Saint Peter (Grave), Metropolitan of Kyiv. Monument to Metropolitan Peter's grave in the Lavra of Theology and Writings
The existence of the Orthodox Church" (TSE). With his participation, the largest educational center in Ukraine was founded - the Kiev-Mohyla Academy.
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Peter Mogila
Metropolitan of Kyiv (1596-1647). His father was first the ruler of Wallachia (1601-1607), then of Moldavia (1607-1609). In 1612, the Graves, after their defeat by Cantemir Murza, who took over the reign, had to flee to Poland, where they had strong and wealthy relatives. At the Lviv fraternal school, P. received an education in a strictly Orthodox spirit, decisively hostile to the union. He completed his education by traveling abroad, where he attended lectures at various universities. He was fluent in Latin and Greek. At first he was a military man, participated in the Khotyn battle; but, probably under the influence of the Kyiv Metropolitan Job Boretsky, he decided to take holy orders. In 1627, he was elected Archimandrite of Kiev-Pechersk, nominally subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople, but not the Metropolitan of Kyiv, and bearing the title of “Great Archimandrite.” Job, dying, left Peter his library and appointed him executor. During the archimandrite of P. Mogila and under his leadership, the condemnation of the “Apology” of Meletius Smotrytsky took place (1628); At the same time, enmity was determined between Boretsky’s successor, Isaiah Kopinsky, and P. Mogila. P. Mogila, not wanting to obey the metropolitan in anything, set up a higher school separately from the Kiev fraternal school at the Kyiv Lavra “for teaching the liberal sciences in Greek, Slavic and Latin” (1631); but when the brothers recognized him as the guardian and guardian of their school and subordinated it exclusively to the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, P. united his Lavra school with the brotherly one. In 1632, when Vladislav IV was elected king of Poland, P. Mogila was the representative of the people of Kiev in Warsaw. He obtained recognition of the legal existence of the Orthodox Church along with the Uniate Church; one of the conditions of this agreement was the dismissal of many previously elected bishops and the selection of new ones. Metropolitan of Kiev Isaiah Kopinsky was declared defrocked, and P. Mogila was chosen in his place, preserving the Lavra archimandriteship. The “degradation” of Kopinsky and the dedication of P. Mogila took place in Lviv (1633) and was performed by the Lviv bishop, as the exarch of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Then P. Mogila went to Kyiv, where upon entering he was greeted with two famous panegyrics - from the Lavra brethren and the fraternal school. After Isaiah, not without a struggle, left his see, P. began to take away monasteries and churches from the Uniates, including the St. Sophia Cathedral and the Vydubetsky Monastery. The ancient church of St. He restored and built Vladimir the Savior on Berestov, as well as the Church of the Three Saints, which he gave to the fraternal monastery. In 1635, the remains of the Tithe Church were discovered and cleared of ruins. P. Mogila took funds for organizing churches and monasteries from everywhere: from the Lavra, from his personal property, from the donations of pious people, and finally turned to the Tsar of Moscow for help. P. Mogila paid special attention to the Kiev-Brotherly, called Mogilyanskaya, school; Efforts to rename it an academy were unsuccessful, but it was completely organized and provided for. The teaching staff was at the height of their calling under P. Mogila; Professors, before starting teaching, were sent abroad to study. The Kiev governor, an ardent Catholic, Jan Tyshkevich, caused P. Mogila a lot of grief, persecuting the school students with all his measures, often quite unfairly. When he was Metropolitan, P. Mogila published, among other things, the following books: Gospel Teaching, teachings on holidays and Sundays by Patriarch Callistus of Constantinople (1637; in 1616 this Gospel was published for the first time in Western Russian literary language); Anthologion, that is, prayers and spiritual teachings for the spiritual benefit of the students (1636); Euchologion albo prayer book (or missal; 1646). P. Mogila prepared for publication Catechism for all Orthodox Christians; it was discussed at the Council of Kiev in 1640 and the Council of Iasi in 1643, was sent for verification and approval to the Eastern patriarchs, but was printed only in 1662, in Amsterdam, in Greek. For the sake of the extreme need for such a book, P. Mogila published “Collection of a short science on the articles of faith of Orthodox Catholic Christians” (1645). For the book by Afanasy Kalnofoisky, published by P. M. "Тερατоυργήμα" (1638), P. himself delivered stories about the miracles of Pechora. P. took a great part in the compilation of the sharply polemical work “Λίθоς” (see Lifos). Of P. Mogila’s sermons, two are known: “The Teaching on the Cross of Our Lord and Every Christian” and “A Sermon on the Marriage of Janusz Radziwiel.” Notes P. The graves were partly published in the "Kyiv Eparchy Vedas." 1861-62 Finally, P. Mogila conceived two colossal works: “The Lives of the Saints” (this work was completed only by Dmitry of Rostov) and the correction and establishment of the Slavic text of the Bible, completed no earlier than the half of the 18th century.
See Golubev, “P. Mogila and his associates” (vol. 1, before the start of P. Mogila’s service as a metropolitan); Bantysh-Kamensky, “Historical Notice of the Union”; Krachkovsky, "Essays on Uniate life"; prof. Tarnovsky, "P. Grave" (in "Kyiv Starina" 1882, No. 4); Levitsky, "Union and Petro Mogila".
I. Zh-tsky.
(Brockhaus)
Peter Mogila
Mitrosholmt of Kyiv and Galicia, Exarch of Constantinople.
Peter was born on December 21, 1596 in the family of the Moldavian ruler Simeon, who bore the surname Mogila. This surname corresponds to the Russian surname of the Kholmsky princes and comes from the Moldavian word mohila, meaning hill, elevation. His paternal uncle, Jeremiah, was the ruler of Moldavia, and his father, Simeon, was the ruler of Wallachia and then of Moldavia. Both of these rulers were distinguished by their commitment to Orthodoxy, tried to patronize the Lviv Orthodox brotherhood and sent it significant financial benefits for the construction of the fraternal church.
He received his education at the Lviv fraternal school.
He attended a full course in verbal science and theology at the University of Paris. Fluent in Latin and Greek.
After the seizure of the rule of Moldavia by Cantemir Murza in 1612, the family of Peter (Mogila) was forced to seek refuge in Poland, where they had strong family ties. Here Peter first entered military service and took part in the famous battle of Khotyn in 1621.
But a few years later, probably under the influence of Metropolitan Job of Kyiv (Boretsky, † 1631), he decided to leave the world and around 1624 he entered the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. In 1625 he was tonsured a monk.
In April 1627, Archimandrite Zacharias (Kopystensky) of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra died, and in the same year the brethren elected Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) as rector.
On April 28, 1633, he was consecrated in Lviv by Bishop Jeremiah of Lvov (Tissarovsky, † 1641) as a bishop and elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia.
According to the will, he was buried in the crypt of the Great Church of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, in the middle part of the temple.
Peter (Mogila) came from a noble Moldavian family, famous for its zeal for the Orthodox faith. A brilliant future could have awaited him, but he left everything and came to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra to share the fate of the Orthodox monks persecuted by the Polish authorities. It must be said that, despite the persecution, many highly educated monks gathered in the Lavra at that time, who set themselves the goal of supporting Orthodoxy. Among them were Svyatogorsk monks: Cyprian, educated in Venice and Padua; Josephus, protosingellus of the Patriarch of Alexandria; Vilna Archpriest Lavrenty Zizaniy Tustanovsky and others. Some of them were engaged in translations of patristic books, others wrote works in defense of Orthodoxy. The Lavra printing house printed books for churches and schools.
In such an environment, the young monk Peter completed his education, which began abroad. Inspired by their example, with the blessing of Metropolitan Job (Boretsky) and Archimandrite Lavra Zacharias (Kopystensky), at his own expense he sent several capable young people abroad to improve in the sciences.
In 1627, after the death of Archimandrite Zacharias, at the insistence of the learned monks, 30-year-old Peter was elected archimandrite of the Lavra. He did not relinquish this title even when he was a metropolitan and always took great care of the Lavra. Through his care, the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God was renovated, the holy caves were decorated, and the ancient Monastery of St. Nicholas was returned under the control of the Lavra; He founded the Goloseevsk Hermitage and set up an almshouse at his own expense.
He also put a lot of effort into the founding of a higher theological school in Kyiv, necessary to protect Orthodoxy from the Uniates who received higher education in Rome and in their colleges.
