Metropolis of Halych

Metropolis of Halych was a senior episcopal see (Metropolis) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople established in 1303 in Halych in the Kingdom of Rus. The Assumption Cathedral of Halych became the central temple of the metropolis.

Historical background

The creation of the metropolis was requested by the Rus' King Leo I of Galicia after the Metropolitan of Kiev Maximus transferred his see from Kiev to Vladimir-on-Klyazma. The charter on establishment was granted after the death of King Leo by the newly elected Patriarch Athanasius I of Constantinople after issuing a bull by the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos.

The metropolis consisted of five eparchies (suffragan sees), mostly located in Volhynia: Volodymyr of Volhynia, Lutsk, Peremysl, Turiv, Kholm. Metropolitan Petro was consecrated as Metropolitan of Kiev, rather than Metropolitan of Halych and in 1320 moved to Moscow. After the death of Gabriel, a period of crisis started in the Halych metropoly as the Metropolitan of Kiev Theognostus wanted to get rid of a rival metropolis in Rus' lands. In 1337 the Patriarch John XIV of Constantinople approved the appointment of the Metropolitan of Halych Theodore. In 1347 with help of the Grand Prince of Moscow Simeon, the Metropolitan of Kiev managed to convince the Byzantine emperor John VI Kantakouzenos to dissolve the Halych metropolis as the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia was torn apart between Lithuania and Poland in the Galicia–Volhynia Wars. All eparchies of the Halych metropolis were transferred under the jurisdiction of the Lithuania-Volhynia metropolis in 1355.

Just before his death and the ongoing Galicia–Volhynia Wars, the King of Poland Casimir III the Great revived the Halych metropolis for a short period and Patriarch Philotheus I of Constantinople consecrated Metropolitan Antoniy as the Metropolitan of Halych over only three eparchies. After the death of Antoniy, the King of Poland Jogaila tried to have the bishop of Lutsk Ivan to consecrated as the Antoniy's successor, but Ivan did not get the patriarchal approval.

In 1458 two metropolises of Kiev and all Russia and Halych were merged by the Patriarch of Constantinople into one, the Metropolis of Kiev, Halych and all Russia.

List of metropolitans
Kingdom of Galicia and Volhynia
  • 1303–1305 Niphont
  • 1305–1326 Peter of Kiev (as Metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia)
  • 1326–1329 Gabriel
  • 1337–1347 Teodore
Kingdom of Poland
  • 1370–1391 Antoniy (as Metropolitan of Lithuania and Russia Minor)
    • Ivan, bishop of Lutsk
    • liquidated since 1406

See also

References

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