Moscow
Capital of the Russian tsars and seat of the metropolitans of Russia. In 1589 its metropolitan became a patriarch, fifth in rank among the Orthodox patriarchs, and the tsar’s charter called the Russian realm the Third Rome.
Moscow, on the river of the same name, was the residence of the Russian tsars and of the metropolitans “of all Rus”. The charter of 1589 calls it the “reigning city” and its cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God the seat of the wonder-working metropolitans Peter, Alexis and Jonah; it is there that Job of Moscow was installed as patriarch (Charter of the Moscow Patriarchate (1589) narrative and speech of Jeremias) (Russian ambassadorial records, in Muravyov, Relations with the East, 26 January 1589). The council of Constantinople of 1590 placed the patriarch of Moscow after the patriarch of Jerusalem (Synodal charter of Constantinople (1590) in Muravyov, under June 1590). See Moscow Becomes a Patriarchate.
What happened here
- 26 January 1589, firm dateMoscow Becomes a Patriarchate
In January 1589 Jeremias II of Constantinople, visiting Russia, installs Metropolitan Job as the first patriarch of Moscow. A council at Constantinople confirms it in 1590 and ranks Moscow fifth. The tsar’s charter calls the Russian realm the Third Rome.
- 1652 to 1667, firm dateNikon’s Reforms and the Old Believer Schism
Patriarch Nikon of Moscow brings Russian service books and rites into line with Greek usage. The archpriest Avvakum and others refuse the changes as a break with the faith of their fathers, a council of 1667 anathematises those who resist, and the Russian church divides.
- 1917 to 1918, firm dateThe Russian Church under the Bolsheviks
In November 1917 a council of the Russian Orthodox Church restores the patriarchate and Tikhon takes the patriarchal seat. Two months later the Soviet government separates church and state by decree and declares all church property to be the people’s.