Archimandrite Peter waited for the return of the young men sent abroad and appointed them as teachers, took scientists from the Lviv brotherhood, organized a school in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra on the model of the then Latin colleges, and in 1631 transferred it to the Brotherhood Monastery and connected it with the fraternal school. This was the beginning of the Kiev-Mohyla Collegium, which in 1701 was transformed into the Kyiv Theological Academy. The first dormitory for poor students was organized at the school. To maintain the school, Peter (Mogila) gave several villages from his estate and Lavra volosts. The creation of this school was blessed by the Patriarch of Constantinople Cyril Lukaris, Metropolitan of Kiev Isaiah (Kopinsky, † 1640), and was approved in writing by the Orthodox bishops and the most distinguished clergy and the Lavra brotherhood. One of the brethren signed this way: “Antony Muzhilovsky, hieromonk and elder of the Pechersk monastery, is ready to shed his blood.”
In 1628, under the leadership of Archimandrite Peter, the “Apology” of Meletius Smotrytsky was condemned.
In 1632, Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) was a deputy at the Sejm in Warsaw, which elected the new king of Poland, Wladyslaw IV. At this time, through the intensive efforts of Peter (Mogila) and other Orthodox deputies, for the first time after the founding of the union, the existence of the Orthodox Church along with the Uniate was solemnly recognized. One of the conditions of the agreement with the Polish king Vladislav IV was the dismissal of many previously elected bishops and the selection of new ones. Metropolitan Isaiah (Kopinsky) of Kiev was declared defrocked, and Peter (Mogila) was elected in his place, retaining the Lavra archimandriteship. This election gave rise to reproaches to Peter for his ingratitude towards his benefactor, Metropolitan Isaiah. But Peter understood that the fight against the Uniates was just flaring up, that the elderly and weak Metropolitan Isaiah could not wage it energetically enough; he himself brought this to the attention of the Orthodox members of the Sejm and without hesitation accepted the election, and then the consecration.
Taking advantage of the rights that the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv gave him, Peter (Mogila) began to return to the Orthodox churches and monasteries that had been captured by the Uniates, including the St. Sophia Cathedral and the Vydubitsky Monastery. He restored the ancient Church of the Savior on Berestov, as well as the Church of the Three Saints, which he gave to the Bratsky Monastery. In 1635, the remains of the Tithe Church were discovered and cleared of ruins, under the ruins of which the relics of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir were found. Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) took funds for the restoration of churches and monasteries destroyed during the union from everywhere: from the Lavra, from his personal property, from the donations of pious people, and turned to the Tsar of Moscow for help.
In his spiritual testament, Metropolitan Peter wrote: “... seeing that the decline of faith and piety in the Russian people comes from nothing other than their complete lack of education and schools, I made a vow to my God: all my property inherited from my parents , and all that will remain from the income from the estates belonging to the holy places entrusted to me through my service, will be used in part for the restoration of the destroyed churches of God, of which miserable ruins remain, and in part for the founding of schools in Kyiv and the establishment of the rights and liberties of the Russian people.. "Therefore, Metropolitan Peter attached great importance to the publication of church books. Under Peter (Mogila), the Kiev-Pechersk printing house became the most important among Western Russian printing houses, both in terms of the number and merit of its publications. He corrected and published the Service Book in 1629, in which for the first time an explanation of the liturgy was given for the guidance of priests, which was not included in the previous Service Books. The Psalter and Lenten Triodion were published twice. In the last edition, the Triodion was collated with the Greek text with the “care” of Archimandrite Zechariah (Kopystensky) and it contained synaxari translated from Greek by Tarasius Levonich Zemka “into general Russian conversation,” that is, into a simple common language. Akathists were published twice. In 1629, the Nomocanon was published with a preface by Peter (Mogila). The Colored Triodion and the Missal were even published with his “blessing and correction,” or “care,” that is, they were previously corrected by him himself. Under him, the Patericon of Pechersk was compiled and the custom of celebrating passions was introduced. In 1637, with the blessing of Metropolitan Peter (Mogila), the Teaching Gospel was published in the Kyiv Lavra. By 1640, Metropolitan Peter had prepared the Catechism and considered it at the Council in Kyiv. Then the Catechism was sent to the Council of Iasi for the consideration of all the Eastern Patriarchs. Under the name of Metropolitan Peter (Mogila), the Catechism became known both in the East and in Russia. Having approved the Catechism, they ratified it with their signatures on May 11, 1643. Metropolitan Peter's wish was fulfilled. All that remained was to print it. The Metropolitan never waited for the return of his book from Constantinople. But without losing hope of publishing the Catechism in its entirety when it was received from Constantinople, the Metropolitan decided to immediately print it in an abbreviated form. The book was published in the Kiev-Pechersk printing house, first in Polish, accessible to people of other faiths, in order, as stated in the preface, “to shut the mouths of the shameless enemies of Eastern Orthodoxy, who dare to raise various heresies against it,” and then in 1645 and Russian language to serve as a guide for the Orthodox. How great the need was even for such a short Catechism can be seen from the fact that in 1646 it was reprinted twice in Lvov by Bishop Arseny of Lvov (Zheliborsky, u1662), and in 1649, with some changes, it was printed in Moscow with the blessing of Patriarch Joseph († 1652 ). By the end of 1646, Metropolitan Peter published at the Kiev-Pechersk printing house a book that was of great importance for the Church - “Euchologion, Albo Prayer Book, or Trebnik.”
Metropolitan Peter sought to give the Orthodox clergy reliable guidance for the performance of sacraments and other church services, which would not contain errors and would contain rites for all occasions in church, public and private life. In addition to the text of the service itself, Metropolitan Peter also included in his Trebnik instructions for priests on how they should prepare and begin the service, and how to understand the meaning of this or that rite. He pointed out difficult cases and gave explanations for them. The significance of the Trebnik, compiled by Metropolitan Peter (Mogila), is still great for the Church; and now they turn to him as an authoritative guide in resolving controversial issues of Orthodox liturgical practice.
The printing of church books continued under Peter (Mogila) in all Western Russian printing houses. There were three printing houses in Lvov. At that time, up to 25 church books were printed in all these Lviv printing houses. The monks of the Vilna Holy Spirit Monastery worked in two of their printing houses at once - in Vilna and Evye - and printed up to 15 books. There was now only one in Kyiv - the Kiev-Pechersk printing house, and up to 12 books were printed in it. Peter (Mogila) paid special attention to the printing of church books. In the Lavra printing house, all books were printed only with his “blessing and command”; with some, he placed a preface to the readers on his own behalf.
Particular work was required to expose the writings of the apostate from Orthodoxy Cassian Sakovich, who in 1642 published a book in Polish entitled: “Perspective, or Image of the errors, heresies and superstitions of the Greco-Russian Dezunitic Church, found both in the dogmas of faith and in the performance of the sacraments and in other rites and ceremonies." Sakovich’s book, imbued with obvious hostility towards the Church to which he once belonged, filled with lies, slander and ridicule against it and presenting its state in the darkest, most desolate form, could not help but make a painful impression on the Orthodox, especially on their Archpastor Peter (Grave), and he did not remain silent. In 1644, he published a book in Polish under the title “Liphos, or the Stone thrown from the slingshot of truth of the holy Orthodox Russian Church by the humble father Eusebius Pimen (in Russian: Orthodox pastor) to crush the false Prospect of... Cassian Sakovich.” It was a complete apologetics of the Orthodox Western Russian Church against the then attacks on it by the Uniates and Latins, and partly its liurgics with an explanation of its worship, sacraments and rituals, its fasts, holidays, the structure of churches, and so on. In Moscow, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, this book, entitled “Stone,” in a Slavic translation, was copied back in 1652.
Metropolitan Peter led a strictly ascetic life.
He died suddenly, having lived only 50 years. Nine days before his death, feeling sick, he wrote a spiritual will. He bequeathed to his beloved Kyiv College a library, real estate acquired for it, and a significant amount of money, and obliged its mentors to live by his rules and commemorate him every Thursday. Metropolitan Peter bequeathed many things to the Lavra and other monasteries and churches that he built from the ruins. He could well have said: “Everything that I had, I dedicated with myself to the praise and service of God.”
“The name of Peter Mogila is one of the best adornments of our church history. He undoubtedly surpassed all contemporary hierarchs of not only the Little Russian, but also the Great Russian Church and even the entire Eastern Church, surpassed him in his enlightenment, even more so in his love for enlightenment and his exploits in the benefit of enlightenment and the Church,” wrote the outstanding historian of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov, † 1882).
