Locum tenens | ||
| Seat vacant 1379 - 1381 | ||||
| 4 | St. Cyprian | 1381–1382 | First tenure | |
| 5 | Pimen | 1382–1384 | In opposition | |
| 6 | St. Dionysius I | 1384–1385 | In opposition | |
| Seat vacant 1385 - 1390 | ||||
| St. Cyprian | 1390–1406 | Second tenure | ||
| Seat vacant 1406 - 1408 | ||||
| 7 | St. Photius | 1408–1431 | ||
| Seat vacant 1431 - 1433 | ||||
| 8 | Gerasim (ru) | 1433–1435 | ||
| 9 | Isidore of Kiev | 1436–1441 | Deposed by the Grand Prince of Moscow, Vasily II, over his acceptance of the Council of Florence. The deposition was not recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. | |
| Seat vacant 1441 - 1448 (according to the Grand Duke of Moscow) | ||||
Isidore of Kiev, who was of Greek origin, submitted to the articles of the Bull of Union with the Greeks which united the Orthodox Church in Russia with the Latin Church. Following his acceptance of the Council of Florence, Isidore returned to Moscow in 1441 as a Ruthenian cardinal. He was arrested by the Grand Prince of Moscow — Vasily II, and accused of apostasy. The Grand Duke deposed Isidore and in 1448 installed his own candidate as Metropolitan of Kiev — Jonah. This was carried out without the approval of Patriarch Gregory III of Constantinople. When Isidore died in 1458, the Orthodox dioceses within the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, including Kiev, were reorganized. The metropolitan see was moved to Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A parallel succession to the title ensued between Moscow and Vilnius.
The Grand Prince of Moscow voided the Union of Florence and imprisoned Metropolitan Isidore for some time. Following that incident, the Grand Prince removed Isidore from office and appointed his own man — Jonah. These decisions were not recognised by Patriarch Gregory III of Constantinople who continued to recognise Isidore as the canonical metropolitan. As a result, in 1448, Jonah unilaterally changed his title to "Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus' " which was tantamount to a declaration of independence of the Church in eastern Rus' from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. All sixteen successive hierarchs of the Metropolis of Moscow and all Rus' were selected by the civil power and installed without the approval of Patriarchate of Constantinople. Successive patriarchs continued to recognize Isidore and his successors as hierarchs of the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus'.
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Jonah | 1448 | 1461 | Installed without the approval of Patriarch Gregory III of Constantinople who continued to recognize Isidore until his death in 1458. | |
| 2 | Theodosius | 3 May 1461 | 13 September 1464 | Became the second Metropolitan to be appointed by the Grand Duke of Moscow. He was not recognised by the Patriarch of Constantinople. | |
| 3 | St. Philip I | 11 November 1464 | 5 April 1473 | ||
| 4 | St. Gerontius | 29 June 1473 | 28 May 1489 | ||
| 5 | Zosimus | 26 September 1490 | 17 May 1494 | Removed from the metropolitan throne on charges of heresy | |
| 6 | Simon | 22 September 1495 | 30 April 1511 | ||
| 7 | Varlaam | 3 August 1511 | 18 December 1521 | ||
| 8 | Daniel | 27 February 1522 | 2 February 1539 | Deposed by the Shuyskys after the death of de facto regent Elena Glinskaya and the fall of her favorite Ivan Ovchina-Telepnev. | |
| 9 | St. Joasaphus | 6 February 1539 | January 1542 | Deposed by the Shuysky | |
| 10 | St. Macarius | 19 March 1542 | 31 December 1563 | ||
| 11 | Athanasius | 5 March 1564 | 16 May 1566 | ||
| 12 | St. Herman | July 1566 | Metropolitan-elect. Expelled from Moscow after a dispute with Ivan IV | ||
| 13 | St. Philip II | 25 July 1566 | 4 November 1568 | Deposed and believed to have been later killed by Ivan IV's officials | |
| 14 | Cyril III (IV) | 11 November 1568 | 8 February 1572 | ||
| 15 | Anthony | May 1572 | 1581 | ||
| 16 | Dionysius II | 1581 | 13 October 1587 | Deposed | |
| 17 | St. Job | 11 December 1587 | 23 January 1589 | Elevated to "Patriarch of Moscow" | |
