Kościół prawosławny na ziemiach polskich, litewskich i ruskich od samego początku był metropolią, jedną z prowincji patriarchatu konstantynopolitańskiego. Z tego powodu patriarcha miał określone prawa administracyjne i sądownicze. Posiadał on wyłączne prawo interpretacji kanonów. Zwierzchnik Kościoła bizantyńskiego obsadzał urząd metropolity. W XIII wieku wzrost politycznego znaczenia Księstwa Halicko-Wołyńskiego w XIII w. przyczynił się do zmian
w strukturze organizacyjnej Kościoła prawosławnego. Książę Lew I dążył do utworzenia w swym księstwie niezależnej od Kijowa prowincji cerkiewnej. Dopiero książę halicki Jerzy I uzyskał około 1303 r. zgodę patriarchy carogrodzkiego Atanazego na utworzenie w Haliczu metropolii. Podobną do książąt halickich politykę wobec Cerkwi prawosławnej prowadzili władcy Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego. W XIII w. w granicach Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego znalazła się
dominująca liczebnie i kulturowo ludność ruska. W tej sytuacji książęta litewscy, rywalizujący z Moskwą i Haliczem, dążyli do utworzenia własnej metropolii prawosławnej. Wskutek zabiegów księcia Witenesa utworzono w 1299 r. metropolię litewską z siedzibą w Nowogródku. Decyzję o jej powołaniu podjął patriarcha Jan XII. Obie metropolie, wskutek zabiegów metropolitów kijowskich – rezydujących często w Księstwie Moskiewskim, były kilkakrotnie likwidowane i odnawiane w kolejnych stuleciach.
Taka sytuacja była efektem: zmieniających się granic państw (Polski, Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego i Księstwa Moskiewskiego), braku konsekwentnej polityki patriarchatu konstantynopolitańskiego wobec ruskiej prowincji cerkiewnej oraz aspiracji osobistych poszczególnych metropolitów (halickich, kijowsko-moskiewskich i litewskich) do objęcia zwierzchności nad ruską prowincją cerkiewną.
Dopiero w 1458 r. metropolici rezydujący w Moskwie zrzekli się tytułu metropolitów kijowskich i używali tytułu metropolitów moskiewskich i całej Rusi. Od 1458 r. do unii brzeskiej (1596 r.) na ziemiach należących do państwa polsko-litewskiego Kościół prawosławny posiadał własną odrębną organizację w postaci metropolii kijowsko-halickiej. Do końca XVI w. Kościół prawosławny na terenie Rzeczypospolitej nie był Kościołem autokefalicznym, ale pozostawał
w kanonicznej zależności od patriarchy carogrodzkiego i stanowił jedną z metropolii tego patriarchatu. Zależność metropolii kijowskiej od patriarchatu miała charakter nominalny. Patriarcha nie miał wpływu na powstawanie nowych biskupstw i ich obsadę personalną. Metropolici kijowscy zarządzali metropolią samodzielnie i nie podlegali żadnej kontroli ze strony patriarchy. Stan taki trwał do 1686 roku, kiedy nastąpiło przejście metropolii kijowskiej pod jurysdykcję patriarchatu moskiewskiego. Patriarcha konstantynopolitański Dionizy IV, pod
presją wezyrów, w kwietniu 1686 r. wyraził zgodę na przejście metropolii kijowskiej pod jurysdykcję patriarchy Joachima. W ten sposób została przerwana zwierzchność kanoniczna patriarchów konstantynopolitańskich nad metropolią kijowską istniejąca od chrztu Rusi Kijowskiej w 988 r.
The Orthodox Church has hundreds of years of history in the Polish Commonwealth. Its beginnings date back to the period of the formation of the Polish state in the 9th century. The subjection of the Vislanes tribe’s territories to Great Moravia resulted in the Christianization of Lesser Poland as early as the end of the 9th century. Therefore the Cyrillo-Methodian rite had been widespread in Polish territories long before the adoption of Christianity by Duke Mieshko I in 966.