But there is also a completely opposite opinion about him. Here is the review of Archbishop Filaret (Gumilevsky, † 1866): “I sincerely admit that I really don’t like Mogila in terms of his way of thinking and some of his deeds, and he has almost nothing of his own, and everything that is named after him does not belong to him. Therefore I would very much not like him to be given an honorable place among the teachers and educators of the Church. Papistic enthusiasm or fantasy do not give the right to such a title.”
Proceedings:
Lenten Triodion. - Kyiv, 1627. Agapit of the deacon, the chapters are instructive. - Kyiv, 1628.
Akathists. - Kyiv, 1629. Service book. - Kyiv, 1629. Nomocanon. - Kyiv, 1629. Colored Triodion. - Kyiv, 1631. The cross of Christ the Savior and every person. - Kyiv, 1631.
Anthology, that is, prayers. - Kyiv, 1636. Teaching Gospel. - Kyiv, 1637. Liphos, or the Stone thrown from the slingshot of truth of the holy Orthodox Russian Church by the humble father Eusebius Pimen to crush the falsely dark Perspective... Cassian Sakovich. - Kyiv, 1644; M., 1652. Collection of short science on the articles of faith of Orthodox Catholic Christians. - Kyiv, 1645.
A word on the marriage of Janusz Radziwill. - Kyiv, 1645. Short catechism. - Kyiv, 1643; Lvov, 1646; M., 1649.
Euchologion, albo Prayer Book, or Trebnik. - Kyiv, 1646.
Spiritual testament // Monuments issued by the temporary commission for the analysis of ancient acts, the highest established under the Kiev, Podolsk and Volyn governor-general: in 4 volumes - 1845-1859, p. 149-181. Certificate to Belsky citizens with a blessing for the establishment of a brotherhood and school // Acts related to the history of Western Russia, collected and published by the Archaeographic Commission: in 5 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1846-1853. - T. 5, No. 9. Certificate given by Peter Mogila to Lviv typographer Mikhail Slezka for the production of books // Kyiv Diocesan Gazette. - 1873, No. 22. - Dept. 2, p. 645-652. Orthodox confession of faith. - Amsterdam, 1662; M., 1696.
Literature:
Potorzhinsky M. A. History of Russian church preaching in biographies and examples from the half of the 9th-19th centuries. - 2nd ed. - Kyiv, 1891, p. 164.
Popov M. S., priest. Saint Demetrius of Rostov and his works. - St. Petersburg, 1910, p. 55. Tolstoy M.V. Stories from the history of the Russian Church. - M., 1873, p. 497-505. Zakharchenko M. M. Kyiv now and before. - Kyiv, 1888, p. 56, 59, 60, 62,100,104, 107, 182, 200, 206, 209, 214, 248, 250, 282, 283, 286.
Edlinsky M.E., priest. Ascetics and sufferers for the Orthodox faith and the Holy Russian land from the beginning of Christianity in Rus' to later times. - 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg, 1899. - T. 2, p. 159-171.
Verbitsky V. Trip to Valaam // Historical Bulletin. - St. Petersburg, 1913, March, p. 988-1015. Sementovsky N. M. Kyiv, its shrines, antiquities, monuments and information necessary for its admirers and travelers. - 6th ed. - Kyiv and St. Petersburg, 1881. Golubev S. T. Kiev Metropolitan Peter Mogila and his associates: in 2 volumes - Kyiv, 1883-1898. - T. 1.
Bulgakov S.V. Handbook for clergy. - Kyiv, 1913, p. 1403. Illustrated cross calendar for 1883 // Ed. A. Gatsuk. - M., 1883, p. 134. Ratshin A. Complete collection of historical information about all ancient and currently existing monasteries and notable churches in Russia. - M., 1852, p. 123. Stroev P. M. Lists of hierarchs and abbots of monasteries of the Russian Church. - St. Petersburg, 1877, p. 4.
Sergius (Larin), bishop. Orthodoxy and Hitlerism (typescript). - Odessa, 1946-1947, p. 110.
Denisov L.I. Orthodox monasteries of the Russian Empire: a complete list of all 1105 currently operating in 75 provinces and regions of Russia. - M., 1908, p. 164,167,295,307,383,397, 478, 717, 828.
Chronicle of church and civil events, explaining church events, from the Nativity of Christ to 1898, Bishop Arseny. - St. Petersburg, 1899, p. 641, 643, 647, 648, 652. Beketov P. P. Portraits of eminent men of the Russian Church with the appendix of their short biographies. - M., 1843, p. 5-6. Filaret (Gumilevsky), archbishop. Review of Russian spiritual literature: in 2 books. - 3rd ed. - St. Petersburg, 1884, p. 190-193. Lives of the saints, in Russian, set out according to the guide of the Chetyih-Menya of St. Demetrius of Rostov with additions, explanatory notes and images of the saints: in 12 books. and 2 books. add. - M., 1903-1911, 1908, 1916; September, p. 408, approx. 2. Orthodox interlocutor. - Kazan, 1897, December, p. 708.
Additions to the Church Gazette. - St. Petersburg, 1897, No. 1, p. 23.
Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy. - 1869, July-September, p. 439-486. - 1870, July-September, p. 110, 129, 154, 438, 542, 562, 563, 575. - 1888, February, p. 206. - 1890, November-December, p. 535-557. Soulful thoughts. - M., 1878-1887; 1884, p. 357-400. Russian monk. - 1916, No. 6, p. 371. Russian pilgrim. - 1893, No. 44, p. 695. Russian antiquity. - St. Petersburg, 1872, December, p. 687.
1876, June, p. 288-289. - 1888, November, p. 543. - 1907, May, p. 381. - 1911, June, p. 634. Church newsletter. - St. Petersburg, 1891, No. 41, p. 650; No. 42, p. 665. - 1895, No. 10, p. 310. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. - M., 1950, No. 7, p. 29. - 1954, No. 5, p. 35. News from the Kazan diocese. - 1884, No. 4, p. 125.
Russian archive. - M., 1895. - Book. 2, no. 7, p. 350, 352.
Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary: 2 volumes // Ed. P. P. Soikina. - St. Petersburg, b. g. - T. 2, p. 1802-1803. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 41 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907. - T. 23-a (book 46), p. 484-485.
N. D[urnovo]. Nine hundredth anniversary of the Russian hierarchy 988-1888. Dioceses and bishops. - M., 1888, p. 14.
Russian Orthodox Church 988-1988. Essays on the history of the I-XIX centuries. - M., 1988. - Issue I, p. 64-69.
Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. History of the Russian Church: in 9 volumes - M., 1994-1997. - T. 6, p. 335, 343, 345-347, 445-447, 450, 451, 454, 460, 462, 466-468, 470-481, 483, 488, 493, 495-501, 505-507, 511-524, 528- 534, 538, 540, 542, 544, 549-556, 560-571, 573, 576, 602, 618, 623, 626-629, 633-635, 637.
Peter Mogila
Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and All Rus', Exarch of the Patriarchal Throne of Constantinople and Archimandrite of the Kiev Caves Monastery, was born in Moldova around 1597. His father Simeon Ioannovich was Prince Voloshsky. Some of the Kievites, according to legend, claimed that he was brought up at the University of Paris and graduated there from the circle of Literary Sciences before Theology. This is also printed by Ruban in the Kiev Catalog of Metropolitans. Then, in his young years, he served with the Poles during various military campaigns and provided them with many services, especially near Khotyn. Finally, having arrived at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra under Archimandrite Zacharias Kopystensky, he cut his hair in 1625 as a monk; and after the death of this Archimandrite he was elected and, with the permission of the Polish King Sigismund III, confirmed in his place and, with the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople Kirill Lukar, promoted to this rank in 1628 by the Kyiv Metropolitan Job Boretsky. In 1632, by the will of King Vladislav IV and with the consent of all the pious people in the Polish Region, he was elected Metropolitan of Kyiv with the provision of the Archimandry of Kiev-Pechersk to him. With this choice and with a decree passed by the Polish King, the Rector of the Kyiv Schools, Hieromonk Isaiah Trofimovich, was sent to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and when he brought an affirmative Letter, Peter Mohyla was consecrated on April 8, 1633, as Metropolitan of Kyiv by the pious Greek-Russian Confession Moldavian Bishops to the city of Lviv, in the Fraternal Church of the Stavropegia of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Until that time, the Uniates owned the Sofia See and almost ruined it, and the Orthodox Kyiv Metropolitans lived at the Church of St. Michael the Golden-Domed Archangel. But Peter, upon entering the administration of the Metropolis, immediately took away the Cathedral Church of Hagia Sophia from the Uniates, renewed it and re-consecrated it; and he added to it with all its accessories the St. Michael’s Monastery of Vydubitsky to place there the Coadjutor of his Metropolis, which, however, he did not have in his entire life. He also restored the Church of the Tithes at the Kyiv Gates of Vladimir, already covered with ruins. Then he turned his first attention to the improvement of the Kyiv Schools, the foundation of which was laid back in 1620 by the Letters of Theophan of Jerusalem, who was then returning from Moscow through Kyiv to the East; but due to various obstacles and the devastation of Kyiv from enemy invasions, this institution was not successful. Peter Mogila gave it a new and strongest foundation in 1631, while he was still an Archimandrite; and brought it to perfection, already being a Metropolitan; and that is why the Kyiv Academy was called for a long time Kiev-Mohyla, and he himself is in Will he called it his only pledge (Collegium unicum pignus meum). He started there complete classes in philosophy and theology in Latin, Polish and Little Russian; asked in 1633 from the Polish King and the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for a special privilege for this Academy to establish a printing house with it; sent young Monks and Students to the Lvov Academy and other foreign Schools for education as teachers; to support them and the students, he ceded many Metropolitan estates to the Academy; donated his library and did not spare any dependencies or labors.
