This reflection is dedicated to the memory of St. Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev, who died on September 16/29,1406. St. Daniel, Prince of Moscow, was the son of St. Alexander Nevsky. He was born in Vladimir in 1261 but buried in Moscow, thus signifying the transfer of power to this previously insignificant place. The son of St. Daniel, Prince Ivan (I) Kalita (lit. “Money Bag”), obtained from the Mongols a patent to be grand prince on the promise that he would collect all taxes owed by the Russians. Thus, he taxed the people twice, for both the Mongols and Moscow. Prince Ivan I was godfather to the future St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow. In 1352, St. Theognostos, Metropolitan of Moscow, installed Alexis as Bishop of Vladimir; he had already worked as a part of his administration for fifteen years. Metropolitan Theognostos passed away the same year, and St. Alexis went to Constantinople with a Mongolian “passport” (letter of transit). He spent a year there and returned Metropolitan. When in 1359, Grand Prince Ivan II (Krasnyi) died, St. Alexis became a regent for his young son Dmitry (St. Dmitry Donskoi). This situation, in which the metropolitan of Rus had become inseparable from Moscow politics, resembles the current situation in the Russian Church. St. Alexis continued to bear the title of Metropolitan of Kiev. In 1240, after the Mongol invasion, Kiev had been razed to the ground and became one city among many in the rising Lithuanian Principality. The strong Lithuanian leader Prince Algirdas (who was still a pagan) did not want his Orthodox subjects to have a church leader with such strong ties to a hostile power. Thus, Algirdas arranged in Constantinople for a relative of his, Roman, to be consecrated. Roman hailed from the old Tver Principality, which was competing for power with Moscow. In 1358, St. Alexis arrived in Kiev. Algirdas demonstrated his disrespect, and it took Alexis two years to get it back. He clearly could not oversee the church in the Lithuanian lands from Moscow. At this point, the Polish King Kazimierz III the Great controlled the ancient Kievan principality of Galich. In 1371, Kazemierz’s candidate Anthony was consecrated Metropolitan of Galich in Constantinople. To find out what was going on in the lands of Western Rus, Patriarch Philotheos (a follower of St. Gregory Palamas and correspondent of St. Sergei of Radonezh) sent out his emissary, Priestmonk Cyprian (St. Cyprian of Moscow). In 1375, when he returned to Constantinople with new complaints against Metropolitan Alexis, Cyprian was consecrated Metropolitan of Kiev (the same title already held by St. Alexis). The Russian Church was thereby divided de facto into three independent metropolises: Moscow, Kiev, and Galich. St. Alexis passed away in 1378. Metropolitan Cyprian wanted to come to Moscow, but was rejected by Prince Dmitry, because he had been made Metropolitan of Kiev while St. Alexis already had this title. Dmitry nominated his father-confessor, priest Mitiai (Dmitry), as St. Alexis’ successor. In 1379, Mitiai suddenly died on a Russian ship already moored at the Golden Horn in Bosphorus. The Russian delegation nominated Abbot Pimen of Goritskii Monastery near Pereiaslavl as a replacement. Pimen was consecrated Metropolitan and returned to Moscow, but Prince Dmitry rejected him. In 1380, St. Dmitry Donskoi “rose up” against a Mongol usurper, Khan Mamai, and successfully fought him at Kulikovo Field. Two years later, St. Cyprian arrived in Moscow for the second time. In 1382, the khan of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamysh, avenged Prince Dmitry and took over Moscow. Dmitry was away assembling an army. Metropolitan Cyprian’s responsibility was to look after Dmitry’s family. Cyprian decided to take them to Tver, an archenemy of Moscow and an ally of Lithuania. As a result, Grand Prince Dmitry expelled Metropolitan Cyprian. Grand Prince Dmitry sent Archbishop Dionisii of Suzdal to be consecrated a metropolitan. Patriarch Nilus consecrated Dionisii Metropolitan, but he did not make it to Moscow. Prince Vladimir, the son of Algirdas, arrested Dionisii in Kiev in 1384. St. Dionisii died in the Kiev Caves Monastery after becoming a monk there. In this situation, Dmitry Donskoy finally accepted Pimen as Metropolitan, but only briefly, until they once more parted ways. In 1389, Pimen flew to Constantinople and died there in September. In May of the same year, Prince Dmitry reposed. In this situation, his son Vasilii invited Metropolitan Cyprian back, thereby restoring the peace in the Russian Church. Cyprian remained in Moscow (and successfully visited the Lithuanian lands from there) until he departed from this earthly life in 1406. Source Vladislav Petrushko, Istoriia Russkoi Tserkvi s drevneishikh vremen do ustanovleniia patriarshestva [History of the Russian Church From the Ancient Times until the Installation of the Patriarchate] (Moscow, 2007). Suggested reading John Meyendorff, Byzantium and the rise of Russia : a study of Byzantino-Russian relations in the fourteenth century (Crestwood, 1980) |
