Saint Photius,
Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, was by birth a Greek from the
Peloponnesian city of Monembasia (Malbasia). While still in his
adolescence he entered a monastery and was tonsured under the Elder
Acacius, a great ascetic (afterwards the Metropolitan of Monembasia). In
1408, when Photius was in Constantinople with the Patriarch on church
matters, the question arose about a replacement for the Russian See
after the death of St Cyprian (September 16). The choice of Patriarch
Matthew (1397-1410) fell upon Photius, known for his learning and
holiness of life. On September 1, 1408 St Photius was made Metropolitan
and in the next year arrived in Rus.
He spent half a year at Kiev (September
1409-February 1410), concerning himself with settling affairs in the
southern dioceses of the Russian Church, then included within the
principality of Lithuania, or more precisely, of Lithuania and Russia.
The saint perceived that the throne of the Metropolitan, the spiritual
center of churchly life in Rus, could not remain in the Kiev lands,
where everything increasingly fell under the dependence of Catholic
Poland. On the day of Holy Pascha in 1410, Metropolitan Photius arrived
in Moscow following the example of former Russian Metropolitans, who
transferred their residence first to Vladimir, then to Moscow.
For 22 years the saint labored in the difficult
service of archpastor of the Russian Church. In grievous conditions of
war, fratricidal strife, and pillaging incursions of Tatars he knew how
to highly advance the spiritual significance, the material prosperity
and well-being of the churches under the See of Moscow.
Favorable conditions in the Church allowed St
Photius to render great assistance to the increasingly impoverished
Patriarch of Constantinople, and to strengthen the international
position of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian realm.
The enemies of Orthodoxy tried to subvert the
churchly-patriotic service of St Photius more than once. In the spring
of 1410, when St Photius arrived in Vladimir from Moscow, Khan Edigei,
having laid waste this portion of the Russian Land for two years,
undertook a new campaign with the intent of capturing the Metropolitan
himself. A Tatar detachment, headed by Prince Talychoi "the Exile,"
suddenly and quickly took Vladimir, but God preserved His righteous
saint.
The evening before, not suspecting danger, the
saint had gone off to the Svyatoozersk (Holy Lake) monastery beyond the
city. When the Tatars attempted pursuit, he concealed himself in a small
settlement, surrounded by impassable swamps, at the River Senega. Unable
to capture the Metropolitan, the rapacious Tatars plundered Vladimir,
especially the Dormition cathedral church. The doorkeeper of the
cathedral, Patrikii, endured terrible torments and accepted a martyr's
death from the plundering Tatars, but he did not reveal where the church
sacred items and treasury were hidden.
Through the efforts of Metropolitan Photius the
canonical unity of the Russian Church was restored. The separate
Lithuanian metropolitanate, established by Prince Vitovt for the
southern and western eparchies [dioceses], was abolished in 1420. In
that same year the saint visited the returned eparchies and greeted the
flock with an instructive encyclical. The wise and erudite pastor left
behind many instructions and letters. Of great theological significance
was his denunciation of the heresy of the Strigolniki, which had arisen
at Pskov prior to his time. By his wise efforts the heresy was put to an
end in 1427.
Important Church historical sources compiled by
St Photius are his "Order of Selection and Installation of Bishops"
(1423), " Discourse on the Seriousness of the Priestly Office and the
Obligations of Church Servers," and also the "Spiritual Testament", in
which he tells of his life. Another great work of the saint was the
compilation, under his guidance, of the Obscherussk (All-Russian)
Chronicle (about 1423).
On April 20, 1430 the holy archpastor was
informed by an angel of his approaching end, and he reposed peacefully
on the Feast of the Placing of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos at
Blachernae, on July 2, 1431. His relics were uncovered in the year 1471.
Two sakkoi (robes) of St Photius are preserved in the Armory Palace of
the Moscow Kremlin.