The Kiev Academy, remembering all these good deeds of him, later, according to his will, ordered that every year on the day of his death, after the service of the Little Vespers, teachers and students gather for the Great Cathedral Panikhida and speak the Word in praise of him over his tomb, in the large Pechersk Church behind the left winged between the pillars. Another concern of Peter Mogila was to eradicate the depraved opinions that had crept into the Little Russian Churches from the West and to supply the Clergy with correct liturgical books, especially those relating to the Confession of Faith and Rites. For the Catholics and Uniates then spoiled such books, and they authentically published them under the guise of Orthodox ones.
In the very first year of his Archimandriteship, 1629, he published Liturgiarion,si is the Missal from the Liturgies of St. Basil,John Chrysostom and the Presanctified and the daily ministries of the Priests and Deacons, both night and day, are spoken of in this content. In the Preface to this Missal, which was composed by Tarasy Zemka, Preacher and Inspector of the Kiev-Pechersk printing house, it is said among other things that Peter Mogila, after correcting this Service Book, promised to soon and Interpretation of the Liturgy to attach, and that he had already begun to work on this, but this work remained unpublished. For, having entered the Metropolis of Kyiv, he began to focus more on the publication of Dogmatic books.
At this end, he convened in Kyiv a Council of Little Russian Bishops subject to himself with other Spirituals and, from September 8, 1640, having opened it, continued for 10 days the Meetings at which the Catechism, composed by the Kiev-Nicholas Monastery by Hegumen Isaiah Trofimovich Kozlovsky, was heard, and proposals were made various issues related to rituals, opinions and customs of the Church, and in conclusion it was decided to send all the provisions of this Council to the Patriarch of Constantinople for consideration in the next Lent. Unfortunately, the true acts of this Council have not reached us and are probably completely lost or destroyed by the enemies of the Church; but only two rules thereof, 26th o Funeral Procession and Lithium, or Processions around the Church, and 66th o burial of priests and their memory, known to us from Trebnik Peter Mogila himself, part 1, pp. 546 and 751, and another Rule about state of souls after death given in the book of Ioannikiy Galatovsky, published in Chernigov in 1687 under the title Souls of dead people, sheet 24. But a brief description of all these Council Meetings, and some of the resolutions that lasted from September 8 to 18, was made (with malicious criticism, however) by the Uniate Archimandrite of the Derman Monastery, Jan Dubovich, and published in Warsaw 1641 in Polish under the Russian title: Kyiv Cathedral Schizmatica,Metropolitan Peter Mogila compiled and perfected 1640G. and so on, and published a second time in 1642 by the apostate Cassian Sakovich. Patriarch of Jerusalem Nektarios, in the preface to the book Orthodox Confession, testifies that at this same Council this book was compiled, or at least it was supposed to be compiled and sent for consideration to the Church of Constantinople; and the author of it, Nektariy and the Moscow Patriarch Adrian, in their Preface to it, name Peter Mogila himself. He sent this book in simple Greek and Latin with his three Deputies (Rector of the Kyiv Academy Isaiah Trofimovich Kozlovsky, Joseph Kononovich Gorbatsky and Ignatius Oksenovich Starushich) to the former in 1643 from the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Kyiv Clergy in the Moldavian city of Iasi, at the request Lord of Moldova John Vasilyevich, the Council on the Calvinists, and at the seventh Council it was reviewed, corrected, approved by the Deputies of Constantinople and sent to the Eastern Patriarchs for final approval. But Peter Mogila could not wait for its return to himself and in 1645 he published it in Kyiv in Polish and Polish-Russian and again in 1646 in Lvov only Shorter Catechism, in the Preface of which he promised to soon publish a most detailed presentation of the Faith, meaning by this the above-mentioned book; and in 1646 he published it there Great Trebnik into a sheet with the addition of various Theological, Casuistic and Ritual instructions for the Priesthood. But in the same year, 1646, December 31, on the night of New Year, he died.
After him Small Catechism it was reprinted in Moscow in 1649 in 4 sheets under Patriarch Joseph, with amendments according to the then way of thinking and with translation of Polish-Russian words in the margins; and the book of his Orthodox confession wandered around the East for a long time and was unknown to Russia. Nicusius-Panagiot, who was the chief translator of the Greeks at the Ottoman Court, in 1662 published it in one Greek language in Amsterdam, in 8 parts of a sheet, for distribution as a gift to his fellow believers in the East. Then, by order of the Patriarch of Constantinople Dionysius, it was printed a second time from this edition in Holland in 1672, and after Laurentius Norman, the former Uppsala professor and then Bishop of Gothenburg, translated it into Latin, and his translation, along with the Greek original, was published in Leipzig 1695 g. in the 8th share of the sheet, adding his Preface about the importance,authors and various editions of this book. From the Dutch edition it was translated with the permission of Joachim, Patriarch of Moscow, in 1685 into the Slavic language in the Moscow Miracle Monastery, and at the request of the Kyiv Metropolitan Varlaam Yasinsky, it was printed by Patriarch Adrian in Moscow in 1696 in sheet form, with the addition two Words of John of Damascus on the veneration of Holy Icons; then again in Moscow in 1702 in the 8th share of a sheet, in Kyiv in 1712 in the 4th share of a sheet, in Chernigov in 1715 and St. Petersburg in 1717 and 1772. in the 4th lobe of the sheet and then repeatedly in different places. In 1769, the Moscow Archangel Cathedral, Archpriest Pyotr Alekseev, printed it in Moscow for university students in civil letters on the 8th part of a sheet with Historical, Geographical, Dogmatic and Verbal notes; but with such notes he explained only the first part of this book. Meanwhile, in Bucharest it was still published in one Greek language in 1699. Leonard Frisch, having translated it into German, published it in Berlin in 1727 in 4 parts of the sheet, and Karl Gottlob, combining the Greek original with the Latin Norman and German Frisch translations, printed in Breslavl 1751 in 8 sheets and attached instead of the Preface History of the Russian Catechism. The aforementioned Archpriest Peter Alekseev, having added the 4th Slavic text to this Hoffmann edition, began to print all these 4 parts together in Moscow in 1781; but printed only one part of the 1st and 30 Questions of the 2nd part; and then the publication was stopped for some bold additions to the note. For more information about this book, see Discourse on the Book,called the Orthodox Confession of Faith, read at the Alexander Nevsky Academy on January 25, 1804, by the Candidate of Theology, Alexei Bolkhovsky, and the same year printed at the Holy Synod in St. Petersburg in 4 shares of sheet.
In addition to the above-mentioned works, Peter Mogila undertook to translate and publish in Slavic Lives of the Saints, composed by Simeon Metaphrastus; but did not have time to begin this work. TO Patericon He composed for Pechersky Preface; and from Teachings one of it was printed in Kyiv in 1632. About The Cross of Christ and every person, in 4 parts of the sheet. Tatishchev, in his Russian History, part 1, p. 33, and following him, others also mention something he composed Russian History, or Chronicles, supposedly in Kyiv for its signing. But to this day it is not yet known to the world. There is also his book, composed in 1642, entitled Lyphos or Stone With slings of truth of the Church of Holy Orthodox Russia,to crush a falsely darkened perspective,or pointless slander,from Kassiyan Sakovich and so on, this book was published by Mogila under the name Eusevia Pimina, 1644 in Kyiv.
