Anthony (ru: Антоний) was the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' from 1572 to 1581. He was the fifteenth Metropolitan in Moscow to be appointed without the approval of the

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...

as had been the norm. Very little is known of Anthony's life prior to being named metropolitan. From 1568 to his appointment as metropolitan, he was Archbishop of

Polotsk Polotsk (russian: По́лоцк; be, По́лацк, translit=Polatsk (BGN/PCGN), Polack (official transliteration); lt, Polockas; pl, Połock) is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina River. It is the center of the Polotsk Distr ...

and

Velikie Luki Velikiye Luki ( rus, Вели́кие Лу́ки, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪjə ˈlukʲɪ; lit. ''great meanders''. Г. П. Смолицкая. "Топонимический словарь Центральной России". "Армада-П ...

. He was appointed metropolitan by

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Ivan ...

. Anthony's tenure was sometimes difficult, as Ivan the Terrible, in addition to setting up the

Oprichnina The oprichnina (russian: опри́чнина, ) was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass repression of the boyars (Russian aristocrats), including public executions and ...

and engaging in a number of wars that significantly harmed Muscovite society, set about attacking the church during his reign. In 1573 and 1580, Anthony convened church councils to deal with monastic landholdings, probably tied to Ivan's efforts since the 1550s to secularize monastic lands, an effort that was checked by the Stoglav Council in 1551. In 1575, Ivan executed several boyars and okolnichi as well as a number of important ecclesiastics in Cathedral Square in the Moscow Kremlin; among them were Archbishop Pimen of Novgorod and

Archimandrite The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot (''hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") who ...

Evstafii of the

Chudov Monastery The Chudov Monastery (russian: Чу́дов монасты́рь; more formally known as Alexius’ Archangel Michael Monastery) was founded in the Moscow Kremlin in 1358 by Metropolitan Alexius of Moscow. The monastery was dedicated to the mira ...

. The heads of the archbishop and archimandrite along with several other churchmen were thrown into the courtyard of the metropolitan's palace, either as a warning to Anthony or as a suggestion that he was somehow tied to or responsible for their fate.Jack Culpepper, “The Kremlin Executions of 1575 and the Enthronement of Simeon Bekbulatovich,” ''Slavic Review'' 24, No. 3 (Sept. 1965): 503-506, esp. 503-4 Anthony died in the beginning of 1581.

References

Metropolitans of Moscow and all Russia 1581 deaths 16th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops Year of birth unknown Eastern Orthodox bishops of Polotsk Archimandrites {{Christianity-bio-stub