Kyrylo II

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Kyrylo (Cyril) II (birth place and date unknown – 21.11.1281, Pereslavl-Zalessky, now a town in the Yaroslavl Oblast, Russian Federation) – Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus.

Kyrylo II was the Hegumen of a southern monastery. In 1243 with the assistance of Danylo of Halych was elected the Metropolitan of Kyiv. About 1246–1247 the Patriarch Manuel II of Constantinople confirmed Kyrylo as the Metropolitan of Kyiv. Metropolitan Kyrylo headed the church after Batu Khan’s plundering of Kyiv, therefore he decided to take up his residence in Vladimir-on-Kliazma (now the Russian Federation). But officially the Metropolitan see was not transferred there, and high priests continued to be entitled “the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus.”

In 1251 Kyrylo separated from Prince Danylo of Halych (possibly because of Prince’s negotiations with the Holy See) and departed to Aleksandr Nevsky, Grand Prince of Kyiv (from 1251 – Grand Prince of Vladimir), to the city of Vladimir. Metropolitan Kyrylo lived mostly there, sometimes going on long travels to southern and northern eparchies. With time, the Metropolitan extended his authority on the Khan’s capital Saray: in 1261 he established the Saray eparchy and sent there a bishop with priests. In the second half of the 1260 s – 1270 s lived in Kyiv. In 1274 the Metropolitan convoked a Bishops’ council in Vladimir, where proclaimed his Canon or Precept to Priests, which later on was sent to all eparchies. On the resolution of this Council old church decisions were reenacted.

Buried in Kyiv, in St. Sophia Cathedral.