Tredyakovsky, in his Discussions about the ancient,Middle and New Russian Poems, considers Peter Mogila to be the head of the average Russian Poem, that is, Syllabic Prosody with rhymes, consisting of counting only syllables without scansia, following the example of the Polish one. Peter Mogila himself composed many such poems for different occasions and for different books. But poems similar to them were written by the Little Russians much before him.
(1596–1647)
The future Saint Peter (Mogila) was born on December 21, 1596 in Suceava, the third son in the pious family of high-born Moldavian boyars Mogila (in modern Romanian transcription - Movila), who at that time occupied the royal thrones of the Danube principalities. At baptism he was named in honor of St. Peter of Moscow, as he was born on the day of his memory. His father Simeon Mogila was the ruler of Wallachia in 1600-1602, and from 1606 until his death in 1607, the ruler of Moldavia. In 1612, the Graves, after their defeat by Cantemir Murza, who took over the reign, had to flee to Poland, where they had strong and wealthy relatives.
He received his education at the Lviv fraternal school in a strictly Orthodox spirit, hostile to the union. He continued his education by traveling abroad, where he attended lectures at various universities - in particular, he took a course in verbal science and theology at the University of Paris.
He served in the Polish troops and distinguished himself in the battle of Khotyn. However, probably under the influence of the Kyiv Metropolitan Job (Boretsky), he decided to leave military service and take holy orders. Around 1624, he entered the Kiev Pechersk Lavra to share the fate of the Orthodox monks persecuted by the Polish authorities. At that time, many highly educated and active monks gathered here, the translation of patristic books, the compilation and publication of works in defense of Orthodoxy were underway. In such an environment he completed his education.
With the blessing of Metropolitan Job and Archimandrite Lavra Zacharias (Kopystensky), at his own expense he sent several capable young people abroad to improve in the sciences.
In 1627, after the death of Archimandrite Zacharias, at the insistence of the learned monks, he was elected archimandrite of the Lavra. Through his care, the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God was renovated, the holy caves were decorated, the ancient Hermitage-Nicholas Monastery was returned under the control of the Lavra, the Goloseevskaya Hermitage was founded, and an almshouse was established at his expense.
Under his leadership, the condemnation of the “Apology” of Meletius (Smotrytsky) took place in 1628.
Being nominally subordinate directly to the Patriarch of Constantinople as a stauropegial “great archimandrite,” he was not subject to the Metropolitan of Kyiv. Peter was close to Metropolitan Job (Boretsky) - the latter, dying, left his library to Peter and appointed him executor. But with his successor, Metropolitan Isaiah (Kopinsky), Peter developed a less trusting relationship - according to some historians, hostile. This opposition may have been the reason why Peter took up the founding of a new Orthodox educational center in Kyiv, despite the already existing Kiev fraternal school.
Archimandrite Peter put a lot of effort into founding a new higher theological school at the Lavra - the first of its kind in the East Slavic lands. Upon the return of the young men sent abroad, he appointed them as teachers, and also took scientists from the Lvov brotherhood. He organized the first hostel for poor students in the Lavra, giving several villages from his estate and Lavra volosts to support the school. A new school “for the teaching of the liberal sciences in Greek, Slavic and Latin” opened in 1631. Soon, when the Kyiv brothers recognized him as the guardian and guardian of their school and subordinated it exclusively to the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Peter united his Lavra school with the brotherly one. This work was blessed by Patriarch Kirill (Lukar) of Constantinople, Metropolitan Isaiah (Kopinsky-Borisovich) of Kiev, and approved in writing by Orthodox bishops and the most distinguished clergy and the Lavra brotherhood.
By that time, the Polish heir to the throne, Prince Vladislav, showed himself ready to give the Orthodox the right to legal existence, having developed a corresponding bill in the Sejm commission. Archimandrite Peter, who was then in Warsaw, wrote from there to all Russians, so that they would not agree to accept the conditions set out in the draft, and convinced them to use the elected Diet to achieve full satisfaction of the demands. When the Sejm came, at which Vladislav was elected king on November 8, 1632, new conditions for the legalization of Orthodoxy were adopted, according to which, for the first time after the conclusion of the Union of Brest in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the existence of the Orthodox Kyiv Metropolis and four dioceses was solemnly recognized at the state level. One of the conditions for the legalization of the Orthodox Church was the dismissal of many previously elected bishops and the election of new ones. At the same time, at the Sejm, Metropolitan Isaiah was declared defrocked and the Orthodox delegates elected Peter (Mogila) as the new metropolitan, retaining the Lavra archimandriteship for him. This was done in the context of a new war with the Moscow state, in which Vladislav needed the support of the Orthodox Russian population of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the former Orthodox hierarchy, which had suffered the hardships of persecution against Orthodoxy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, leaned towards the side of the Russian Orthodox Church and Moscow. In addition, Archimandrite Peter pointed out to the Orthodox delegates of the Sejm that the fight against the Uniates was now just flaring up, and the decrepit Metropolitan Isaiah would not be able to wage it energetically enough.
Immediately at the Sejm, already as an elected metropolitan, Peter began to petition for the transformation of the Fraternal Epiphany School he had established into an academy. The Roman Catholic and Uniate clergy, as well as some of the noblest members of the Diet, strongly opposed this. But the king did not dare to antagonize the Orthodox and, at the persistent request of Peter, gave him the privilege, where, instead of an academy, the school was called a college with an extensive course in theology and philosophy.
The removal of Metropolitan Isaiah was legalized by the church by the fact that the Patriarch of Constantinople Kirill (Lukar) sent the elected Bishop Peter an archpastoral blessing for the metropolis. However, among the Orthodox there were also supporters of the removed Metropolitan Isaiah, who blamed Peter for personal ambition. Therefore, Peter arranged his consecration not in Kyiv, but in Lvov. Here, on St. Thomas Week, April 28, 1633, he was consecrated bishop with the elevation to the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia, and the former Metropolitan Isaiah was “degraded.” The ordination was led by the Lvov bishop, using the powers of the exarch of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Then the newly installed metropolitan went to Kyiv, where upon entering he was greeted with two famous panegyrics - from the Lavra brethren and the fraternal school. Upon entering Kyiv, he had to ban and depose the priests who stood for Isaiah, and forcibly transport the former metropolitan himself to the Lavra.
Upon his accession to the metropolitan throne, he began to organize the Kyiv Collegium, which invariably enjoyed his special attention and received the name Mogilyanskaya in his honor. She was completely settled and provided for, although she suffered oppression from the Kyiv governor. The Kiev-Mohyla College became the first higher educational institution in the East Slavic lands. In order to confront modern Roman Catholic scholarship on the same level, Metropolitan Peter borrowed the entire structure of the new school from Latin-Polish models, which he thus instilled in the South Russian Orthodox environment. Subsequently, the Metropolitan also opened a lower school in Vinnitsa.
He returned and restored a number of ancient Kyiv shrines. He returned the St. Sophia Cathedral and Vydubitsky Monastery, previously captured by the Uniates. He restored and built the Church of the Savior on Berestov and the Church of the Three Saints - the latter was given to the Brotherly Master. In 1635, the remains of the Tithe Church were discovered and cleared of ruins, under the ruins of which the relics of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir were found. Metropolitan Peter planted a linden tree near the ruins that same year. Funds for the restoration of churches and monasteries came from the Lavra, from the metropolitan’s personal property, from donations from pious people, from grants from the Tsar of Moscow.
He paid great attention to the publication of church books, and demanded that no books be printed without comparing them with Greek originals. The Missal, the Colored Triodion and the Breviary with important instructions for clergy were significantly revised, expanded and published. Divine services under the Metropolitan began to be performed especially solemnly and splendidly. Metropolitan Peter actively introduced and restored Greek prayers and rites among the Slavic people. In his Trebnik, for example, the prayer of St. Sophronius of Jerusalem for the Great Blessing of Water was introduced; in his Lenten Triodion, for the first time in the Slavic world, a complete Synodik appeared on the Sunday of Orthodoxy - one of the most significant doctrinal documents of the Orthodox Church. However, at the same time, under Roman Catholic influence, a number of rites that were new to the Orthodox Church were introduced, the most notable of which were the Lenten passions in remembrance of the Passion of Christ and the reading introduced into the Trebnik. Wherein
Under Bishop Peter, Righteous Juliania, Princess Olshanskaya, was glorified. He made efforts to glorify the Pechersk saints throughout the church, and under him the Patericon of Pechersk was compiled.
