The Annexation of the Metropolitanate of Kyiv by the Moscow Patriarchate was the transference of the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' in the Eastern Orthodox from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Patriarchate of Moscow. The metropolis lay in the territory of the Cossack Hetmanate and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
From 1649, the Tsardom of Russia began to absorb the Hetmanate, gradually eliminating Ukrainian political and social institutions. The process culminated in the declaration of the Russian Empire in 1721. As part of this cultural absorption, the Ottoman Empire was enlisted to pressure the Patriarch of Constantinople to transfer the governance of the metropolis to Moscow's canonical jurisdiction in 1686.
It is a matter of dispute whether this de facto transfer was also achieved de jure or canonically. The process began in 1685 with the ordination of Gedeon Chetvertinsky to the Metropolis of Kiev by Patriarch Joachim of Moscow and ended in 1722 when Tsar Peter the Great appointed Barlaam (Voniatovych) with the rank of archbishop, not metropolitan. Since that date, the metropolis has become an ordinary diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). According to the ROC, the 1686 Synodal Letter of the Ecumenical Patriarch gave Moscow the right to ordain the Metropolitan of Kiev. According to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, this act was firstly conditional upon Moscow preserving the traditional rights of the metropolitan and secondly did not affect the authority of Constantinople as the mother church of the metropolis. In this respect, both Constantinople and the current Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) regard Moscow's subsequent actions as uncanonical. On 11 October 2018, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate revoked the Synodal Letter (Act) of 1686.
Background
The Moscow Church had existed for more than two centuries as a self-proclaimed, autocephalic church body. In 1589, the church's position was regularised when it was raised to the status of a patriarchate by the Ecumenical Patriarch, Jeremias II of Constantinople. The Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' continued to remain autonomous within the Patriarchate of Constantinople, although after the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the degree of ecclesiastical dependence of Kiev on Constantinople had become less important. This gave Ukrainian historians reason to say:
Erection of the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia
Interventions by Moscow in the metropolis
Election of the abbot of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra The first serious ecclesiastical step towards the absorption of the metropolis by the Moscow Patriarchate was made in 1683. The archimandrite of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra — Innocent Giesel — died on 18 November. Hetman Ivan Samoilovych wrote a letter about this to Patriarch Joachim of Moscow, asking for a blessing on the election of a new abbot. In a corresponding letter, the patriarch thanked the hetman for addressing him and gave his blessing for the election.
The hetman's behaviour in this regard was not supported by the Kiev clergy. An archimandrite — Barlaam Yasynskyi — was elected by free vote without prior consultation with Samoilovich. Without asking for confirmation of his rights in Moscow, Barlaam turned for initiation to Lazar Baranovych, who refused to confirm his election. However, the threat of seizure of the lavra's possessions, which came from the Lviv bishop Joseph Shumlyanskyi, forced Barlaam to ask for confirmation of his authority from Patriarch Joachim. As a result, the patriarch sent Barlaam a letter of approval, which, however, spoke more about the duties of the Archimandrite of Pechersk than about his ancient privileges. From a canonical point of view, this action of Patriarch Joachim meant the removal of the Lavra from the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. It should be borne in mind that this was a Stauropegial monastery, directly subordinate to the Primate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.Яковенко С. Г. Западнорусская Церковь в последней трети XVII в. // Макарий (Булгаков), митрополит Московский и Коломенский. История Русской Церкви. Книга седьмая. М., 1996. С. 536.
The intensification of Bishop Joseph of Lviv Shumlyansky, who began to call himself the administrator of the Metropolitanate of Kyiv, prompted both the hetman and the Moscow government to intensify their efforts to replace the vacant metropolitan throne. Bishop Joseph, who was in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was in solidarity with the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in his anti-Moscow plans, and there were rumors that he was ready to accept Catholicism, which further increased fear on the Left Bank. Therefore, in his letter to Hetman Samoilovych dated 31 October 1684, Patriarch Joachim motivated the need to replace the vacant Kyiv cathedra as soon as possible as follows:
Search for a candidate for the throne of Kyiv
All this prompted the hetman to look for a candidate for the throne of Kyiv. And here came a convenient case. In 1684, Bishop Gedeon Sviatopolk of Lutsk and Ostroh, Prince Chetvertynsky, fled from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine. Explaining the reason for his escape from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, he thanked the Omelian Ukraintsev:
The majority of the Ukrainian clergy, the hetman, and the Moscow government began to regard Gedeon as the most suitable candidate for metropolitan. Only Lazar Baranovych, who apparently claimed the Metropolitanate of Kyiv himself, did not support his candidacy. After Omelian Ukraintsev met with Gedeon in November 1684 and found him quite fit to occupy the throne of Kyiv, Hetman Samoilovich offered to send him immediately to be delivered to Moscow. However, Ukraintsev advised the hetman not to do so, so as not to provoke a conflict with the Archbishop of Chernihiv:
It was this plan, proposed by Omelian Ukraintsev, that was implemented.