Within the next centuries the Orthodox believers subject to the jurisdiction of Constantinople made up a major part of the inhabitants of the Polish Commonwealth, forming the majority of the population in its eastern parts. During the reign of Mieshko I, the Chervinskie Castle-towns constituted part of his state. The incorporation of the Chervinskie Castle-towns by Boleslav the Brave in 1018 initiated a constant presence of the Orthodox Church within the borders of the State of Poland.
The princes of Halich-Volhynia made a particular contribution to the development of the Orthodox Church in the eastern territories of Poland. In consequence of the transfer of the seat of the metropolitan of Kyiv from Kyiv to Vlodimir on the Klazma, Duke of Halich George I, in 1303, received permission from the patriarchate of Constantinople (to which the Orthodox Church in the Rhutenian territories was jurisdically subjected) to establish a separate metropolitanate. The metropolitanate of Halich embraced the bishoprics of Volodymyr, Peremysl, Lutsk, Turau and Kholm. At the same time, as a result of efforts made by dukes of Lithuania, the Lithuanian metropolitanate was called into being with the seat in Novahradak. The establishment of the new Orthodox Church structure was connected with the plans of the subjugation of Rhutenian territories by Lithuania, and with leading to a break of ties with the metropolitanate of Kyiv, being under the influence of dukes of Moscow. Due to their activities, both the metropolitanates – the Lithuanian one and that of Halich – were dissolved in 1330. Their reestablishing took place under the rules of Olgerd in Lithuania in 1350. In 1371, the metropolitanate of Halich was incorporated into the Lithuanian one. The dissolution of the Halich metropolitanate by the dukes of Lithuania was connected with the annexation of Halich Ruthenia to the Crown in 1366. Casimir the Great’s death (1370) cancelled the plans for the establishment of an independent Orthodox Church structure within Poland.
The Union of Krevo (1386) made the Orthodox Church in the Crown and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania find itself under the common jurisdiction of the Lithuanian metropolitans (nominally of Kyiv-Halich). At the beginning of the 15th century, the division of the Orthodox Church in the Ruthenian territories finally ended. The structure being monolithic until then, was divided into the Lithuanian and Vlodimir-Suzdal parts. The dividing line between the two metropolitanates ran along the state borders between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Duchy of Moscow. In 1415 Greory Tsamblak was elected metropolitan of Lithuania (of Kyiv-Halich) and Fotsius – metropolitan of Moscow. In 1458, metropolitans of Moscow officially renounced their title to the metropolitanates of Kyiv.
From 1458 to the Union of Brest (1596), the Orthodox Church in the Ruthenian territories of the Polish-Lithuanian state had its separate structure (the Metropolitanate of Kyiv-Halich), hierarchically subordinated to the patriarchate of Constantinople. Until the mid- to 16th century, the dependence on Constantinople was limited to a formal confirmation and blessing of a new metropolitan by the patriarch. Only before the Union of Brest, the patriarchate made efforts aimed at tighter subordination of the Ruthenian church in Poland to itself. Loose dependence of the Orthodox Church on the patriarchate was not accompanied by the increase in importance of the Ruthenian hierarchy, as at the same time the church was subordinated to the superior authority of the king or grand duke, who took over some juridical powers from a patriarch, particularly those concerning the appointment of metropolitans and bishops. As regulated by the canon law, the synod of bishops elected a metropolitan, who was later confirmed by the patriarch. From 1480, by king’s order, it became customary for the bishops’ synod to elect metropolitans with the participation of laymen. Kings and lay magnates did not always conform to canon requirements, tradition or the needs of the Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Church had a significant influence on the religiousness and customs of the whole Commonwealth. At the beginning of the 16th century, the organisational structure of the Orthodox Church in Poland achieved its final shape. In the 16th century, the metropolitan possessed an official title of the archbishop metropolitan of Kyiv, Halich, and of all Rus. He did not usually reside in Kyiv, but in the northern part of his diocese, in Novahradak or in Vilnyus. The Kyiv Metropolitanate governed six dioceses, seven of which lay within the boundaries of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Kyiv, Polatsk-Vitebsk, Smolensk- Seversk, Chernihiv-Bransk, Turov-Pinsk, Lutsk-Ostroh, and Volodymyr-Brest) and three in Ruthenian territories of the Polish Crown (Khelm-Belzsk, Przemysl- Samborsk, and Halych).
