The Metropolitan is a high-ranking clergyman in the Christian church. The first official mention of the title is recorded in the documents of the First Ecumenical Council, held in Nicaea in 325. There, his place in the hierarchical ladder was ordered.
Church hierarchy
In the Roman Empire, the main provincial cities were called metropolises. A bishop who has a pulpit, that is, his residence, was called a metropolitan in the metropolis.
The metropolitan is the highest title of a bishop. And the bishop (overseeing, overseeing), in turn, has the highest third degree of the priesthood, after the deacon and presbyter (he is a priest, he is also a priest). Therefore, the bishop is often called the bishop. "Archi" is a particle that came from the Greek language and serves to designate a high church rank. The bishops ruled the dioceses and obeyed the metropolitan. If the diocese was large, then the bishops or bishops who governed it were called archbishops. In the Russian Orthodox Church, this honorary title immediately follows the Metropolitan.
External differences
These higher church ranks outwardly differ in a headdress - a hood. Bishops wear black, archbishops wear black with a cross made of precious metals and stones, and metropolitans wear white hoods with the same cross. They differ in mantles. So, among bishops and archbishops they are lilac or dark red, in the metropolitan - blue, the Patriarch wears a green robe. In Lent, all the mantles of the episcopate are black. The metropolitan is an honorary title. The assignment of such a title is a kind of award, a distinction given for merit. In the Russian Orthodox Church, dignitaries of archbishops and metropolitans are awarded bishops for personal services to the church. They are also bestowed for their length of service.
One of the oldest
It should be noted that the Metropolitan is the oldest title in the Christian church. Some scholars of the church believe that the apostles were metropolitans, while others attribute the emergence of this jurisdiction to the 2nd century, when it became necessary to centralize church authority.
And in 325 and 341 at
the Council of Bishops, this dignity was simply finally installed. Powers that were significantly increased in volume were prescribed. Everything was legalized and regulated, should no longer cause any disputes. The Toledo Cathedral, held in 589, further expanded the rights of the metropolitan - now he could punish the bishops under his jurisdiction. In general, Christian doctrine was formed at the Councils of the 4th-8th centuries. Subsequent years did not bring any significant changes.
The very first
Russia was baptized at the end of the 10th century under Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. In most cases, it is alleged that in 988, but some historians call it 991. There is also no exact data on the first Kiev Metropolitan. But from the XVI century it is considered that they were Michael. He also had the name Syrian, because by nationality he was either Greek or Syrian.
It is believed that Metropolitan Michael and the monks who arrived with him were built Zlatoverho-Mikhailovsky and Kiev-Mezhegorsky monasteries. Superiority is disputed by Metropolitan Leonty, some sources call it his first metropolitan with the same dates of rule - 992-1008. Then came Theophylact, John I, Theopempt, Cyril I the Greek. The dates of each of them are disputed. It should be noted that they were all foreigners.
First russian
And only he who accepted
this rank in 1051 and ruled the church until 1054, Metropolitan Hilarion (Rusin) was a compatriot. He died around 1088. He led the church during the time of
Yaroslav the Wise. Glorified as a saint - in the Orthodox Church, these are saints from the episcopal office. He is the author of the book “Words on the Law and Grace”, written by him in 1030-1050. He also wrote Prayer, The Confession of Faith.
Metropolitan Hilarion also wrote Praise to Yaroslav the Wise. Information about the life of Hilarion is very insignificant, but the "Tale of Bygone Years" indicates that the construction of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra began in 1051, that is, during the reign of Hilarion. In the Novgorod II Chronicle it is indicated that in 1054 Ephraim became Metropolitan of Kiev. This makes it possible to assume that immediately after the death in 1054 of Yaroslav the Wise, Hilarion was deposed.
Prelate and Wonderworker
A very significant figure in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church was Metropolitan Alexy. It is he who is the patron saint of two famous Moscow and All Russia Patriarchs - Alexy I (Sergey Vladimirovich Simansky, Patriarch from 1945 to 1970) and Alexy II (Alexei Mikhailovich Ridiger, Patriarch from 1990 to 2008).
A native of the boyar clan, the son of Fedor Byakont, the ancestor of several noble clans, such as the Pleshcheevs and the Ignatievs. Throughout Russia, the miracle worker and hierarch of Moscow (canonized 50 years after his death), Metropolitan Alexy during his lifetime achieved significant success as a major statesman and subtle diplomat. He was reckoned with in the Principality of Lithuania and the Horde, with whom he had contacts of a different kind - Alexy healed Hansha Taydula from an eye disease. Since 1354, the
Patriarch of Constantinople appointed
Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, Elevfer Fyodorovich Byakont (in the world) was in this field until his death in 1378. He founded several monasteries, including the
Miracles Monastery in the Kremlin. The Kremlin itself under it began to rebuild in stone. In addition to this monastery, he founded the Spaso-Andronikov, Simonov, Vvedensky Vladychny and Serpukhov monasteries. He wrote several church writings. The holy relics of the miracle worker in 1947 were transferred to the Elohovsky Epiphany Cathedral in Moscow, where they still remain to this day.
Metropolitan compatriots
From the moment of the baptism of Rus to the fourteenth century, the country was a single metropolis, the head of which was appointed in Constantinople. Naturally, the metropolitans most often sent were not Russian. The princes wanted to see compatriots at this post, because before the patriarchate was introduced in Russia, the metropolitans stood at the head of the church hierarchy, and a lot depended on them. The first Russian Kiev head of the church was
Clement (Smolyatich, reign of 1147-1156). Then there were also Greeks and Bulgarians at this post. But since the reign of Theodosius (1461-1464), during which the period of full autocephaly of the domestic church began, it was headed mainly by Russian metropolitans, who from that time began to be called "Moscow and All Russia".
A prominent church leader and publicist who left behind a significant literary heritage, Theodosius (Byval'tsev) is famous for being the first Moscow Metropolitan appointed by the Russian prince, and not the Patriarch of Constantinople. This highest ecclesiastical rank of the Russian Orthodox Church is the Metropolitan of Moscow, until the patriarchate was approved from the time of the reign of Theodosius, Philip I and Gerontius, Zosima and Simon still wore. And also, in turn, Varlaam and Daniel, Joseph and Macarius, Athanasius and Philip II, Cyril, Anthony and Dionysius were awarded it. Moscow Metropolitan Job was already the first Patriarch.