List of metropolitans and patriarchs of Moscow

This article lists the metropolitans and patriarchs of Moscow, spiritual heads of the Russian Orthodox Church. Since 1308, there have been 59.

History

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church begins with the Christianization of Kievan Rus' at Kyiv, the date of which is commonly given as 988; however, the evidence surrounding this event is contested. In 1316 the Metropolitan of Kyiv changed his see to the city of Vladimir, and in 1322 moved again to Moscow. In 1589, the see was elevated to a Patriarchate. The Patriarchate was abolished by the Church reform of Peter the Great in 1721 and replaced by the Most Holy Governing Synod, and the Bishop of Moscow came to be called a Metropolitan again. The Patriarchate was restored in 1917 and suspended by the Soviet government in 1925. It was reintroduced for the last time in 1943, during World War II by the initiative of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. To this date, 19 of the Metropolitans have been glorified in the Russian Orthodox Church.

No.	Primate	Reign	Notes
1	Theodosius	3 May 1461 – 13 September 1464	Became the first Metropolitan to be appointed by the Grand Duke of Moscow and not by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
2	St. Philip I	11 November 1464 – 5 April 1473
3	St. Gerontius	29 June 1473 – 28 May 1489
4	Zosimus	26 September 1490 – 17 May 1494	Removed from the metropolitan throne on charges of heresy
5	Simon	22 September 1495 – 30 April 1511
6	Varlaam	3 August 1511 – 18 December 1521
7	Daniel 1492–1547	27 February 1522 – 2 February 1539	Deposed by the Shuiskys after the death of de-facto regent Elena Glinskaya and fell of her favorite Ivan Ovchina-Telepnev.
8	St. Joasaphus Skripitsyn died 1555	6 February 1539 – January 1542	Deposed by the Shuiskys
9	St. Macarius	19 March 1542 – 31 December 1563
10	Athanasius died 1575	5 March 1564 – 16 May 1566
11	St. Herman Grigory Sadyrev-Polyev	July 1566	Metropolitan-elect. Expelled from Moscow after a dispute with Ivan IV
12	St. Philip II Feodor Kolychyov 1507–1569	25 July 1566 – 4 November 1568	Deposed and believed to have been later killed by Ivan IV's officials
13	Cyril III (IV) (1492–1572)	11 November 1568 – 8 February 1572
14	Anthony	May 1572 – 1581
15	Dionysius II died 1587	1581 – 13 October 1586	Deposed
16	St. Job	11 December 1587 – 23 January 1589	Elevated to Patriarch

First five Patriarchs (Job, Hermogenes, Philaret, Joasaph I, Joseph). 19th century lubok

No.	Primate	Reign	Notes
1	St. Job	23 January 1589 – June 1605
—	Ignatius	30 June 1605 – 16 May 1606
2	St. Hermogenes	3 July 1606 – 17 February 1612
Seat vacant 1612–1619
3	Philaret Fyodor Romanov 1553–1633	24 June 1619 – 1 October 1633
4	Joasaphus I	6 February 1634 – 28 November 1640
5	Joseph Ignaty Dyakov	27 May 1642 – 15 April 1652
6	Nikon Nikita Minin 1605–1681	25 July 1652 – 12 December 1666
—	Pitirim	1658–1667	locum tenens
7	Joasaphus II	31 January 1667 – 17 February 1672
8	Pitirim	7 July 1672 – 19 April 1673
9	Joachim Ivan Savyolov 1620–1690	26 July 1674 – 17 March 1690
10	Adrian	26 August 1690 – 16 October 1700
—	Stefan	1700–1721	Locum tenens

No.	Primate	Reign	Notes
1	Stefan Simeon Yavorsky 1658–1722	1721–1722	President of the Most Holy Synod. Stefan refused to sign the Synod's documents, did not attend its meetings. Peter I apparently appointed him only to give a certain sanction to the new institution.
2	Theophan Prokopovich 1681–1736	1722–1736	Vice president of the Synod and its prime member since 15 July 1726
Seat vacant 1736–1742
3	Joseph (ru)	1742–1745
4	Plato I (ru)	1745–1754
	Hilarion	1754–1757	Coadjutor
5	Timothy	1757–1767
6	Ambrosius	1768–1771
	Samoel	1771–1775	Coadjutor
7	Plato II	1775–1812
8	Augustine	1812–1819
9	Seraphim	1819–1821
10	St. Philaret	1821–1867
11	St. Innocent	1868–1879
12	Macarius I	1879–1882
13	Joannicius	1882–1891
14	Leontius	1891–1893
15	Sergius	1893–1898
16	St. Vladimir	1898–1912
17	St. Macarius II	1912–1917

Patriarchs of Moscow and all Russia (restored, 1917–present)

No.	Primate	Election	Reign		Notes
11	St. Tikhon Vasily Bellavin 1865–1925	1917–18	4 December 1917	7 April 1925
—	Peter of Krutitsy	—	12 April 1925	December 1925/ 11 September 1936	locum tenens
—	Sergius of Nizhny Novgorod		December 1925	27 December 1936	Acting locum tenens
—	Sergius of Moscow and Kolomna		27 December 1936	12 September 1943	locum tenens
12	Sergius Ivan Stragorodsky 1867–1944	1943	12 September 1943	15 May 1944
13	Alexy I Sergey Simansky 1877–1970	1945	4 February 1945	17 April 1970
14	Pimen Sergey Izvekov 1910–1990	1971	3 June 1971	3 May 1990
15	Alexy II Alexei Ridiger 1929–2008	1990	10 June 1990	5 December 2008
16	Kirill Vladimir Gundyayev born 1946	2009	1 February 2009	Incumbent