Among the numerous theological works of Metropolitan Peter, a special place was occupied by the defense of the Orthodox against accusations of Protestantism and the expression of the correct teaching in catechetical form. The appearance in 1629 of the Calvinist “Confession of Faith” under the name of the Patriarch of Constantinople Cyril (Lukar) caused confusion in the Orthodox community, aggravated the polemics of Roman Catholics against Orthodoxy, and prompted Metropolitan Peter to respond. A special occasion was the denunciation of the writings of the apostate from Orthodoxy Cassian Sakovich, who accused Orthodoxy of adopting reformist opinions. In response to this libel, Metropolitan Peter took an active part in the compilation of the accusatory collection “Λίθος, or Stone,” as well as in the preparation of a religious treatise - the so-called. “Confessions of Peter Mogila” (see more details).
In 1640, Metropolitan Peter convened a Local Council in Kyiv, at which Sakovich’s work was refuted and, after some corrections, the prepared Orthodox confession of faith was adopted. At the Council of Iasi in 1642, this confession was further adjusted and sent for translation and verification to the Eastern patriarchs. In 1645, the Metropolitan published one of the editions of the “Confession” in Kyiv, after which a number of new editions appeared in different languages and became widely circulated as an important doctrinal document of the Orthodox Church.
Metropolitan Peter was fully fluent in Latin and Greek. He led a strictly ascetic life. He was in awe of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and considered it a place of the special presence of God.
Before his death, he bequeathed to the Kyiv College his library, real estate acquired for it and a significant amount of money, and ordered its mentors to live by his rules and commemorate him every Thursday. He bequeathed a lot to the Lavra and other monasteries and churches that he built from the ruins. He died on December 31, 1646, on the night of 1647. According to his will, he was buried in the crypt of the Great Assumption Church of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, under the left choir in the middle part of the temple.
The body of Metropolitan Peter rested at the burial site until the Second World War. In November 1941, the Great Lavra Church was blown up, and the explosives were placed near the burial place of the saint. The coffin with the remains was completely destroyed; only silver plates with the family coat of arms and epitaph were preserved, which were found during excavations in 1982 by an archaeological expedition led by V. Kharlamov.
Troparion, tone 4
Like a hardworking heli-grader, you were the Holy Hierarch, Father Peter the Wise, with your teachings you fertilized our entire land, with the prayers of the saints of Pechersk we constantly strengthen. Moreover, together with them, we stand before the Throne of the King of Glory, praying to protect our flock from the evil of the superstitious, to deliver this city and our country from all troubles, and to give peace and great mercy to people.
Kontakion, tone 2
You truly appeared to the zealot and luminary of the Metropolis of Kiev, Father Peter, the companion of the Monk Job in protecting the Orthodox Church, of piety and the dogmas of the fathers. And you fearlessly armed yourself against the wiles of the devil. In the same way, now do not cease to pray for us to the Lord, so that our souls may be saved.
A few days before the Nativity of Christ (according to the old style), on December 21, 1596, a boy was born into the pious family of Moldavian boyars Movile. Nadezhda of a famous family, the third son, who years later will be looked upon as a worthy heir to the Moldavian throne.
He was named Peter (Petru) - in honor of the Moscow Metropolitan Peter, since the birthday of the first coincided with the day of remembrance of the second. It is unlikely that anyone then suspected that the newly baptized baby himself would later become the Metropolitan of Kyiv.
It is very symbolic that the future saint was born in the tragic year 1596 for the Church. This year, the Union of Brest was adopted, according to which part of the Western Russian Orthodox Church in the territory under Polish rule fell away from the Mother Church and forcibly joined Roman Catholicism. And in the same year, the Movile family officially ascended to the Moldavian throne, which it was able to hold on, with interruptions, for not much more than 15 years.
There are two legends about how the Movile surname originated. According to one of them, preserved in Moldavian chronicles, the rise of the family name dates back to the 15th century - to the time of the reign of Stefan IV, whom his contemporaries and descendants called the Great, as the founder of the Moldavian principality. However, the great ruler was short in stature. During one of the battles with the Hungarians (according to another version with the Turks) in 1486, a horse was killed near Stefan. The warrior Herold Purig, who was next to his commander, gave him his horse and, kneeling down, said: “Allow me, sir, to serve you instead of the hill.” The Lord, with the help of Purig, jumped on his horse and answered: “From a hill I will make you a hill (in Moldavian Movile, Russian version - Mogila).” This is how, according to legend, the famous Moldavian surname arose.
It is not surprising that the personality of a prominent church figure of the first half of the 17th century, Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia St. Petra Mohyla has been attracting attention for three and a half centuries. His name is associated with the appearance of the landmark Catechism (“Orthodox Confession of Faith”) (1643, 1649, 1662, 1696), the Trebnik (1646) and the Service Book (1629, 1639), which were landmarks for Slavic Orthodoxy. The facsimile republication in several volumes of the Trebnik, carried out by the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in 1999, was not intended at all for medieval historians and archaeographers, but for serving priests, which speaks of the true imperishability of the spiritual and literary work of Peter Mogila. The Kiev College founded by him, transformed at the beginning of the 18th century into the Kiev-Mohyla Academy (the first higher educational institution in the East Slavic lands!), made it possible to socially legalize Orthodoxy, introduce it into the pan-European cultural context, fight for it in the cultural language of their confessional opponents (Uniates and Catholics).
Saint Peter was in awe of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. He considered it a chosen vessel of Divine grace, a place of the special presence of God, which, moreover, was under the special protection of the Queen of Heaven. The Lord was called its Great Archimandrite and fully justified this high title. Under him, the Lavra was not only landscaped externally and internally. With his blessing, all Divine services began to be performed especially solemnly and splendidly. A new tradition was also introduced - to perform the Passion every Lent, with the reading of the Gospel about the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Akathist to the Passion of Christ, which is fulfilled in the Church to this day.
And it is no coincidence that it was under Vladyka Peter that Juliania, Princess Olshanskaya, was glorified, whose relics now rest in the Near Caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Subsequently, Saint Peter made an attempt to achieve church-wide glorification of the Council of the Kiev-Pechersk Saints, who until his time were revered only as locally revered Saints. His predecessor Zacharias Kopystensky arbitrarily included the names of some of them in the festive Menaion along with the names of the general Church Saints. But the Bishop wanted to achieve conciliar recognition of the Church of Constantinople.
When Peter Mogila became Metropolitan of Kyiv, a Canon was compiled (around 1643) by the Venerable Pechersk, the author of which is considered to be the hieromonk of Constantinople and Patriarchal Exarch the Greek Meletius Sirig. The canon existed in two versions - in Church Slavonic and Greek. It was first published in the Lavra edition of the Followed Psalter in 1643–1644. Later, the Saint commissioned the “Synaxarium” (“Synaxarion” (“Messyatslov”) on Mount Athos by St. Simeon Metaphrastus, which contained brief Lives of the Saints and interpretations of the holidays. St. Peter wanted to translate it, supplement it with the Lives of the Russian and Pechersk Saints and publish it in Church Slavonic, but did not have time. This titanic work was subsequently carried out by a student of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, St. Demetrius of Rostov.
But Vladyka Peter’s “Handwritten Notes” is also a unique monument of church history and literature. “Carefully collecting information about the blessed phenomena in the Kiev-Pechersk monastery,” wrote S. Golubev, “Peter Mogila, with no less zeal, collected and entered into his book stories (and sometimes personal observations) in general about all the most remarkable miracles and events in the church Orthodox (South Russian, Moldovan-Vlachian and partly Greek), mainly paying attention to those of them that clearly showed the superiority of Orthodoxy over other faiths and, moreover, exposed the failure of the latter.”
The saint has an entry in his diary about an event that showed the lack of grace of the Uniate Church. Saint Peter recorded that one day, during a service performed by the Uniate Metropolitan Hypatius Potsey, wine, instead of being transformed into the Blood of Christ, turned into ordinary water.
Later, Vladyka entered into religious polemics and struggle with opponents of the fatherly faith and the Orthodox Church. He wrote and published several religious and polemical books, which took a long time to mature and bear. There is reason to assume that their appearance, as well as the creation of other works, was facilitated by the Goloseevsky solitude - a small monastery built by the Saint in the outskirts of Kyiv, four years after his elevation to the rank of Archimandrite of the Pechersk (Goloseevskaya hermitage).
