Gabriel Yurij Vynnyckyj ( uk, Юрій Винницький, be, Юры Віньніцкі, pl, Jerzy Winnicki) (1660—1713) was the Administrator of Kiev–Galicia from 1708 and the " Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia" of the

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's C ...

from 1710 to his death in 1713.

Life

Gabriel Vynnyckyj was born in 1660 from an influential family of

Przemyśl Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...

. His uncle Anthony Vynnyckyj on about 1650 was the Orthodox bishop of the town, which initially did not adhere to the

Union of Brest The Union of Brest (; ; ; ) was the 1595–96 decision of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church eparchies (dioceses) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to break relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church and to enter into communion with, and place i ...

thus having for a short period two bishops. In 1679 the older brother of Gabriel, Innokentiy Vynnyckyj became the Orthodox bishop of the town and on 23 June 1691 Inokentij publicly accepted the Union for himself and for his eparchy, and he remained the only bishop of the town after the Greek Catholic bishop Ivan Malaxovskyj on the same year moved to Chełm. Bishop Innokentij Vynnyckyj died on 24 February 1700 and Gabriel Vynnyckyj was chosen for his succession as Eparch (Bishop) of the Eparchy of Przemyśl. Gabriel was still a layman, thus on 20 April 1700 he entered in the Order of Saint Basil the Great taking the religious name of ''Yurij'' (George), and shortly later was ordained as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. On 6 May 1700 he was formally appointed bishop by king

Augustus II Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

, and he was formally elected by the faithfuls and the clergy on 5 June 1700 and so confirmed by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

on 14 August 1700. He was ordained as

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in the same year by the Metropolitan of Kiev

Lev Zalenskyj Lev Shlubych Zalenskyj ( uk, Лев Шлюбич-Заленський, be, Леў Шлюбіч-Заленскі, pl, Lew Ślubicz-Załęski) (c. 1648—1708) was the " Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia" in the Ruthenian Uniate Chur ...

. In 1707, after the death of bishop Joseph De Camillis, he was appointed administrator of the Eparchy of Mukacheve for which there were political problems for the succession. In 1708 he became also administrator of the eparchies of

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

and Volodymyr. At the death of Metropolitan of Kiev, Lev Zalenskyj, he was also appointed administrator of

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

(28 August 1708). He was shortly later elected Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia, but because of the ongoing

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...

, he could be formally confirmed by the king only until 1710. Soon after, on 7 May 1710, he was confirmed by

Pope Clement XI Pope Clement XI ( la, Clemens XI; it, Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI w ...

. As soon as he was formally confirmed as Metropolitan, he could appoint bishops for the other eparchies he was administrator. Vynnyckyj was the leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in a very difficult period, during the

(1700-1721), and under the armed opposition of

Peter I of Russia Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

to the Greek Catholic Church, particularly in the eparchy of Lutzk. He anyway worked hard to implement the

union of Brest The Union of Brest (; ; ; ) was the 1595–96 decision of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church eparchies (dioceses) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to break relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church and to enter into communion with, and place i ...

, and under his reign the stauropegic confraternity of Lviv accepted the Union in 1709 and also the important

Pochayiv Monastery __NOTOC__ Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra ( uk, Свято-Успенська Почаївська Лавра, translit=Sviato-Uspenska Pochaivska Lavra, russian: Свято-Успенская Почаевская Лавра, pl, Ławra Poczajowska) ...

adhered to it in 1712. In 1712 he endowed a large amount of money for the construction of a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

in Przemyśl. He died on 22 September 1713 in Straszewice (now ambir Raion,

Lviv Oblast Lviv Oblast ( uk, Льві́вська о́бласть, translit=Lvivska oblast, ), also referred to as Lvivshchyna ( uk, Льві́вщина, ), ). The name of each oblast is a wikt:Appendix:Glossary#relational, relational adjective—in Englis ...

, Ukraine).

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vynnyckyj, Yurij 1660 births 1713 deaths People from Przemyśl People from Ruthenian Voivodeship Ruthenian nobility of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Order of Saint Basil the Great Metropolitans of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia (Holy See) Ukrainian male writers Bishops of Przemyśl Leaders of the Ruthenian Uniate Church