Greek-language edition of book The Reunification of the Kiev Metropolis with the Russian Orthodox Church. 1676–1686. Research and Documents presented in Moscow
DECR Communication Service, 06/05/2026
On 5th May 2026, a book launch took place in the assembly hall of the Synodal Library of the Russian Orthodox Church. Presented was the book Η επανένωσητης μητροπόλεως Κιέβου με τη Ρωσική Ορθόδοξη Εκκλησία (1676–1686): μελέτες και έγγραφα (The Reunification of the Kiev Metropolis with the Russian Orthodox Church. 1676–1686. Research and Documents).
In 2019, experts from the Orthodox Encyclopedia Church Research Centre and a team of leading Russian historians led by B.N. Florei had written and published a book The Reunification of the Kiev Metropolis with the Russian Orthodox Church. 1676–1686. Research and Documents. Presented at the Synodal Library was its new edition translated into the Greek language.
Hegumen Dionisy (Shlenov), Deputy Chairman of the Education Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church, Father Superior of St. Andrew Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow, delivered an opening address. As he pointed out, presented in the book are all documents from Russian archives on the reunification of the Kiev Metropolis with the Russian Church which underwent thorough study and analysis by leading Russian scholars.
The book, which includes 246 archival documents systematized based on a thematic and chronological principle, is concluded with an article on forms of liturgical commemoration of church hierarchs in Russian and Ukrainian tradition.
“None of the Local Orthodox Churches disputed credibility of the 1686 Acts. The Church of Constantinople itself unconditionally recognized full jurisdiction of the Russian Church over the Kiev Metropolis, as is evidenced by episcopal documents, collections of canonical texts, official publications of the Patriarchate of Constantinople of the 18th and 19th centuries and official correspondence between the Phanar and the Russian Church,” Father Dionisy noted in his speech.
The Russian Church’s temporary division into the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kiev Metropolis had ended with their reunification in the 17th century, and the Orthodox Church of Constantinople had played a significant role in that by acknowledging full jurisdiction of the Russian Church over the Kiev Metropolis. “Regrettably,” Hegumen Dionisy continued, “nowadays the Patriarchate of Constantinople has taken the opposite stance. Guided by the theory of its patriarch’s primacy, the Patriarchate of Constantinople facilitated the establishment of the uncanonical ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’ and granted it an unlawful ‘autocephaly.’ Such disregard for historical truth and canonical norms has caused and continues to cause deep and distressing divisions within the world Orthodoxy.”
After Hegumen Dionisy (Shlenov), the floor was given to Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Adviser to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’. In his speech, Father Nikolai said, in particular: “His Holiness Patriarch Kirill saw fit, in view of the escalating dispute over the Kiev Metropolis’ history, canonical status and reunification with the Moscow Patriarchate, to undertake the most thorough archival study and go through the entire collection of documents in order to make not just certain texts, but their entire corpus available to the inquisitive reading public, so that they could see for themselves how reliable these or those debatable assertions are concerning temporary or permanent nature of the unification of the Kiev Metropolis with the Moscow Patriarchate.”
As Father Nikolai pointed out, the work took a lot of time and effort from remarkable scholars. Yet, upon completion, it became clear that, as very scarce selected documents had been published in Greek by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, it was important to “make this wealth of historical information available to Greek-speaking readers as well, to give them such opportunity.”
“I am happy that this work has been accomplished. We have thus fulfilled our Patriarch’s blessing. We would like these texts to be available to the academic community in and beyond Russia,” Archpriest Nikolai Balashov said in conclusion.
Among those who addressed the audience was Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, who conveyed to those present cordial greetings from the DECR Chairman, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk.
Priest Anatoly Churyakov of the DECR Language Service, who had taken part in the translation of the documents, expressed hope that the Greek edition of the book on the reunification of the Kiev Metropolis with the Russian Church would find its reader in the Greek-speaking world and “would help our Greek brothers have a better understanding of the ecclesiastical and political situation of the time, making its contribution to the resolution of the current complicated situation in inter-Orthodox relations caused by the church crisis, schism and persecutions against the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”
As part of the book presentation, Hegumen Dionisy (Shlenov) delivered an address entitled “On the Issue of the ‘Right’ or ‘Permission’ to Ordain in the Context of Discussion around Reunification of Kiev Metropolis with Russian Orthodox Church.”
The list of speakers also included Archpriest Valentin Asmus, a Byzantine scholar; Priest Mikhail Zheltov, Associate Professor of the Department of Church History and Canon Law and Head of the Laboratory for Historical and Liturgical Studies of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies; Priest Pavel Yermilov, DSc (Theology), Head of the Laboratory for Church Institutions Studies at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University of the Humanities; Ms Z.Ye. Oborneva, Cand. Sci. (History), research fellow at the V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute; Mr Afanasios Zoitakis, Cand. Sci. (History), lecturer at the Church History Department of the Faculty of History of the Moscow State University; Mr A.I. Solopov, DSc (Philology), Head of the Department of Classics of the Moscow State University; Mr K.A. Maximovich, DSc (Philology), leading research fellow at the V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute; and Ms Theodora Giannitsi, Director of the Greek Cultural Centre in Moscow.
***
On 27th October 2020, the Russian-language edition of the book The Reunification of the Kiev Metropolis with the Russian Orthodox Church. 1676–1686. Research and Documents was presented in the Kiev Theological Academy as part of the XII International Conference on Religious and Secular Education: History of Relationship – Present Time – Prospects.
On 16th September 2021, the book was presented during a conference on World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of Orthodox Doctrine, organized by the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission in Moscow.
The publication prepared by the Orthodox Encyclopedia Church Research Centre became a historical and canonical response to the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s “revocation” of the 1686 Synodal decision to transfer the Kiev Metropolis into the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church and its “recognition of the autocephaly” of the schismatic OCU.
The documents presented in the book demonstrate that the transfer of the Kiev Metropolis into the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church was at the time the only decision that could help preserve Orthodox presence in the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian state, that the initiative to reunite with the Russian Orthodox Church came from the Ukrainian people, from the Kiev Metropolis itself, its clergy and faithful, and that, contrary to the recent claims by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, its decision of 1686 to transfer the Kiev Metropolis into the Russian Orthodox Church had no time or authority limitations, that is to say, was final and irrevocable.