However, the activities of Peter Mogila have always raised many questions and ambiguous interpretations: on the one hand, he socially legalized Orthodoxy in Ukraine and Belarus, on the other, many of his innovations are considered as a result of the influence of the Roman Catholic Church and Western culture. On the one hand, Peter Mohyla, it seems, was ready to make concessions, but on the other hand, he was adamant in the field of preserving the Orthodox rite and developing church “infrastructure” (through his efforts the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv was rebuilt, many churches of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra were restored Tithe Church).
Moscow Metropolitan Macarius Bulgakov wrote in “History of the Russian Church”: “The name of Peter Mogila is one of the best decorations of our church history. He undoubtedly surpassed all the contemporary hierarchs of not only the Little Russian, but also the Great Russian Church and even the entire Eastern Church - he surpassed him in his enlightenment, and even more so in his love for enlightenment and his exploits for the benefit of enlightenment and the Church. For his Little Russian Church, he rendered the greatest service in that he defended before King Vladislav IV its most important rights, scolded by the Latins and Uniates, and courageously defended it throughout his entire archpastoral service; restored much in it that had previously been overthrown or destroyed by enemies and laid the foundation for a better order of things. He rendered a great service to the entire Russian Church by founding and providing for his college, which served as the first breeding ground and model for religious educational institutions in Russia. To the entire Orthodox Eastern Church - because he took care to compile the “Orthodox Confession”, accepted and approved by all its high priests and to this day remaining its symbolic book.”
For almost 300 years, the body of the Kyiv archpastor rested in the crypt under the left choir of the Assumption Cathedral. But during World War II, in November 1941, when Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, was occupied by Nazi troops, the Great Lavra Church was blown up. The explosives were placed precisely near the burial place of Saint Peter, so the coffin with the remains of the Saint was completely destroyed. Only silver plates with the family coat of arms and epitaph remained, which were found during excavations in 1982 by an archaeological expedition led by V. Kharlamov. On the ruins of the Assumption Cathedral, archaeologists established the burial place of the Saint, determined what the coffin was made of and how the sarcophagus was lined... How prophetic were the words of Metropolitan Lazar Baranovich: “The grave hid the grave from us!”
But his works remain! And near the ruins of the Tithe Church, blown up in Soviet times, the linden tree planted by St. Peter in 1635 is still growing (and blooming in its time!). Through the prayers of St. Peter, in 1993, the revival of his beloved monastery began - Goloseevskaya Hermitage, abolished and destroyed during Soviet times. And the first Liturgy was served there on the day of remembrance of the Holy Great Martyr John of Sochava (heavenly patron of the Movile family), in whose honor Vladyka Peter built the first church in Goloseevo.
And 55 years after the terrible explosion of the Assumption Cathedral, in December 1996, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church canonized Kyiv Metropolitan Peter Mohyla as a locally revered saint.
Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) of Kiev and Galicia was a tireless fighter for Orthodoxy in the difficult historical situation in Ukraine and Belarus in the 17th century. (128).
He was born on December 21, 1596 in the family of the Moldavian ruler Simeon, who bore the surname Mogila. This surname corresponds to the Russian surname of the Kholmsky princes and comes from the Moldavian word mohila, meaning hill, elevation (in modern Romanian - movia).
Peter Mogila received his home education from teachers of the Lviv Orthodox Brotherhood, organized in 1586 to protect and preserve the Orthodox faith. Lviv was located not far from the Moldavian-Vlachian possessions, and the Lviv brotherhood, in need of funds, often turned to the same-faith Moldavian rulers with requests for material assistance. After the announcement of the Union of Brest in Poland and Lithuania (1596), the influence of Catholicism also increased in Moldavia and Wallachia.
To continue his education, Piotr Mogila entered the Polish Academy in Zamosc, and then studied at various educational institutions in Holland and Paris. Upon returning from abroad, Peter Mogila was unable to settle in his native place due to the difficult political situation. He moved to southwestern Russia. He often visited Kyiv, became close to Metropolitan Job (Boretsky) of Kyiv, with whom he was friendly even during the years of his studies. Frequent communication with Metropolitan Job finally shaped the views of Peter Mogila and indicated the path of his life’s activities.
In 1625, Peter Mohyla was tonsured a monk and was accepted into the brotherhood of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. In April 1627, Archimandrite Zakharia (Kopystensky) of this monastery died, and in the same year the brethren elected Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) as rector. The position of rector of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra for Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) provided the opportunity to fight powerful opponents who oppressed the Orthodox Church and threatened it with complete liquidation within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was not the only candidate for rector of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra after the death of Archimandrite Zacharias (Kopystensky): the Uniates tried to take over the position of rector of the Lavra. Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) understood the importance of Orthodoxy for the Ukrainian and Belarusian population of the Polish-Lithuanian state, and decided to devote all his strength to the defense of Orthodoxy, becoming an exponent of the best hopes and national aspirations of the Ukrainian and Belarusian people, at the same time providing great service and fellow believers Moscow.
In those years, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra enjoyed the patronage of the Moscow state. In 1628, a special letter from Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich and Patriarch Philaret addressed to Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) guaranteed the unhindered passage of its representatives to Russia every 5 years to collect voluntary donations from Russian believers and assistance from the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian government.
In the difficult situation of that time, Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) proved himself to be a skillful defender of Orthodoxy from Uniate influence. It is known that a number of Councils - Kiev (1627), Grodek (1628) and Lvov (1629) - were devoted to the search for attempts to find an agreement between the Uniates and the Orthodox. At these Councils, Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) had to prove with sad examples that violent “agreements” could lead to aggravation of relations between Orthodox and Roman Catholics.
In 1629, Patriarch Kirill Loukaris named Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) Exarch of the Throne of Constantinople. Experienced in handling very complex matters, Archimandrite Peter (Mogila), with the assistance of the Orthodox nobility, achieved very important privileges for the Orthodox, despite the opposition of the Catholic and Uniate clergy.
Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) took care of the restoration of ancient church and architectural monuments, the preservation of ancient historical documents, collected and rewrote them, especially those that proved the correctness of Orthodoxy and the inconsistency of the views of its opponents.
The Kiev-Pechersk printing house occupied a leading place among all Ukrainian and Belarusian fraternal printing houses, expanding and enriching itself with experience, new fonts (Polish, Latin) and technical improvements. For 5 and a half years after the appointment of Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) as rector, 15 books written or translated by Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) himself were printed in the Lavra drukarna (printing house). In 1628, his translation from Greek of a book on asceticism, “Agapit of the Deacon, the Instructive Heads,” was published; in 1631 the “Colored Triodion” was published with a preface and explanation of church hymns and a historical outline about them; in the same year, a collection of teachings by Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) was published entitled “The Cross of Christ the Savior and Every Man.” Then the “Liturgiarion, or service book” came out, corrected by Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) according to Greek sources and equipped with explanations of the liturgy. In those years, Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) wrote several canons and church hymns: a canon for the communion of priests, a canon for the exodus of the soul, a canon for the creation of the world, and others. All these canons are written in good Church Slavonic language and are marked with the stamp of outstanding poetic talent and deep understanding of the spirit of church hymns.
After the death of Metropolitan Job (Boretsky; 1631), Bishop Isaiah (Kopinsky) of Przemysl and Sambir was elevated to the metropolitan throne. Like his predecessor, he was a truly popular hierarch. But the question of recognition of him and other hierarchs, ordained at the request of the Kyiv Brotherhood for the Russian population of Poland by Patriarch Theophan of Jerusalem during his visit from Moscow to Ukraine in 1620/21, remained unacceptable for the Polish government, and the Orthodox were forced to retreat and choose new bishops. Archimandrite Peter (Mogila), known for his works for the benefit of Orthodoxy, was elected Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia.
The Polish government was forced to recognize his metropolitan dignity because he was related to several of the most prominent Polish aristocratic families, whose representatives even occupied the royal throne. In addition, in his youth Piotr (Mogila) served in the Polish troops and had military merits.
In 1632, after 45 years of reign, the Polish king Sigismund III died. His son Władysław IV was elected to the Polish throne. For the Orthodox, the time has come for some relief in their situation. Much of the credit for this belonged to Metropolitan Peter (Mogila), who was elected as a deputy from the Orthodox hierarchs to the Sejm, which elected the new king.
In the charter of King Vladislav IV, given on March 12, 1633 to Peter (Mogila), elected to the metropolitan see of Kiev, it was said that the king gives him “the metropolis of Kyiv and Galicia over all Russia in the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, without being in a union, at the Church of St. Sophia, lying in Kyiv.”
At the beginning of April 1633, Peter (Mogila) sent letters to the Orthodox population, inviting them to come to Lviv or send deputies to his upcoming consecration as metropolitan. Peter (Grave) chose Lviv, not Kyiv, as the place of dedication, so as not to put Metropolitan Isaiah (Kopinsky), who was not recognized by the Polish authorities, in a difficult position.
