The bishop of Volodymyr-Brest, Benedict Glynskij, who was Zalenskyj's uncle by the side of his mother, before he died in 1677, had Zalenskyj elected as coadjutor bishop for his diocese. Zalenskyj received the appointment from King John III Sobieski on 30 November 1678 and shortly later he was consecrated a bishop by Metropolitan Kyprian Zochovskyj.[2] In 1679 Zalenskyj became the titular bishop of Volodymyr-Brest, with the title of Protothronius (first after the Metropolitan).
When in October 1693 the Metropolitan Kyprian Zochovskyj died without a coadjutor, Zalenskyj was chosen to temporarily lead the Church because he was the Protothronius. A few months later, in 1694, the Greek-Catholic bishops met in Warsaw and elected him as new Metropolitan.[3] His election was confirmed by the king and finally by Pope Innocent XII on 16 September 1695.[4][5]
Zalenskyj was a firm supporter of the Union of Brest, and in the first part of his reign he obtained an enlargement of his Church, with the adhesion to the Union of the Archeparchy of Lviv on 9 June 1700 (the eparch of Lviv, Josyf Sumljanskyj, privately adhered to the Union already some years before).[5] He also succeeded in repairing the relations of the Metropolitan with the Basilian monks which had become strained under his predecessor.
^The title is also known as the Metropolis of Kiev, Halych and all Rus' or Metropolis of Kyiv, Halychyna, and All-Rus'. The name "Galicia" is a Latinized form of Halych, one of several regional principalities of the medieval state of Kievan Rus'.
References
^ abWelykyv, Athanasius (1958). "Leonis Slubicz-Zalenskyj Biographia". Epistolae metropolitarum Kioviensium catholicorum Cypriani Zochovskyj, Leonis Slubicz Zalenskyj, Georgii Vynnyckyj. Analecta OSBM. Serie 2. Sectio 3. Rome. pp. 176–178.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
