During the century that followed the Mongol invasion and preceded the reign of Dmitrii Donskoi the outlook of the metropolitans of the Russian Church had diverged from that of the grand princes of Vladimir, particularly the Daniilovich princes. While the princes focused their policies on northern Russia and the Golden Horde, the metropolitans devoted themselves to their entire ecclesiastical realm that included all the lands that had formed Kievan Rus'. The metropolitans, Russians and non-Russians alike,76 also maintained regular contact with the patriarch at Constantinople. When Ivan II died in 1359, the metropolitan of the Church was Aleksei, who held his office from 1354 to 1378. He began his tenure in office with an outlook that was similar to that of his predecessors. During the next century, however, particularly as the Russian Church assumed an autocephalous status in the mid-fifteenth century, its leaders developed concepts and mythologies that served their ecclesiastical interests, but also imparted a legitimacy to the Daniilovich princes and elevated their status above the other members of the dynasty.
Aleksei had been nominated by Metropolitan Feognost to be his successor. Aleksei's father was Feodor Biakont, who had moved from Chernigov and entered the service of Prince Daniil. His brother was Aleksandr, who became a boyar in the court of Dmitrii Ivanovich. Aleksei, however, had become a monk, but had been selected by Feognost in 1340 to administer the metropolitan's court. In 1352, Feognost named him bishop of Vladimir. He also sent a delegation to Constantinople to nominate Aleksei for the position of metropolitan. By the time the delegates returned to Moscow, Feognost had died (1353). Aleksei personally went to Constantinople where he remained for a year before being confirmed in his office (1354).77
76 Dimitri Obolensky, 'Byzantium, Kiev and Moscow: A Study in Ecclesiastical Relations', Dumbarton Oaks Papers 11 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1957), 33, reprinted in his Byzantium and the Slavs (London: Variorum Reprints, 1971) and his Byzantium and the Slavs (Crestwood, N.Y.: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1994); Dimitri Obolensky, 'Byzantium and Russia in the Late Middle Ages', in J. R. Hale, J. R. L. High- field andB. Smalley (eds.), Europe in the Late Middle Ages (London: Faber andFaber, 1965),
p. 254.
77 Obolensky, 'Byzantium, Kiev and Moscow', 37-8; Meyendorff, Byzantium and the Rise of Russia, pp. 166-7; Presniakov, Formation, pp. 239-40; Crummey Formation of Muscovy,
Later that year, however, another metropolitan, Roman, was named to lead the Orthodox Church in lands under Lithuanian control, including Kiev. The metropolitanate was not reunited until Roman died in i362. During the first years of his tenure in office Aleksei was thus primarily concerned with ending the division of his see. After his return to Moscow from Constantinople in 1355, he travelled extensively to the horde, back to Constantinople, and in 1358 to Kiev. Prince Ol'gerd of Lithuania held him there for two years.78
While Aleksei was in Kiev, Khan Navruz issued the patent for the grand principality of Vladimir to Prince Dmitrii Konstantinovich of Suzdal'.79 When Aleksei returned, the political competition for the position of grand prince was intensifying. Aleksei used the influence and prestige of his position as well as his close relationship to the Moscow boyars to secure the throne for Dmitrii Ivanovich of Moscow.80 After Dmitrii Ivanovich successfully ascended his father's throne and Aleksei's rival, Roman, died (1361), the metropolitan devoted more of his attention to guiding the young prince. His unusual atten- tiveness to the secular affairs of the grand prince provoked complaints from Poland and Lithuania to the patriarch that Aleksei was neglecting their ecclesiastical needs. Tver' too objected that Aleksei displayed unmistakable favour towards Moscow in the conflict between the two principalities that began in 1368. In 1371, the patriarch re-established a metropolitanate for the bishoprics in Galicia, which were subject to the Polish crown. He urged Aleksei to attend to his entire domain, but when complaints persisted, he sent his agent Kiprian (Cyprian) and other envoys to investigate the matter (1373) and then appointed Kiprian to be metropolitan for the lands subject to Lithuania (1375). It was understood, however, that when Aleksei died, Kiprian would succeed him; the metropolitanate of Kiev and all Rus' would be reunified under his
leadership. 8i
By the time Aleksei died in 1378, it was Kiprian, the metropolitan in Lithuania, who represented the policy of reunifying the metropolitanate.82 Aleksei, shifting the policy he had inherited from his predecessors and had pursued
p. 43; S. B. Veselovskii, Feodal'noe zemlevladenie v severo-vostochnoi Rusi (Moscow and Leningrad: AN SSSR, i947), p. 334.
78 Borisov, Russkaia tserkov', pp. 79-80; N. S. Borisov, 'Moskovskie kniaz'ia i russkie mitropolity XIV veka', VI, 1986, no. 8:41; Meyendorff, Byzantium and the Rise of Russia, pp. 169-71,185-6; Presniakov, Formation, pp. 243-5, 253-4; Fennell, Emergence, p. 302.
79 PSRL, vol. x, p. 231.
80 Borisov, Russkaia tserkov', p. 81; Borisov, 'Moskovskie kniaz'ia', 41.
81 Meyendorff, Byzantium and the Rise of Russia, pp. 184, 192-201, 287-9; Borisov, Russkaia tserkov', pp. 82, 84-7, 89-90; Obolensky 'Byzantium and Russia', 256; Presniakov Formation, pp. 253, 257-8, 260; Crummey, Formation of Muscovy, pp. 44, 47-9.
82 Presniakov Formation, pp. 297, 299.
in the early years of his tenure in office, led the Church officially centred at Vladimir from 1354 to become closely identified with north-eastern Russia and, more particularly, with the lands subject to the Muscovite prince. Thus, when Kiprian attempted to assume Aleksei's seat, he was ejected from Moscow by Grand Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich. The grand prince nominated his confessor, Michael-Mitiai, to replace Aleksei. When he died on his way to Constantinople, a member of his entourage, Pimen, replaced him.[149]
Although Dmitrii had unceremoniously evicted Kiprian from Moscow when he arrived, he reversed his position after the Battle of Kulikovo. Kiprian assumed the role of metropolitan and remained in Moscow for two years. When Pimen returned from Constantinople, Dmitrii arrested him. Kiprian fled from Moscow, however, when Tokhtamysh approached the city (i382). Although he continued to claim the position, Pimen assumed the functions of metropolitan in north-eastern Russia. Contention between the two persisted until 1389, when a new patriarch in Constantinople confirmed Kiprian as metropolitan and both Pimen and Grand Prince Dmitrii died. Kiprian returned to Moscow in 1390.[150]
Kiprian re-established ecclesiastical unity of all the lands of Rus' in a single metropolitanate. He was supported in his efforts by the new grand prince Vasilii I and the most influential leader of the monastic movement in north-eastern Russia, Sergei of Radonezh. Vitovt of Lithuania, who gave his daughter in marriage to Vasilii I in 1391, the year after Kiprian joined the Lithuanian and Russian Orthodox communities, also regarded Kiprian and his policies with favour.[151]During the remainder of his tenure in office, Kiprian attempted to consolidate the unity of his see ideologically and symbolically. His triumphal entrance into Moscow, during which he was reportedly accompanied by two Greek metropolitans and five bishops representing north-eastern and south-western Russia, dramatically portrayed his commitment to unifying the metropoli-
149
Meyendorff,
76-7.
150
L. A. Dmitriev, 'Rol' i znachenie mitropolita Kipriana vistorii drevnerusskoiliteratury',
151
Crummey