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 (988–1054)

1. St. Michael I (988–992)
2. Leontius (992–1008)
3. Theophilact (1008 – until 1018)
4. John I (1008/18 – c. 1030)
5. Theopemptus (c. 1035 – 1040th)
6. Cyril I^{[lower-alpha 1]}
7. Hilarion I (1051–1054)^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Kiev Metropolitanate (1054–1458)

1. Ephraim (1054/1055 – c. 1065)
2. Georgius (c. 1065 – c. 1076)
3. St. John II (not later than 1076/1077 – after August 1089)
4. John III (summer 1090 – before 14 August 1091)
5. Nicholas (c. 1093 – before 1104)
6. Nicephorus I (18 December 1104 – April 1121)
7. Nikita (15 October 1122 – 9 March 1126)
8. Michael II (summer 1130 – 1145)
9. Kliment Smoliatich (27 July 1147 – early 1155)
10. St. Constantine I (1156 – 1158/1159)
11. Theodore (August 1160 – June 1163)
12. John IV (spring 1164 – 1166)
13. Constantine II (1167 – 1169/1170)
14. Michael III (spring 1171 – ?)
15. Nicephorus II (before 1183 – after 1201)
16. Matthew (before 1210 – 19 August 1220)
17. Cyril II (1224/1225 – autumn 1233)
18. Joseph (1242/1247 – ?)
19. Cyril III (1242/1247 – 27 November 1281)
20. St. Maximus (1283 – 6 December 1305^{[lower-alpha 3]})
21. St. Peter (1308 – 21 December 1326)
22. St. Theognostus (1328–1353)
23. St. Alexius (1354–1378)
24. Michael (1379)
25. St. Cyprian (1381–1383)
26. Pimen (1382 – 1384^{[lower-alpha 4]})
27. St. Dionysius (1383–1385)
28. Cyprian (1390–1406)
29. St. Photius (1408–1431)
30. Gerasimus (1433–1435)
31. Isidore (1437–1458)
32. St. John (1448–1461)

During the archiepiscopacy of Metropolitan Isidore of Moscow co-ruled Metropolitan John (1448–1461). From 1461, after the early autocephaly of the Eastern-Russian eparchies within the Muskovy, Metropolitans who had a cathedra in Moscow were called Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus (or Russia).

Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus

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

Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus

First Patriarchial Period (1589—1721)

Patriarch	Worldly name	Period		Portrait
St. Job	Ivan	23 January 1589	June 1605
Ignatius[lower-alpha 5]		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[lower-alpha 6]	Andrey	24 August 1690	16 October 1700

Procurators of the Most Holy Synod

The Ober-Procurator (Attorney-General) was a non-clerical officer who headed the Most Holy Synod from 1722 to 1917.

1. Ivan Vasilyevich Boltin (19 June 1722 – 11 May 1725)^[1]
   • From 1726 to 31 December 1741 the office procurator was vacant.
2. Aleksey Petrovich Baskakov (11 May 1725 – 2 December 1730)^[1]
   • Guardian Captain Rayevsky (14 Jule 1726 as "procurator")^{[2][lower-alpha 7]}
   • Office vacant until 1740
3. Nikita Semyonovich Krechetnikov (3 November 1740 – 1741^[1])
4. Yakov Petrovich Shakhovskoy (31 December 1741 – 29 March 1753)
5. Afanasy Ivanovich Lvov (18 December 1753 – 17 April 1758)
6. Aleksey Semyonovich Kozlovsky (17 April 1758 – 9 June 1763)
7. Ivan Ivanovich Melissino (10 June 1763 – 24 October 1768)
8. Pyotr Petrovich Chebyshyov (24 October 1768 – 7 May 1774)
9. Sergey Vasilyevich Akchurin (12 May 1774 – 28 July 1786)
10. Apollos Ivanovich Naumov (28 July 1786 – 26 July 1791)
11. Count Aleksey Ivanovich Musin-Pushkin (1791–1797)
12. Prince Vasily Alekseyevich Khovansky (1797–1799)
13. Count Dmitry Ivanovich Khvostov (1799–1802)
14. Aleksandr Alekseyevich Yakovlev (31 December 1802 – 7 October 1803^[1])
15. Prince Aleksandr Nikolayevich Golitsyn (21 October 1803 – 24 October^[3] or 19 November^[1] 1817^{[lower-alpha 8]})
16. Prince Pyotr Sergeyevich Meshchersky (24 November 1817 – 2 April 1833)
17. Stepan Dmitriyevich Nechayev (1833 – 25 June 1836)
18. Count Nikolay Aleksandrovich Protasov (24 February 1836 – 16 January 1855)
19. Aleksandr Ivanovich Karasevsky (25 December 1855 – 20 September 1856)
20. Count Aleksandr Petrovich Tolstoy (20 September 1856 – 28 February 1862)
21. Aleksey Petrovich Akhmatov (March 1862 – June 1865)
22. Count Dmitry Andreyevich Tolstoy (23 June 1865 – 23 April 1880)
23. Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev (24 April 1880 – 19 October 1905)
24. Prince Aleksey Dmitriyevich Obolensky (20 October 1905 – 4 April 1906)
25. Prince Aleksey Aleksandrovich Shirinsky-Shikhmatov (26 April – 9 July 1906)
26. Pyotr Petrovich Izvolsky (27 July 1906 – 5 February 1909)
27. Sergey Mikhailovich Lukyanov (5 February 1909 – 2 May 1911)
28. Vladimir Karlovich Sabler (2 May 1911 – 4 July 1915)
29. Aleksandr Dmitriyevich Samarin (5 July 1915 – 26 September 1915)
30. Aleksandr Nikolayevich Volzhin (1 October 1915 – 7 August 1916)
31. Nikolay Pavlovich Rayev (30 August^[4] 1916 – 3 March 1917)
32. Vladimir Nikolayevich Lvov (3 March 1917 – 24 July 1917)
33. Anton Vladimirovich Kartashyov (25 July – 5 August 1917).

Second Patriarchial Period (since 1917)

Patriarch	Worldly name	Period		Portrait
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

Notes

1. Is not listed in Russian Chronicles; probably 1039–1051
2. First Russian Metropolitan
3. Before 1299 in Kiev, then in Vladimir
4. Factually until 1389
5. As Ignatius was personally elected by False Dmitriy I and during the rule of Patriarch Job, he was not the legitimate Patriarch of Moscow. After death of the monarch, Ignatius was removed from office in a Council.
6. No successor after the death of Patriarch Adrian. From 1700–1721 the keeper of the Patriarchial throne (Exarch) was Metropolitan Stefan (Yavorsky) of Yaroslavl. After Peter I opened the Ecclesiastical College in 1721, the highest church body became the Most Holy Synod. The Patriarchy was recovered by the National Orthodox Council on 28 October 11 November 1917
7. Sometimes – probably falsely – listed as Ober-Procurator
8. Until May 1824 Minister of Religious Affairs and Public Education

References

1. Высшие и центральные государственные учреждения России. 1801—1917. Saint Petersburg: Nauka, 1998, vol. 1, p. 135.
2. Государственность России. Moscow, 2001, vol. 4, p. 109.
3. D. N. Shilov. Государственные деятели Российской империи. Saint Petersburg, 2002, p. 186.
4. D. N. Shilov. Государственные деятели Российской империи. Главы высших и центральных учреждений. 1802—1917. Saint Petersburg, 2002, p. 620

External links

• Chronological list of Patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church (Russian)