# Eparchy of Kyiv (Orthodox Church of Ukraine)

Eparchy of Kyiv (Ukrainian: Київська єпархія) is the central eparchy (diocese) and metropolis of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The eparchy covers the territory of Kyiv Oblast and most of the city of Kyiv.
The seat of the Eparchy is the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery cathedral in Kyiv. It is the primatial Eparchy, its head being the Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine.
There is an ongoing conflict with the "Honorary Patriarch" Filaret for whom the eparchy of Kyiv City was reserved, with its seat in St. Volodymyr Cathedral. Since Filaret was not able to become a Patriarch and the Primate of newly reorganized church, he decided to stay as Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate.

## History

The eparchy claims to trace its heritage to the original eparchy of "Kiev and all Rus'" that dates back to the establishment of the Old Russian (Ruthenian) Church under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Ruthenian archdiocese of Kiev is first mentioned in 891, as the 60th by rank of honor in the list of departments subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and 61st in the charter of Emperor Leo (886-911). From its beginnings, the eparchy was the central or primatial diocese of the metropolis, which also included a number of other dioceses that were created after the baptism of Kievan Rus' during the rule of Great Prince Vladimir in 988.
In reality, the eparchy's history starts with the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia which was erected in 1620 and was absorbed by Moscow in 1722, or, as the Russian Orthodox Church would have it, was "transferred" from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Patriarchate of Moscow.
In the early 18th century, the metropolis was demoted to the rank of an archbishopric during the rule of Tsar Peter I. This lasted until the middle of the century, when the decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna elevated it once again to the rank of metropolis. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the diocese of Kyiv consisted of two parts: one on either bank of the Dnieper River, each of which were subsequently ceded to the provinces of Chernihiv and Poltava.
Since 1918, according to the decision of the All-Russian Church Council of 1917-1918, the bishops of Kyiv are once again the heads of not only the diocese of Kyiv, but of an autonomous Church within the borders of Ukraine. After its liquidation by order of Patriarch Tikhon, the Ukrainian Exarchate was established. The Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, 25-27 October 1990, established the autonomous and self-governing Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with the Diocese of Kyiv as its primatial diocese.
From 2009 to 2013, the eparchy was split between right-bank (Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi) and left-bank (Kyiv and the all Ukraine). In 2013, the division changed with the eparchy covering Kyiv Oblast being headed by the bishop of Pereyaslav and Bila Tserkva and the City of Kyiv being headed by the Metropolitan of Kyiv and the all Ukraine.
During the unification of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and its reorganization in 2019, the eparchy was merged again, also including the eparchy of Kyiv of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. The mother church of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church St. Andrew's Church was reserved as a stauropegion church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople since the original see in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is still held by the Russian Orthodox Church.

## Ruling bishops

with episcopal see in Kyiv

## Established vicar bishops

* Vyshhorod — hegumen of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery
* Fastiv (from UAOC, previously as Vyshhorod and Podil) — hegumen of Stauropegion Monastery of Venerable Paisius Velichkovsky (Sevastopol)
* Olbia — in care of Greek diaspora in Ukraine
* Pereyaslav (former post) — rector Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy (within St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery)
* Boryspil (former post) — in charge of parishes in the United States and Canada, vicar of Ukrainian Orthodox Church
* Bohuslav Богуславський (from UAOC, previously as Bila Tserkva)
* Bilhorod (from UAOC, previously as Sviatoshyn)
* Makariv
* Vasylkiv