Annexation of the Kyiv Metropolis by the Moscow Patriarchate (1685–1690)
The annexation of the independent Ukrainian church through diplomatic pressure and corruption. Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem directly accused the Muscovite envoys of simony: "What [kind of] right is it to snatch away someone else's eparchy? Is it not a shame before people, is it not a sin before God! Thus you send money and lead people astray from their reason..."[1]. The subjugation of the church was justified by geopolitics: "Golitsyn's main project... was the reform of the Ukrainian Orthodox church, or rather, the subordination of the Kyiv metropolis to the Moscow patriarch"[2].
Actors
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy |
To gain control over the church, Moscow employed corruption at the international level. "The Kyiv Metropolitanate was seized... through bribery, manipulation, blackmail..." [3]. The envoy of Constantinople "directly asked the Muscovite envoy for money in exchange for issuing the required charter"[1][4]. |
Techniques Used
| ID | Name | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| T0015 | Bribery of Elites |
To gain control over the church, Moscow employed corruption at the international level. "The Kyiv Metropolitanate was seized... through bribery, manipulation, blackmail..." [3]. The envoy of Constantinople "directly asked the Muscovite envoy for money in exchange for issuing the required charter"[1][4]. |
|
| T0101 | Censorship |
The introduction of censorship control over Ukrainian book printing. Patriarch Joachim prohibited publications without his sanction and sent a "reprimand for publishing books without prior permission." "The anathema of the Russian Orthodox Church on church books printed in the Ukrainian literary language of the time"[5]. [2][6]. |
|
| T0044 | Destruction of Local Knowledge Systems |
The destruction of the Kyiv theological school and the declaration of its works as heresy: "All Ukrainian writings, beginning with the catechism of Petro Mohyla, were declared heretical... the council condemned virtually all the principal works of Kyivan theological scholarship"[6][2]. |
|
| T0024 | Justification Through Religion |
The annexation of the metropolitanate was disguised as the protection of co-religionists. The reform was carried out "relying on the Orthodox movement against the Turkish conquerors... Golitsyn's main project became the subordination of the Kyiv metropolitanate"[2][1][6]. |
|
| T0116 | Religious Assimilation |
Immediately after the subordination began the imposition of Muscovite church standards and rites, which led to the marginalization of local culture. This ecclesiastical absorption "was the beginning... of the Russification of Ukraine"[3][1]. |
|
| .003 | Ban on Worship in the Native Language |
Following the establishment of control over the metropolitanate came a gradual ban on the use of the Kyivan recension of Church Slavonic and of Ukrainian pronunciation in liturgy and books, which laid the foundation for the complete language bans of the 18th century[1]. |
|
| T0100 | Seizure of Religious Institutions |
The liquidation of independent jurisdiction to turn the church into an instrument of assimilation: "The annexation of the Ukrainian church to the Muscovite church in 1686" [3]. Moreover, these actions "were carried out not at all in accordance with lawful canonical prescriptions"[1][6]. |
|
Instruments
| ID | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S0009 | Diplomacy |
To gain control over the church, Moscow employed corruption at the international level. "The Kyiv Metropolitanate was seized... through bribery, manipulation, blackmail..." [3]. The envoy of Constantinople "directly asked the Muscovite envoy for money in exchange for issuing the required charter"[1][4]. |
| S0011 | Moscow Patriarchate |
The liquidation of independent jurisdiction to turn the church into an instrument of assimilation: "The annexation of the Ukrainian church to the Muscovite church in 1686" [3]. Moreover, these actions "were carried out not at all in accordance with lawful canonical prescriptions"[1][6]. |
References
- Вікіпедія. (2026). Анексія Київської митрополії Московським патріархатом — Вікіпедія.
- Татьяна Таирова-Яковлева. (2007). Мазепа.
- Вікіпедія. (2026). Іван Мазепа — Вікіпедія.
- Википедия. (2026). Мазепа, Иван Степанович — Википедия.
- Вікіпедія. (2026). Русифікація України — Вікіпедія.
- Татьяна Таирова-Яковлева. (2011). ИВАН МАЗЕПА И РОССИЙСКАЯ ИМПЕРИЯ ИСТОРИЯ «ПРЕДАТЕЛЬСТВА».