Soon after his consecration, Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) took new steps to defend Orthodoxy. Thanks to his insistence, the Polish government recognized the ancient rights of the Western Russian Church. Since 1635 (Warsaw Sejm), the Western Russian Orthodox Church and the Uniate Church were civilly recognized as two Churches, each with its own hierarchy and with its own special structure. Thus, the Polish government legally recognized the existence of the Orthodox Church in a Catholic state, and this was the indisputable and great merit of Peter (Mogila). He achieved legal sanction for what was actually done to protect and protect the South Russian Church by his predecessor, Metropolitan Job (Boretsky).Establishment of the Academy
Since the time of the Union of Lublin (1569) and especially since the time of the church union declared in Brest in 1596, Jesuits appeared in the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands, setting the goal of joining the Orthodox Church, as they put it, “schismatics” to the Roman Catholic Church. The most far-sighted Ukrainian and Belarusian zealots of Orthodoxy recognized the urgent need for Orthodox Christians to have a deep education, since due to the lack of Orthodox schools, the local population was forced to send their children to Roman Catholic and Jesuit schools, where they often forgot the faith of their fathers and gradually lost their national identity.
The zealots of Orthodoxy established schools in Ostrog, Lvov, Vilna and other cities where brotherhoods were organized, and these schools served in a sense as a stronghold of Orthodoxy. But before Metropolitan Peter (Mogila), they did not rise to the heights that the situation at that time required of them.
An important event during the reign of Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) was the founding of the Kyiv Academy. There was already a school in Kyiv that had existed since the end of the 16th century. at the Fraternal Epiphany Church. But only basic training was conducted there. Meanwhile, the Jesuits had a college in Kyiv, the course of which was quite broad and included both secular and theological sciences. Therefore, Peter (Mogila), while still the archimandrite of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, established a school in the Lavra, similar in methodology to the Jesuit college. Having become Patriarchal Exarch, Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) sent an embassy to Constantinople, asking for the blessing of Patriarch Kirill Lukaris to open “Latin and Polish schools” in Kyiv. He then selected monks capable of book learning and sent them at his own expense to study abroad.
The sending of young people abroad (among whom was the monk Innocent (Gisel), the author of the first textbook on Russian history, the so-called “Synopsis”) was associated with the intention of Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) to open a higher school in the Lavra separately from the fraternal school and to have these trained mentors. Outstanding teachers from other fraternal schools also gathered around Metropolitan Peter (Mogila). These are Isaiah Trofimovich-Kozlovsky And Sylvester Kossov. Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) wanted to build a new school in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
This higher school “for teaching liberal sciences in Greek, Slavic and Latin” held its first academic year of 1631/32 in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in a former hospital building, not far from the Holy Gates. But then it was decided to merge this school with the fraternal school and assign it a traditional place - in the Bratsk Epiphany Monastery. So in 1632 the future Kiev Theological Academy began its existence. It was opened as a collegium. There is information that in March 1633, when King Vladislav IV approved the rights of other Orthodox schools, Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) obtained from the king the rights and name of the Academy for the Kyiv College, but, unfortunately, then he did not want to approve all this with a signature. chancellor, nor sub-chancellor.
During the first 10-15 years of its activity, the Kiev school, reformed by Metropolitan Peter (Mogila), rose so high that it surpassed the best Uniate and Roman Catholic schools. Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) already during his lifetime saw the good fruits brought by the school he founded. The theologians who emerged from its walls were fluent in polemical means to defend Orthodox doctrine; they began to write in Polish and use European editions of the works of the holy fathers of the Church, the acts of the Councils, as well as Roman Catholic and Protestant theological works. Since the founding of the Kyiv Academy, a new period began in the history of theological education in southwestern Russia.
In addition to the Kyiv Collegium, Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) founded school in Vinnitsa as a preparatory course for the Kyiv College; soon it was moved to the town of Goyen, Lutsk povet (district), where a monastery was founded, subordinate to the Kiev Brotherhood School.* * *
The position of the Orthodox Church in Poland under Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) changed significantly for the better. The St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv with the temples assigned to it, the Vydubitsky, Mikhailovsky and Pustynno-Nicholaevsky monasteries and other monasteries and temples came under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Metropolitan, who took measures to restore, renovate and beautify the cathedral, temples and monasteries. The restoration of the neglected and devastated St. Sophia Cathedral, which the Uniates owned for 37 years, began in 1634 and lasted about 10 years. Metropolitan Peter (Grave) ordered the release of the Tithe Church from under the layer of earth, under the ruins of which the relics of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir were found.
To cover expenses, Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) turned to Moscow with requests for donations and added that “more than his petitions” he asks to establish a monastery in Moscow in which a school similar to the Kyiv College would be opened, where “elders and brethren of the cenobitic Kyiv fraternal monastery taught children Greek and Slavic literacy.” This, as his contemporaries reported, was done in Moscow in 1634, and in 1649, the close confidant of Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich, boyar Feodor Mikhailovich Rtishchev, summoned from Kiev the learned monks of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, students and pupils of Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) - hieromonks Epiphanius (Slavinetsky), Arseny (Satanovsky), Damascene (Ptitsky) - and with their help opened a school in the St. Andrew’s Monastery that he founded to teach Moscow young people Greek and Latin.
In 1685 The Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was opened in Moscow. It was structured on the model of the Kiev-Mohyla Church and was the center of higher and secondary spiritual education in Russia.
The Kiev Collegium has long been a model for the organization of religious schools throughout Russia. In its everyday life and organizational forms it served as a model for Russian Theological Seminaries throughout the 18th century, and in the 19th century. The influence of its traditions has not yet disappeared in Russian theological schools.
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Peter, not wanting to obey the metropolitan in anything, set up a higher school separately from the Kiev fraternal school at the Kyiv Lavra “for teaching liberal sciences in Greek, Slavic and Latin languages” (1631), but when the brothers recognized him as the guardian and guardian of their school and Subordinated it exclusively to the authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Peter united his Lavra school with the fraternal one.
Upon arrival in Kyiv, he was greeted by two famous panegyrics - from the Lavra brethren and the fraternal school. After this, Mogila forcibly expelled Metropolitan Isaiah from the pulpit, putting him in prison. “But Mogila had to experience more serious trouble from the former Metropolitan Isaiah Kopinsky. The latter denied the legality of the election of the Pechersk archimandrite to the non-idle metropolitan see and did not want to cede his rights to him. Considerable confusion was expected in the church. Mogila decided to take the most drastic measures against the former metropolitan. By his order, an elderly and sick old man was seized at night in the Kiev-Mikhailovsky Monastery, where he was abbot, in only a hair shirt, thrown over a horse, like some kind of bag, and transported to the Kiev-Pechersk monastery. The Lavra imprisonment, from which Isaiah Kopinsky managed to free himself, of course, could not improve his attitude towards Peter Mogila: indeed, the enmity and struggle between both metropolitans, as we will see, continued subsequently - until the very death of one of the opponents" ( Golubev S. Kyiv Metropolitan Peter Mohyla and his associates. T. 1. 1883. pp. 552-553). With the consent of the Polish king, monasteries and churches were returned to Mogila, including St. Sophia Cathedral and Vydubetsky Monastery. The ancient church of St. He restored and built Vladimir the Savior on Berestovo, as well as the Church of the Three Saints, which he gave to the fraternal monastery.
Mogila paid special attention to the Kiev-Brotherly School, now called Mogilyanskaya. In 1632, the Kyiv fraternal school was merged with the school of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. After the unification, the schools were reorganized into a higher educational institution - the Kiev-Mohyla Collegium, which in 1701 was renamed the academy.
Theologies and writings
While he was Metropolitan Mogila, he published the following books: The Teaching Gospel, teachings on holidays and Sundays by Patriarch Callistus of Constantinople (1637; in 1616 this Gospel was published for the first time in the Western Russian literary language); Anthologion, that is, prayers and spiritual teachings for the spiritual benefit of the people (1636); Euchologion albo prayer book (or Trebnik Peter Mogila; 1646).
He prepared a catechism in Latin called “Orthodox Confession”, which was discussed at the Kiev Council and approved with amendments at the Council in Iasi in 1643. The "Confession" in a Greek translation was sent to the Eastern Patriarchs for verification and approval; Printed only in Amsterdam, in Greek. For the sake of the extreme need for such a book, Mogila published “Collection of a short science on the articles of faith of Orthodox Catholic Christians” (1645).