Metropolitanate of Kyiv

The Metropolitanate of Kyiv (Greek: Μητρόπολις Κιέβου, romanized: Mitrópolis Kiévou; Ukrainian: Ки́ївська митропо́лія, romanized: Kyivska mytropoliia; Belarusian: Кіеўская мітраполія, Kijeŭskaja mitrapolija) was an autonomous metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with center in Kyiv after its formation in 988 as a result of the Christianization of Rus by Volodymyr the Great until January 6, 2019, when it received the Tomos on Autocephaly.

In 1596, the Union of Brest was adopted which transferred the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the metropolis from the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the Holy See. As a sui juris Eastern Catholic particular church, the metropolis retained its ancient rights; in time, it came to be known as the Ruthenian Uniate Church. Some clergy and laity in the Commonwealth continued to give their loyalty to Constantinople but had no hierarchs to support them. In 1620, the Ukrainian Cossacks, led by Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny, secured the restoration of the Orthodox hierarchy in the Commonwealth as the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus'.

In 1685, the Moscow Patriarchate began the annexation of the Metropolitanate of Kiev of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, ordaining Metropolitan Gedeon of Kiev in Moscovy. In 1686, through simony, Ecumenical Patriarch Dionysius IV (who was later anathema) issued a Synodal letter granting the right to ordinate the Metropolitan of Kiev to the Moscow Patriarch in the manner of austerity elected by the council of clergy and the faithful of his diocese. It was obligatory that the Metropolitan of Kyiv should mention the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as his First Hierarch in any service, proclaiming and confirming his canonical dependence on the Mother Church of Constantinople, but none of these conditions were met. The Metropolitanate of Kiev actually became one of the ordinary dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate, when Peter the Great in 1722 elected Barlaam (Voniatovych) in the rank of archbishop, not metropolitan. The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the process of granting autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine during its meeting on October 11, 2018, canceled the Synodal Letter of 1686 due to simony and its gross violation.

Since its founding, the Metropolitanate of Kyiv has served as the cradle of Ukrainian Christianity for Orthodox and Catholics. The autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the sui iuris Belarusian Greek Catholic Church and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the autonomous and independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church declare themselves the heirs of the Metropolitanate of Kyiv.