# List of heads of the Russian Orthodox Church

This is a list of heads of the Russian Orthodox Church.

## Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus
### Kiev Metropolitanate (988–1441)

* St. Michael I (988–992)
* Leontius (992–1008)
* Theophilact (1008 – until 1018)
* John I (1008/18 – c. 1030)
* Theopemptus (c. 1035 – 1040th)
* Cyril I
* Hilarion I (1051–1054)
* Ephraim (1054/1055 – c. 1065)
* Georgius (c. 1065 – c. 1076)
* St. John II (not later than 1076/1077 – after August 1089)
* John III (summer 1090 – before 14 August 1091)
* Nicholas (c. 1093 – before 1104)
* Nicephorus I (18 December 1104 – April 1121)
* Nikita (15 October 1122 – 9 March 1126)
* Michael II (summer 1130 – 1145)
* Kliment Smoliatich (27 July 1147 – early 1155)
* St. Constantine I (1156 – 1158/1159)
* Theodore (August 1160 – June 1163)
* John IV (spring 1164 – 1166)
* Constantine II (1167 – 1169/1170)
* Michael III (spring 1171 – ?)
* Nicephorus II (before 1183 – after 1201)
* Matthew (before 1210 – 19 August 1220)
* Cyril II (1224/1225 – autumn 1233)
* Joseph (1242/1247 – ?)
* Cyril III (1242/1247 – 27 November 1281)
* St. Maximus (1283 – 6 December 1305)
* St. Peter (1308 – 21 December 1326)
* St. Theognostus (1328–1353)
* St. Alexius (1354–1378)
* Michael [ru] (1379)
* St. Cyprian (1381–1383)
* Pimen (1382 – 1384)
* St. Dionysius (1383–1385)
* St. Cyprian (1390–1406 restored)
* St. Photius (1408–1431)
* Gerasimus (1433–1435)
* Isidore (1437–1441)
In 1441, Metropolitan Isidore of Moscow embraced the Union of Florence which briefly healed the Great Schism by re-uniting various Eastern Catholic Churches with the Holy See. Under pressure from Vasily II, princes of the Grand Duchy of Moscow denounced the union with Rome and imprisoned Isidore in the Chudov Monastery for two years. The metropolitan see lay vacant for seven years. In 1448, the secular authorities appointed Jonah of Moscow as metropolitan since Isidore was adjudged to have apostatized to Catholicism. 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. Some time after his appointment, Jonah unilaterally changed his title to "Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus' " which was a de facto declaration of independence of the Church in north-eastern Rus' from the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

## Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia

* Jonah (1448–1461)
* Theodosius (3 May 1461 – 13 September 1464)
* Philip I (11 November 1464 – 5 April 1473)
* St. Gerontius (29 June 1473 – 28 May 1489)
* Zosimus (26 September 1490 – 9 February 1495)
* Simon (22 September 1495 – 30 April 1511)
* Barlaam (3 August 1511 – 18 December 1521)
* Daniel (27 February 1522 – 2 February 1539)
* St. Joasaphus (6 February 1539 – January 1542)
* St. Macarius (19 March 1542 – 31 December 1563)
* Athanasius (5 March 1564 – 16 May 1566)
** Herman (July 1566)
* St. Philip II (25 July 1566 – 4 November 1568)
* Cyril IV (11 November 1568 – 8 February 1572)
* Anthony (May 1572 – early 1581)
* Dionisyus (1581 – 13 October 1586)
* Job (11 December 1586 – 23 January 1589)

## Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus
### First Patriarchial Period (1589—1721)

| Patriarch | Worldly name | Period | Period |
| St. Job | Ivan | 23 January 1589 | June 1605 |
| Ignatius | | 30 June 1605 | May 1606 |
| St. Hermogenes | Yermolay | 3 June 1606 | 17 February 1612 |
| Philaret | Fyodor Nikitich Romanov | 24 June 1619 | 1 October 1633 |
| Joasaphus I | | 6 February 1634 | 28 November 1640 |
| Joseph | Dyakov | 27 May 1642 | 15 April 1652 |
| Nikon | Nikita Minin (Minov) | 25 July 1652 | 12 December 1666 |
| Joasaphus II | Novotorzhets (nickname) | 10 February 1667 | 17 February 1672 |
| Pitirim | | 7 July 1672 | 19 April 1673 |
| Joachim | Ivan Petrovich Savelov | 26 June 1674 | 17 March 1690 |
| Adrian | Andrey | 24 August 1690 | 16 October 1700 |

### Most Holy Synod (1721-1917)

The Ober-Procurator (Imperial Delegate having the procuration for religious affairs) was a non-clerical officer who assisted the Most Holy Synod from 1722 to 1917 after the Church reform of Peter the Great. The real "head" of the Synod and most important clerical figure was the Primus or Prime member, its legal chairman, always a Metropolitan or an Archbishop. The first Primus was the Metropolitan Stephen Yavorsky, who had been the administrator of the Patriarchate of Moscow for over twenty years (1700-1721).
After Paul I of Russia in 1797, the Emperor of Russia had the title of "Head of the Church".

### Second Patriarchial Period (since 1917)

| Patriarch | Worldly name | Period | Period |
| St. Tikhon | Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin | 4 (21) December 1917 | 7 April 1925 |
| Sergius | Ivan Nikolayevich Stragorodsky | 8 September 1943 | 15 May 1944 |
| Alexius I | Sergey Vladimirovich Simansky | 2 February 1945 | 17 April 1970 |
| Pimen | Sergey Mikhailovich Izvekov | 2 June 1971 | 3 May 1990 |
| Alexius II | Alexey Mikhailovich Ridiger | 10 June 1990 | 5 December 2008 |
| Kirill | Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev | 1 February 2009 | Incumbent |