The Council of Brest, in 1596, divided the eastern Church into Orthodox and Uniats. By the decree of King Sigismund III Vasa (1587–1632), the Uniats were given all the rights and privileges which had formerly belonged to the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox faith, to which the vast majority of clergy and laity remained loyal, was no longer recognised by the government. Between 1596–1632, Orthodox Christians sought to regain the rights and properties which had belonged to their Church.
In the 17th century, the attitude of the Orthodox Ruthenians reflected the policy of the Polish authorities toward this religious group. The Metropolitan of Kyiv, Job Boretski, established contacts with the Moscow Patriarchate only in the deep crisis following the assassination of Josaphat Kuncevich. The succeeding legally elected Kyivan metropolitans Peter Mohyla (1633–1647), Silvester Kossov (1647–1657), Dionisii Bałaban (1658–1663) and Joseph Nelubovych-Tukalski (1663–1675) were faithful to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Their election was traditionally ratified by the Constantinopolitan patriarch. The latter’s role towards the Orthodox Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was limited to sanctioning the elected metropolitan, whose election was influenced by the ruler and the elite, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike. This legal and canonical state changed in 1676, when the Diet (Sejm) adopted a constitution prohibiting the Orthodox in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to maintain contacts with Constantinople. This constitution aimed to complete the isolation of the Orthodox from other Orthodox centres outside the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The future fate of the Kyiv metropolitanate was greatly influenced by the division of Ukraine under the Truce of Andrusovo between Poland and Russia in 1667. Kyiv, the capital of the metropolitanate, found itself within the borders of Russia. Administrators appointed by the Moscow Patriarch would rule in the metropolitan capital of Kyiv from 1661. The Bishop of Mstislav and Orsha Methodius Filimonovich and later the Bishop of Chernihiv Lazarus Baranovich realised that they received the episcopal consecration at the hands of the Constantinopolitan Patriarch and that they were obliged to be faithful to him. The direct interest of the Moscow Patriarchate in matters of the Kyiv metropolitanate on a larger scale came to a head in 1683, when the successor to the Archimandrite of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Innokentyy Gizel was chosen. A year later, the problem of filling the vacant metropolitan see came up, which caused a conflict between the left-bank hetman of Ukraine, Ivan Samojlovich, and the Moscow Patriarch Joakhim. These events coincided with the arrival to Kyiv of bishop Gedeon Sviatopolk-Chetvertinsky, who was elected as the metropolitan of Kyiv on 29 June 1685 without the consent of Constantinople. The ordination of Gedeon Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky to the position of metropolitan of Kyiv took place on 8 November 1685 in Moscow in the presence of the patriarch and the tsars. Fearing excommunication by Constantinople, Metropolitan Gedeon began to make efforts to regulate his status canonically. By being consecrated in Moscow, Gedeon Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky violated his oath of allegiance to Constantinople, which he swore in taking over the bishopric of Lutsk. It was only due to Moscow’s diplomacy, which managed to obtain the support of the Ottoman government, that in April 1686 the hetman Ivan Samoylovych (1672–1687) secured the consent of Patriarch Dionisii IV to bring the Kyiv metropolitanate under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow Joakhim (1674–1690). In June that year, the council of bishops of the Kyriarchal Church agreed to the transition of the Kyiv and Halych metropolitanates and all of Ruthenia from the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate to the Moscow Patriarchate. Thus, the canonical sovereignty of Constantinopolitan Patriarchs over the Kyiv metropolitanate, which had existed since the baptism of Kyivan Rus, was broken. An equally important event that influenced the fate of the Orthodox Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the conclusion of Grzymułtowski’s Treaty of Perpetual Peace on 6 May 1686. In the Polish-Russian Peace Treaty, Article 9 granted Kyiv Metropolitan authority over the Orthodox Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, while the Orthodox were granted freedom of religion and the right to contact the Metropolitan freely on church matters. The events of 1686 led the Metropolitanate of the Kyivan Orthodox Church to leave the jurisdiction of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchate and be incorporated into the Moscow Patriarchate.
