Metropolitan bishop of Moscow, 1448?1461
Jonah of Moscow
(
Russian
:
Иона
,
romanized
:
Iona
; died 31 March 1461)
was
Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus'
from 1448 until his death in 1461.
After
Isidore
was condemned for supporting the
Union of Florence
, Jonah was appointed as metropolitan by a council of Russian bishops at the behest of
Vasily II of Moscow
.
[2]
Like his immediate predecessors, he permanently resided in
Moscow
, and was the last Moscow-based primate of the
metropolis
to keep the traditional title with reference to the metropolitan city of
Kiev
. He was also the first metropolitan in Moscow to be appointed without the approval of the
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
, as had been the norm,
[3]
which marked the beginning of
autocephaly
of the
Russian Orthodox Church
.
[4]
He is recognised as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Career
[
edit
]
From the late 1420s, Jonah had been living in the
Simonov Monastery
in Moscow and was close to
Metropolitan Photius
, who made him a
bishop
of
Ryazan
and
Murom
. Despite sporadic Russian attempts to pressure the patriarch of Constantinople into choosing a metropolitan from Russia's native population, most appointees remained Greeks. After Photius's death in 1431, Grand Prince
Vasily II of Moscow
nominated Jonah for the post of metropolitan, but Patriarch
Joseph II of Constantinople
chose
Isidore
to become the metropolitan.
[4]
After the death of Photius in 1431, Jonah was chosen by the grand prince of Moscow and a council of Russian bishops as the new metropolitan at the end of 1432. However, due to a succession crisis and civil strife in Moscow, he did not hurry to Constantinople to receive his ordination and did not decide to go to Constantinople until the middle of 1435. Meanwhile, at the request of the Lithuanian grand duke
?vitrigaila
, the bishop
Gerasim
[
ru
]
was appointed as metropolitan, but the latter did not come to Moscow and remained metropolitan only in Lithuania. Soon, ?vitrigaila suspected Gerasim of treason and executed him in 1435.
[6]
When Jonah finally arrived to Constantinople in 1436, the patriarch had already chosen the Greek bishop Isidore and appointed the latter as the new metropolitan. Isidore came to Moscow in 1437 and made a good impression there with his diplomatic skills and knowledge of the
Slavonic language
. However, only five months later, in September 1437, he left Moscow to participate to the
Council of Florence
for the unification of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople.
Isidore brought the news of the Council to Moscow in 1441, and according to Russian sources, Vasily II along with a council of Russian bishops condemned the Council in order to protect the purity of the faith.
[4]
Isidore escaped alive, while the metropolitan throne sat vacant for seven years, as no replacement had been sent by Constantinople.
[4]
Vasily II convened a council in 1448 as a result.
[4]
Jonah was elected as metropolitan by a majority of Russian bishops in Moscow on 15 December 1448, without the consent of the patriarch of Constantinople.
[8]
Although not all Russian clergy supported Jonah, the move was subsequently justified in the Russian point of view following the
fall of Constantinople
in 1453, which was interpreted as divine punishment.
[4]
While it is possible that the failure to obtain the blessing from Constantinople was not intentional, nevertheless, this marked the beginning of
autocephaly
of the
Russian Orthodox Church
.
[4]
Jonah's first effort as metropolitan was to recover the areas lost to the Uniate church, and he was able to add Lithuania and Kiev to his title, but he was unable to gain
Galicia
.
From 1451, Jonah purged the regions of Isidore's influence, but in 1458, Lithuania was separated from his jurisdiction. The influence of Catholicism increased in those regions until
Casimir
's inclination toward Orthodoxy was repressed and he accepted the demands of
Pope Callixtus III
.
As soon as Vasily II heard about the ordination of
Gregory
as metropolitan of the newly established
metropolis of Kiev
, he sent a delegation to the Polish ruler warning him to not accept Gregory. Jonah also tasked Vassian of the
Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius
and Kassian of the
Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery
with the goal of persuading local Russian feudal princes and nobles who resided in Lithuania to continue to side with Orthodoxy, but this attempt failed.
The Polish?Lithuanian rulers of those lands ultimately supported Gregory.
[11]
As a result, Jonah and Vasily II tacitly accepted the co-existence of two Russian Orthodox hierarchies.
Jonah died on 31 March 1461.
He was buried in the
Dormition Cathedral
in the
Moscow Kremlin
. He was canonized by
Macarius
at the
Moscow Council of 1547
.
[13]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
ИОНА
//
Orthodox Encyclopedia
- ^
E. E. Golubinskii,
Istoriia russkoi tserkvi
(Moscow: Universitetskaia tipografiia, 1900), vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 469.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Casiday, Augustine (2012).
The Orthodox Christian World
. Routledge. pp. 18?19.
ISBN
978-0-415-45516-9
.
- ^
Zheltov, Mikhail,
Historical-Canonical Basis for the Unity of the Russian Church
(in Russian:
Историко-канонические основания единства Русской Церкви
) (also in Russian on
Academia.edu
)
- ^
Golubinskii,
Istoriia russkoi tserkvi
, vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 479-480, 484.
- ^
Golubinskii,
Istoriia russkoi tserkvi
vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 491-2.
- ^
Golubinskii,
Istoriia russkoi tserkvi
, vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 515.
Bibliography
[
edit
]