Archbishop Herman, born Grigory Sadyrev-Polev in

Staritsa Staritsa (russian: Старица) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities ;Urban localities * Staritsa (town), Tver Oblast, a town in Staritsky District of Tver Oblast ;Rural localities * Staritsa, Astrakhan Obla ...

, was an archbishop of

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...

from 1564 to 1567, and later a candidate for the Metropolitan of Moscow. He died on November 6 1567 in Moscow and was buried in the Church of Saint Nicholas the Hospitable. He was the twelfth 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 ...

as had been the norm.

Biography

Herman took monastic vows in

Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery Joseph Volokolamsk Monastery (Иосифо-Волоколамский монастырь, Волоцкий Успенский Иосифов монастырь in Russian) is a monastery for men, located 17 km northeast of Volokolamsk, Mosco ...

. Here he served under

Hegumen Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen ( el, ἡγούμενος, trans. ), is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called a hegumenia ...

Guriy, who would become the first archbishop of Kazan, and was engaged in copying books. Upon organizing his congregation in Kazan, St. Guriy called for Herman and appointed him head of Bogoroditsky Monastery in

Sviyazhsk Sviyazhsk (russian: Свия́жск; tt-Cyrl, Зөя, ''Zöya'') is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga Rivers. It is often referred to as an island since the 19 ...

. The

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

attached great importance to this

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

in terms of spreading

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

among the non-Russians in the Kazan region. Upon Guriy's death in 1564, Herman was elected his successor. At the insistence of Ivan the Terrible and against Herman's will, he was appointed Metropolitan of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

in 1566. When the Tsar seized land from the aristocrats and imposed repression in a policy called 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 ...

, Herman demanded the Tsar to abolish it. Herman was banished from

in disgrace for this opposition. Herman died in Moscow in 1567. His relics were then transported to Sviyazhsk, where they are resting to this day in Bogoroditsky Monastery. The Russian Church celebrates his memory on 6 November and 23 July (the day his relics were transferred from Moscow to Sviyazhsk).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:German, Metropolitan 1568 deaths Metropolitans of Kiev and all Rus' (Patriarchate of Moscow) Russian saints 16th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown