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Hierarch15th century

Saint Photius Metropolitan of Kiev

d. 1431

Also known as Photius of Kiev

A Greek of Monemvasia who from his youth embraced the monastic life and was called to be metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, shepherding the Church through years of division and strife.

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Commemorated as

Our Father among the Saints Photius, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia

Life

Photius was a Greek hierarch of the early fifteenth century who, after embracing monasticism in his youth, was sent from Constantinople to govern the Church of the Rus' as Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia. He led the metropolis from 1408 until his death in 1431, a period marked by the political fragmentation of the Rus' lands between Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Arriving in a metropolis impoverished by invasion and without command of the local language, he devoted his episcopate to restoring the Church's discipline and finances and to preserving its canonical unity against attempts to divide it along political lines. He is venerated on July 2, the day of his repose, and his relics rest in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide
TroparionTone 4

In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith,
an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence;
your humility exalted you;
your poverty enriched you.
Hierarch Father Photius,
entreat Christ our God
that our souls may be saved.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline6 momentsReadHide
  1. 1397Monastic service in MonemvasiaBorn in the Peloponnesian city of Monemvasia and tonsured a monk in his youth, Photius served under the elder Akakios, Metropolitan of Monemvasia.
  2. September 1408Consecration as metropolitanFollowing the death of his predecessor, Metropolitan Cyprian, Patriarch Matthew I of Constantinople consecrated Photius as Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus'.
  3. 1409-1410Arrival in the Rus' landsHe reached Kiev in 1409 and, after some months there, travelled on to Moscow, arriving by the spring of 1410. He found the metropolitan residence ravaged in the wake of Khan Edigu's 1408 invasion and the treasury empty.
  4. 1414-1420Restoration of canonical unityWhen Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania arranged the election of Gregory Tsamblak as a separate metropolitan for the Lithuanian lands without the approval of Constantinople, the metropolis was divided. After Gregory's death around 1419-1420, Photius negotiated peace with Vytautas and reunited the whole metropolis under his authority, abolishing the separate Lithuanian metropolitanate.
  5. July 2, 1431ReposePhotius died in Moscow and was buried in the Dormition Cathedral.
  6. 1471-1472Uncovering of relicsHis relics were uncovered during the rebuilding of the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, near those of the Metropolitans Cyprian and Jonah.

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributionsReadHide

Episcopate and Contributions

Photius governed the metropolis of Kiev and All Russia for some twenty-three years under Grand Prince Vasily I of Moscow. Sources record that he worked to rebuild the Church's material standing and to restore ecclesiastical discipline after the disruptions that preceded his arrival.

Beyond administration, he is credited with literary and canonical works, including a treatise on the selection and installation of bishops dated to 1423, and with efforts to suppress the Strigolniki movement, a dissenting current active in the Rus' lands during his episcopate.

Relics and Veneration

Photius was buried in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, where his relics were uncovered during the cathedral's reconstruction in the early 1470s. He is commemorated on July 2, the day of his repose, with a further commemoration of the translation of his relics observed on May 27.

Related Saints3 saintsShowHide

Saints connected to his life, mission, and place in Orthodox tradition.

His predecessor as Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, whose relics rest beside his in the Dormition Cathedral.
Saint CyprianMetropolitan of Moscow and All Russia
A successor in the line of Moscow hierarchs, whose relics likewise rest in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kremlin.
JonahMetropolitan of Moscow and All Russia
Monastic founder for whose Obnora monastery Photius, as Metropolitan, gave his blessing.
Venerable Paulof Obnora

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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints