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Church of the Twelve Apostles, Cathedral Square, Kremlin – cathedral church of the Patriarchs of Moscow.

This article lists the metropolitans and patriarchs of Moscow, spiritual heads of the Russian Orthodox Church. Since 1308, there have been 59.

History

The Russian Orthodox Church traces its beginnings to the Christianization of Kievan Rusʹ at Kiev in 988 AD. In 1316 the Metropolitan of Kiev changed his see to the city of Vladimir, and in 1322 moved again to Moscow. In 1589, the see was elevated to a Patriarchate. The Patriarchate was abolished by the Church reform of Peter the Great in 1721 and replaced by the Most Holy Governing Synod, and the Bishop of Moscow came to be called a Metropolitan again. The Patriarchate was restored by the 1917–18 Local Council and suspended by the Soviet government in 1925. It was reintroduced for the last time by the 1943 Bishops' Council, during World War II by the initiative of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. To this date, 19 of the Metropolitans have been glorified in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Metropolitans of Kiev and all Rus' (permanent residence in Moscow, 1325–1441)

For a list of metropolitans before the seat of the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' was moved to Moscow, see List of metropolitans and patriarchs of Kyiv.

No.	Primate	Reign	Notes
1	St. Peter	1308–1326
Seat vacant 1326–1328
2	St. Theognostus	1328–1353
3	St. Alexius	1354–1378
	Mikhail (Mityay) (ru)	1378–1379	Locum tenens
Seat vacant 1379–1381
4	St. Cyprian	1381–1382	First tenure
5	Pimen	1382–1384	In opposition
6	St. Dionysius I	1384–1385	In opposition
Seat vacant 1385–1390
	St. Cyprian	1390–1406	Second tenure
Seat vacant 1406–1408
7	St. Photius	1408–1431
Seat vacant 1431–1433
8	Gerasim (ru)	1433–1435
9	Isidore of Kiev	1436–1441	Deposed by the Grand Prince of Moscow, Vasily II, over his acceptance of the Council of Florence. The deposition was not recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Seat vacant 1441–1448 (according to the Grand Duke of Moscow)

Isidore of Kiev, who was of Greek origin, submitted to the articles of the Bull of Union with the Greeks which united the Orthodox Church in Russia with the Latin Church. Following his acceptance of the Council of Florence, Isidore returned to Moscow in 1441 as a Ruthenian cardinal. He was arrested by the Grand Prince of Moscow — Vasily II, and accused of apostasy. The Grand Duke deposed Isidore and in 1448 installed his own candidate as Metropolitan of Kiev — Jonah. This was carried out without the approval of Patriarch Gregory III of Constantinople. When Isidore died in 1458, the Orthodox dioceses within the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, including Kiev, were reorganized. The metropolitan see was moved to Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A parallel succession to the title ensued between Moscow and Vilnius.

Metropolitans of Moscow and all Rus' (1448–1589)

The Grand Prince of Moscow voided the Union of Florence and imprisoned Metropolitan Isidore for some time. Following that incident, the Grand Prince removed Isidore from office and appointed his own man — Jonah. These decisions were not recognised by Patriarch Gregory III of Constantinople who continued to recognise Isidore as the canonical metropolitan. As a result, in 1448, Jonah unilaterally changed his title to "Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus' " which was tantamount to a declaration of independence of the Church in eastern Rus' from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. All sixteen successive hierarchs of the Metropolis of Moscow and all Rus' were selected by the civil power and installed without the approval of Patriarchate of Constantinople. Successive patriarchs continued to recognize Isidore and his successors as hierarchs of the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus'.

No.	Primate	Reign		Notes
1	St. Jonah	1448	1461	Installed without the approval of Patriarch Gregory III of Constantinople who continued to recognize Isidore until his death in 1458.
2	Theodosius	3 May 1461	13 September 1464	Became the second Metropolitan to be appointed by the Grand Duke of Moscow. He was not recognised by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
3	St. Philip I	11 November 1464	5 April 1473
4	St. Gerontius	29 June 1473	28 May 1489
5	Zosimus	26 September 1490	17 May 1494	Removed from the metropolitan throne on charges of heresy
6	Simon	22 September 1495	30 April 1511
7	Varlaam	3 August 1511	18 December 1521
8	Daniel 1492–1547	27 February 1522	2 February 1539	Deposed by the Shuyskys after the death of de facto regent Elena Glinskaya and the fall of her favorite Ivan Ovchina-Telepnev.
9	St. Joasaphus Skripitsyn died 1555	6 February 1539	January 1542	Deposed by the Shuysky
10	St. Macarius	19 March 1542	31 December 1563
11	Athanasius died 1575	5 March 1564	16 May 1566
12	St. Herman Grigory Sadyrev-Polyev	July 1566		Metropolitan-elect. Expelled from Moscow after a dispute with Ivan IV
13	St. Philip II Feodor Kolychyov 1507–1569	25 July 1566	4 November 1568	Deposed and believed to have been later killed by Ivan IV's officials
14	Cyril III (IV) 1492–1572	11 November 1568	8 February 1572
15	Anthony	May 1572	1581
16	Dionysius II died 1591	1581	13 October 1587	Deposed
17	St. Job	11 December 1587	23 January 1589	Elevated to "Patriarch of Moscow"

Patriarchs of Moscow and all Rus' (1589–1721)

First five Patriarchs (Job, Hermogenes, Philaret, Joasaphus I, Joseph). 19th century lubok

No.	Primate	Reign		Notes
1	St. Job	23 January 1589	June 1605
—	Ignatius	30 June 1605	16 May 1606
2	St. Hermogenes	3 July 1606	17 February 1612
Seat vacant 1612–1619
3	Filaret Fyodor Romanov 1553–1633	24 June 1619	1 October 1633	Father of Michael of Russia
4	Joasaphus I	6 February 1634	28 November 1640
Seat vacant 1640–1642
5	Joseph Ignaty Dyakov	27 May 1642	15 April 1652
6	Nikon Nikita Minin 1605–1681	25 July 1652	12 December 1666
—	Pitirim	1658	1667	locum tenens
7	Joasaphus II	31 January 1667	17 February 1672
8	Pitirim	7 July 1672	19 April 1673
9	Joachim Ivan Savyolov 1620–1690	26 July 1674	17 March 1690
10	Adrian	26 August 1690	16 October 1700
—	Stefan	1700	1721	Locum tenens

Metropolitans and archbishops of Moscow (1721–1917)

No.	Primate	Reign		Notes
1	Stefan Simeon Yavorsky (1658–1722)	1721	1722	President of the Most Holy Synod. Stefan refused to sign the Synod's documents, did not attend its meetings. Peter I apparently appointed him only to give a certain sanction to the new institution.
2	Theophan Prokopovich (1681–1736)	1722	1736	Vice president of the Synod and its prime member since 15 July 1726
Seat vacant 1736–1742
3	Joseph (ru) Volchansky	1 September 1742	10 June 1745	Archbishop of Moscow and Vladimir [1]
4	Plato I (ru) Pavel Malinovsky	5 April 1748	14 June 1754	Archbishop of Moscow and Sevsk [2]
	Hilarion (ru) Grigorovich (1696–1759)	1754–1757		Coadjutor
5	Timothy (ru) Tikhon Shcherbatsky (1698–1767)	22 October 1757	3 January 1767	Metropolitan of Moscow and Kaluga
6	Ambrosius Andrey Sertis-Kamensky (1708–1771)	18 January 1768	16 September 1771	Archbishop of Moscow. Murdered during the Moscow plague riot of 1771
	Samoel (ru)	1771–1775		Coadjutor
7	Plato II Levshin (1737–1812)	20 January 1775	13 June 1812	Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna since 1787
Seat vacant 1812–1818
8	Augustine (ru) Alexey Vinogradsky (1766–1819)	19 February 1818	15 March 1819	Archbishop of Moscow and Kolomna
9	Seraphim (ru) Stefan Glagolevsky (1763–1843)	15 March 1819	19 June 1821	Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna
10	St. Philaret Vasily Drozdov (1783–1867)	15 July 1821	2 December 1867	Archbishop of Moscow and Kolomna, metropolitan since 1826
11	St. Innocent Ivan Veniaminov (1797–1879)	5 January 1868	12 April 1879
12	Macarius I Mikhail Bulgakov (1816–1882)	20 April 1879	21 June 1882
13	Joannicius (ru) Ivan Rudnev (1826–1900)	27 June 1882	17 November 1891
14	Leontius (ru) Ivan Lebedinsky (1822–1893)	17 November 1891	13 August 1893
15	Sergius (ru) Nikolay Lyapidevsky (1820–1898)	21 August 1893	23 February 1898
16	St. Vladimir Vasily Bogoyavlensky (1848–1918)	5 March 1898	6 December 1912
17	St. Macarius II Mikhail Nevsky (1835–1926)	8 December 1912	2 April 1917

Patriarchs of Moscow and all Rus' (restored, 1917–present)

No.	Primate	Election	Reign			Notes
11	St. Tikhon Vasily Bellavin (1865–1925)	1917–18	4 December 1917^[1]	7 April 1925^[2]	7 years, 4 months and 3 days
—	Peter Pyotr Polyansky (1862–1937)	—	12 April 1925	December 1925 / 11 September 1936	10–11 years	Metropolitan of Krutitsy, locum tenens
—	Sergius Ivan Stragorodsky (1867–1944)	—	December 1925	27 December 1936	17 years, 9 months	Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod, acting locum tenens
—	Sergius Ivan Stragorodsky (1867–1944)	—	27 December 1936	12 September 1943	17 years, 9 months	Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, locum tenens
12	Sergius Ivan Stragorodsky (1867–1944)	1943	12 September 1943^[3]	15 May 1944^[4]	8 months and 3 days
13	Alexy I Sergey Simansky (1877–1970)	1945	4 February 1945^[5]	17 April 1970^[6]	25 years, 2 months and 13 days
14	Pimen Sergey Izvekov (1910–1990)	1971	3 June 1971^[7]	3 May 1990^[8]	18 years and 11 months	During Pimen's reign the 1000th anniversary of the Christianization of Rus' was celebrated, and the 1988 Local Council was held in connection with the celebration.
15	Alexy II Aleksei Ridiger (1929–2008)	1990	10 June 1990	5 December 2008	18 years, 5 months and 25 days
16	Kirill Vladimir Gundyayev (born 1946)	2009 [ru]	1 February 2009	Incumbent	15 years, 10 months and 28 days (as of 29 December 2024)

Timeline of patriarchs

References

^ "Tikhon Russian Patriarch". The New York Times. 25 November 1917. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "Patriarch Tikhon Dies Near Moscow". The New York Times. 9 April 1925. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "The Russian Patriarch". The New York Times. 14 September 1943. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "Sergius, Patriarch of Russia, Dies 78". The New York Times. 16 May 1944. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "Alexei Is Elected Russian Patriarch". The New York Times. 3 February 1945. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "Patriarch Alexis Is Dead at 92". The New York Times. 19 April 1970. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ "Metropolitan Pimen Elected Patriarch of Russian Orthodox Church". The New York Times. 3 June 1971. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
^ Bill Keller (4 May 1990). "Patriarch Pimen, 79, the Leader Of the Russian Church Since '71". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 March 2022.