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Job | 23 January 1589 | June 1605 | ||
| — | Ignatius | 30 June 1605 | 16 May 1606 | ||
| 2 | St. Hermogenes | 3 July 1606 | 17 February 1612 | ||
| Seat vacant 1612 - 1619 | |||||
| 3 | Filaret | 24 June 1619 | 1 October 1633 | Father of Michael of Russia | |
| 4 | Joasaphus I | 6 February 1634 | 28 November 1640 | ||
| Seat vacant 1640 - 1642 | |||||
| 5 | Joseph | 27 May 1642 | 15 April 1652 | ||
| 6 | Nikon | 25 July 1652 | 12 December 1666 | ||
| — | Pitirim | 1658 | 1667 | locum tenens | |
| 7 | Joasaphus II | 31 January 1667 | 17 February 1672 | ||
| 8 | Pitirim | 7 July 1672 | 19 April 1673 | ||
| 9 | Joachim | 26 July 1674 | 17 March 1690 | ||
| 10 | Adrian | 26 August 1690 | 16 October 1700 | ||
| — | Stefan | 1700 | 1721 | Locum tenens | |
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stefan | 1721 | 1722 | President of the Most Holy Synod. Stefan refused to sign the Synod's documents, did not attend its meetings. Peter I apparently appointed him only to give a certain sanction to the new institution. | |
| 2 | Theophan | 1722 | 1736 | Vice president of the Synod and its prime member since 15 July 1726 | |
| Seat vacant 1736 - 1742 | |||||
| 3 | Joseph (ru) Volchansky | 1 September 1742 | 10 June 1745 | Archbishop of Moscow and Vladimir http://drevo-info.ru/articles/11518.html | |
| 4 | Plato I (ru) Pavel Malinovsky | 5 April 1748 | 14 June 1754 | Archbishop of Moscow and Sevsk http://biografija.ru/show_bio.aspx?id=106486 | |
| Hilarion (ru) Grigorovich (1696–1759) | 1754–1757 | Coadjutor | |||
| 5 | Timothy (ru) Tikhon Shcherbatsky (1698–1767) | 22 October 1757 | 3 January 1767 | Metropolitan of Moscow and Kaluga | |
| 6 | Ambrosius Andrey Sertis-Kamensky (1708–1771) | 18 January 1768 | 16 September 1771 | Archbishop of Moscow. Murdered during the Moscow plague riot of 1771 | |
| Samoel (ru) | 1771–1775 | Coadjutor | |||
| 7 | Plato II Levshin (1737–1812) | 20 January 1775 | 13 June 1812 | Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna since 1787 | |
| Seat vacant 1812–1818 | |||||
| 8 | Augustine (ru) Alexey Vinogradsky (1766–1819) | 19 February 1818 | 15 March 1819 | Archbishop of Moscow and Kolomna | |
| 9 | Seraphim (ru) Stefan Glagolevsky (1763–1843) | 15 March 1819 | 19 June 1821 | Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna | |
| 10 | St. Philaret Vasily Drozdov (1783–1867) | 15 July 1821 | 2 December 1867 | Archbishop of Moscow and Kolomna, metropolitan since 1826 | |
| 11 | St. Innocent Ivan Veniaminov (1797–1879) | 5 January 1868 | 12 April 1879 | ||
| 12 | Macarius I Mikhail Bulgakov (1816–1882) | 20 April 1879 | 21 June 1882 | ||
| 13 | Joannicius (ru) Ivan Rudnev (1826–1900) | 27 June 1882 | 17 November 1891 | ||
| 14 | Leontius (ru) Ivan Lebedinsky (1822–1893) | 17 November 1891 | 13 August 1893 | ||
| 15 | Sergius (ru) Nikolay Lyapidevsky (1820–1898) | 21 August 1893 | 23 February 1898 | ||
| 16 | St. Vladimir Vasily Bogoyavlensky (1848–1918) | 5 March 1898 | 6 December 1912 | ||
| 17 | St. Macarius II Mikhail Nevsky (1835–1926) | 8 December 1912 | 2 April 1917 | ||
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Election | Reign | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | St. Tikhon | 1917–18 | 4 December 1917[1] | 7 April 1925[2] | |||
| — | Peter | — | 12 April 1925 | December 1925 / 11 September 1936 | years | Metropolitan of Krutitsy, locum tenens | |
| — | Sergius | — | December 1925 | 27 December 1936 | Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod, acting locum tenens | ||
| 27 December 1936 | 12 September 1943 | Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, locum tenens | |||||
| 12 | Sergius | 1943 | 12 September 1943[3] | 15 May 1944[4] | |||
| 13 | Alexy I | 1945 | 4 February 1945[5] | 17 April 1970[6] | |||
| 14 | Pimen | 1971 | 3 June 1971[7] | 3 May 1990[8] | During Pimen's reign the 1000th anniversary of the Christianization of Rus' was celebrated, and the 1988 Local Council was held in connection with the celebration. | ||
| 15 | Alexy II | 1990 | 10 June 1990 | 5 December 2008 | |||
| 16 | Kirill | 1 February 2009 | Incumbent | ||||