First attempt to obtain consent Prior to the Council in Kyiv to elect a new metropolitan, the Moscow government tried to obtain the consent of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for the transfer of the Metropolitanate of Kyiv to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarch. The Greek Zacharias Sophir was sent to Constantinople for negotiations. He took with him a letter from the Moscovian Tsar Ivan V and Peter the Great addressed to Patriarch Jacob, dated 11 December 1684. It contained a request to cede to the Moscow Patriarch the right to ordain Metropolitans of Kyiv.Повністю текст листа опубліковано у: АЮЗР. Ч. 1. Т. V. С. 46—50 However, the patriarch replied that now in the Ottoman Empire is a troubled time: the vizier at death, and it is unknown who will be in his place, and therefore nothing can be done.Соловьев С. М. Op. cit. Кн. VII. С. 376. So Moscow's request remained unsatisfied. After that, the Moscow government and Hetman Samoilovych decided to act without waiting for a blessing from Constantinople.
Election of Gedeon as Metropolitan The Council for the Election of a New Metropolitan was convened in Kyiv on 8 July 1685, in the Cathedral of St. Sophia. The composition of its participants quite clearly reflected the real state of affairs in the metropolis. Lazar Baranovych did not appear at the council, "responded to the weakness of his health."Письмо гетмана Ивана Самойловича к царям Иоанну и Петру Алексеевичам. 20.07.1685 // АЮЗР. Ч. 1. Т. V. С. 66. Moreover, the Archbishop of Chernihiv did not even send his proxies to Kyiv. As Hetman Samoilovich wrote to Moscow, there was "no one from the Chernihiv diocese at the Council, both archimandrites and abbots, and archpriests."Там само. С. 66. There were no delegates from the dioceses that remained in the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in Kyiv. So in the church of St. Sophia were present only representatives of the clergy of the Kyiv diocese — "all of the Kyiv diocese from the spiritual rank of the primordial."Там само. С. 65. At the same time, the number of secular ranks sent to the council by the Hetman was quite significant. Chernihiv Colonel Vasyl Borkovskyi, military osavul Ivan Mazepa, Pereiaslav Colonel Leontii Polubotok, Kyiv Colonel Hryhoriy Karpov and Nizhyn Colonel Yakiv Zhurakivskyi were present at the St. Sophia Church. Thus, the representatives of the clergy at the council were "much less" than the envoys of the hetman.
After the beginning of the council meetings, it became clear that the clergy was not at all burning with the desire to "leave the former obedience to the throne of Constantinople, because of which many are confused."Письмо гетмана Ивана Самойловича к царям Иоанну и Петру Алексеевича. 20.07.1685 // АЮЗР. Ч. 1. Т. V. С. 66. However, despite opposition from the clergy, at the insistence of Hetman Samoilovich, the Council still elected Gedeon Sviatopolk-Chetvertynskyi to the throne of Kyiv.
It is noteworthy that Bishop Gedeon himself did not take part in the work of the council. Already after the election, a delegation consisting of Abbots Theodosius (Uhlytskyi) and Jerome (Dubyna) was sent to him, who informed him of the election results.
Protest of the Kyiv clergy Not surprisingly, the Kyiv clergy decided to protest the actions of the council. It is sometimes thought that the dissatisfied convened a new Council in Kyiv, which sent its protest to Hetman Samoilovich. However, the text of this protest does not give reason to believe that an alternative Council was convened in Kyiv. Most likely, the protest was made by representatives of the clergy, who met in St. Sophia on July 8. The content of this document allows us to conclude that, in fact, caused concern to the Ukrainian clergy.Повністю цей документ опубліковано: АЮЗР. Ч. 1. Т. V. С. 55—61.
First of all, the protesters believed that the Council on July 8 had no right to decide on the transition to another canonical jurisdiction. In their opinion, this issue should be resolved between two patriarchs – Constantinople and Moscow. The rejection of the metropolitanate from Constantinople may also adversely affect the lives of those dioceses that remained in the territory of the Commonwealth. The transition to Moscow's jurisdiction could be a reason to intensify Greek Catholic propaganda in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, the greatest fears of the Ukrainian clergy were caused by the prospect of the Kyiv metropolitans losing the privileges they had before. The protest explicitly states that if Moscow is subordinated to Moscow, there will be no more free elections of the metropolitan, "but whoever is sent from the patriarch will be the metropolitan." The protesters also feared that the Moscow patriarch would from now on interfere in the church affairs of the Kyiv metropolitan. They confirmed their fears by referring to the events that took place in Sloboda Ukraine after the opening of the Belgorod metropolitanate.
Sloboda Ukraine covered the present Kharkiv, part of Sumy, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine and part of Belgorod, Kursk and Voronezh regions of Russia. During the war of Bohdan Khmelnytsky there was a mass settlement of these lands by Ukrainian Cossacks and peasants. The settlers swore allegiance to the Moscow tsar, for which they received special liberties from him. In ecclesiastical terms, the territory of Sloboda Ukraine was subordinated to the Moscow Patriarch. From 1657 to 1667 these lands were directly part of the Patriarchal region. But at the Moscow Cathedral in 1667 the Belgorod metropolitanate was founded, which included a large part of Sloboda Ukraine. The first Metropolitan of Belgorod was the Serb Theodosius. Later, bishops from Great Russia were appointed to Belgorod, who actively introduced the Moscow order here.Багалій Д. І. Історія Слобідської України. Харків, 1993. С. 179.