The Metropolis of Kyiv (Greek: Μητρόπολις Κιέβου, romanized: Mitrópolis Kiévou; Ukrainian: Ки́ївська митропо́лія, romanized: Kyivska mytropoliia; Belarusian: Кіеўская мітраполія, Kijeŭskaja mitrapolija) was an autonomous metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople[1] with center in Kyiv after its formation in 988 as a result of the Christianization of Rus by Volodymyr the Great until January 6, 2019, when it received the Tomos on Autocephaly.

In 1620, the Ukrainian Cossacks, led by Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny, secured the restoration of the Orthodox hierarchy in the Commonwealth as the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus'.

The Metropolis of Kiev actually became one of the ordinary dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate, when Peter the Great in 1722 elected Barlaam (Voniatovych) in the rank of archbishop, not metropolitan.

However, Askold's limited adoption of Byzantine Christianity and his disregard for the specifics of the Slavic worldview led to the fact that in 882 Prince Oleg of Novgorod, using pagan opposition, captured Kiev .

During her stay in 957 in Constantinople, great effort was made to obtain the highest state title of "daughter" of the emperor, for which Olga privately (most likely in Kiev in 955) was baptized.

After returning from Constantinople, the princess began to pursue a line to limit the influence of paganism in the state, violating the "demonic trebors" and building a wooden church of St. Sophia.

This weakened their connection with the historical and cultural core of the state and forced the Galician-Volyn monarchs to begin the process of forming a separate Metropolis of Halych for the Kingdom of Ruthenia.

Immediately after the council, Metropolitan Rogoza deprived Bishop Gedeon Balaban of Lviv and Mykhailo Kopystensky of Przemyśl, who opposed the union, of the episcopal government.

The desire to unite with the Holy See was realized in the Brest Union of 1596, concluded by Metropolitan of Kiev Mykhailo Ragoza and cemented by Pope Clement VIII.

In the 17th century, the Kiev union metropolitans were Michael Rohoza (1596–1599), Hypatius Potii (1599–1614), Josyf Veliamyn Rutskyi (1614–1637), Rafail Korsak (1637–1642), and Antin Sielava (1642–1699), Havryil Kolenda (1655–1674), Kyprian Zokhovskyi (1674–1693), Lev I Sliubych-Zalenskyi (1694–1708).

In the 18th century, the main tasks of the union Metropolitans of Kiev were to defend the rights of the church from Latin influences and the Polish and Russian authorities.

As a result of the second and third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1793, 1795) with the transition of most Ukrainian and Belarusian lands to the Russian Empire began constant persecution of the Union Church, which ended in 1839 through the act of Polatsk Cathedral its liquidation.

Immediately after the council, Metropolitan Rogoza deprived Bishop Gedeon Balaban of Lviv and Mykhailo Kopystensky of Przemyśl, who opposed the union, of the episcopal government.

Monastic life was raised to a new level, Orthodox fraternities received significant support, old ones were restored and new churches, cathedrals and monasteries were built.

The defeat of the Cossack army near Berestechko led to the signing in 1651 of the Treaty of Bila Tserkva, much worse than the previous one.After that, Khmelnytskyi began to conduct active negotiations with representatives of the Moscow tsar.

Moscow viewed the Pereiaslav agreement not only as a political but also as a religious union, and began measures to gain full control of the Metropolis of Kiev.

Referring to their duties before the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Metropolitan Kosiv and the bishops present at the council refused to swear allegiance to the Tsar of Moscow.

After the prayer, Buturlin reproachfully asked the metropolitan why he "never beat or wrote to His Tsarist Majesty's forehead about the accession of Ukraine, and did not seek His royal mercy for himself."

However, there were still few Moscow troops in Ukraine, and the pressure was unsuccessful, so the election of the Metropolitan of Kiev will take place under ancient Ukrainian rights, not by tsarist order.

Metropolitan Dionysius Balaban of Kiev removed Methodius from office as a foreign diocese, and appointed Joseph Tukalsky Bishop of Mstislavl.

In 1727, when the hetmanate was restored during the reign of Peter II, Barlaam Vanatovych began to seek the renewal of the title of metropolitan and voiced protests by the Ukrainian clergy against the violation of the rights and privileges of the Church of Ukraine.

At that time, the Ukrainian church owned huge estates, at the expense of which monasteries carried out extensive cultural and educational work, maintained schools, hospitals, and helped the needy.

In the 1780s, more favorable conditions were created for the implementation of this plan, and on April 10, 1786, the empress issued a decree on the secularization of monastic and ecclesiastical lands, as a result of which 46 monasteries were closed.

Less than a hundred years later (1685–1783), the Ukrainian Church was transferred from its autonomous status within the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the despotic centralized power of the Moscow clergy.

Archimandrite of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Zosima Valkevych in 1769 asked the Synod for permission to print Ukrainian primers, because the people do not understand Russian and do not want to buy them.

On February 15, 1989, with the support of pro-Ukrainian forces, an initiative committee for the restoration of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine began operating in Kyiv.

After Archpriest Volodymyr Yarema, the rector of the Lviv Church of Peter and Paul, left the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate together with his parish on August 19, 1989, the autocephalous movement began to gain momentum.

[21][22] On the 40th day after the death of His Beatitude Methodius, his Spiritual Testament was published, emphasizing the continuation of the UAOC's long course of establishing communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The Synodal Letter of 1686 was never recognized by either the Ukrainian people or the Orthodox world, and that is why this so-called "accession" of the Metropolis of Kiev has always been considered the ecclesiastical annexation of Ukraine by Moscovy.

On the eve of the Mongol-Tatar invasion there were 16 of them: Kyiv (988), Chernihiv (991), Belgorod (991), Vladimir (992), Novgorod (992), Rostov (992), Polatsk (992), Turiv (1005), Przemyśl (1026), Pereiaslav (1036), Yurii (1036), Galician (1134), Smolensk (1137), Riazan (1198), Suzdal (1213).