Maximus or MaximosMay
Cathedral of St John in DC. Johann von Gardner, Vladimir Morosan
Russian Church Singing, vol. II
'. (; ; died 6 December 1305) was a

metropolitan bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...

of the

Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' The Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' (; ) was a Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolis of the Eastern Orthodox Church that was erected on the territory of Kievan Rus'. It existed between 988 AD and 1590s AD. The long lasting "tug of war" ...

in the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is heade ...

. He was consecrated in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

and reigned from 1283 to 1305. Maximos was of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

origin. At that time, the Rus' princes were vassals of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...

. Khan Tokhta wanted to eliminate the princes' semi-independence. To that effect, he had sent his brother Tudan to the Rus' lands in 1293. Tudan's army devastated fourteen towns. Tokhta himself (also known as Tokhta-Temur) went to

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

and forced

Dmitry of Pereslavl Dmitry Alexandrovich (; 1250–1294) was Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1276 to 1281, and again from 1283 until 1293. Biography Dmitry was the second son of Alexander Nevsky. When his elder brother Vasily died young, Dmitry remained the chie ...

(also known as Dmitry Alexandrovich), who was allied to Nogai Khan, to abdicate. Rus' chronicles depicted these events as "The harsh-time of Batu returns.". Some sources suggest that Tokhta and Nogai, who was effectively the co-emperor, had worked together. Maximos was known for his ecclesiastic trips to the Golden Horde and for mediating between the quarreling princes of the north-eastern Rus' (e.g. Dmitry of Pereslav and Andrey of Gorodets, the sons of

Alexander Nevsky Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (; ; monastic name: ''Aleksiy''; 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) was Prince of Novgorod (1236–1240; 1241–1256; 1258–1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1249–1263), and Grand Prince of Vladimir (1252–1263). ...

). Under instructions from the Khan, Maximus left

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

in 1299 and transferred the metropolitan chair to the city of Vladimir on the Klyazma which is situated east of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. Following that, Patriarch

Athanasius I of Constantinople Athanasius I of Constantinople (; – 28 October 1310) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople for two terms, from 1289 to 1293 and from 1303 to 1309. He was born in Adrianople and died in Constantinople. Chosen by the emperor Androniko ...

established the Metropolis of Halych in 1303 with its see in

Halych Halych (, ; ; ; ; , ''Halitsch'' or ''Galitsch''; ) is a historic List of cities in Ukraine, city on the Dniester River in western Ukraine. The city gave its name to the Principality of Halych, the historic province of Galicia (Eastern Europe), ...

in the

Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia The Principality or, from 1253, Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, also known as the Kingdom of Ruthenia, Kingdom of Rus', or Kingdom of Russia, also Halych–Volhynian Kingdom was a medieval state in Eastern Europe which existed from 1199 to 1349. I ...

. In 1301, Maximos attended a patriarchal council in

. He supported the Prince of Tver and Vladimir Mikhail Yaroslavich in his struggle with Prince of Moscow Yuri Danilovich for the title of

Grand Prince of Vladimir The Prince of Vladimir, from 1186 Grand Prince of Vladimir (), also translated as Grand Duke of Vladimir, was the title of the monarch of Vladimir-Suzdal. The title was passed to the prince of Moscow in 1389. Overview The monarch of Vladimir-Su ...

. He was

canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

in the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

, and his feast day is celebrated on December 6 (December 19, N.S.).

References

Bibliography

* * * ** (updated, open-source version of the same article)

External links

St Maximus, Metropolitan of Kiev
Orthodox Synaxarion
Icon of the Mother of God of St Maximus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maximos, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus 13th-century births 1305 deaths 13th-century Greek people 14th-century Greek people Metropolitans of Kiev and all Rus' (988–1441) Greek saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Year of birth unknown