Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev

Cyprian was a clergyman of Bulgarian origin. He is supposed to have been born in aristocratic family of Tsamblak family from the capital Tarnovo. On the other hand, according to Dimitri Obolensky, Cyprian only became a monk in the early 1370s in Constantinople. At Mount Athos Cyprian befriended Philotheus Kokkinos. In the beginning of the 1370s, after the return of Philotheus to the patriarchal throne, Cyprian became "his closest monk". ==Background==

In 1356, after diplomatic struggles, Patriarch Callistus I of Constantinople united the Metropolis of Halych with the Metropolis of Lithuania under the leadership of Metropolitan Roman. Callistus also confirmed that Alexius remained in possession of the "Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus'". All eparchies of the Halych metropolis were transferred to the jurisdiction of a united "Metropolis of Lithuania-Volhynia" (also known as "Lithuania–Halych"). The rivalry between Roman and Alexius continued until Roman's death in 1362, when Lithuania–Halych was placed under the control of Alexius. In 1371, the united metropolis was officially lowered to the rank of a bishopric and placed under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus'. However, it did not end the political rivalry for religious influence in Rus'. ==Career==

Hostilities between Lithuania and Muscovy The Grand Duke of Lithuania — Algirdas — attacked Muscovy on three occasions between 1368 and 1372 as part of the Lithuanian–Muscovite War. This was in support of his ally, Mikhail II, Prince of Tver. It may also have been motivated by a desire to advance his calls for a separate metropolis for the Grand Duchy that was independent of Moscow. ==Achievements==

Cyprian is remembered as a wise and experienced church administrator who fought for the unity of the Russian church. In fact, he is mainly responsible for uniting the Church in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He faced serious opposition during his metropolitanate; Dmitry Donskoy and his advisors were excommunicated for opposing Cyprian's efforts to take up his place in Moscow, and Novgorod the Great – especially Archbishops Aleksei and Ioann II – also opposed his efforts to adjudicate ecclesiastical cases there, which would have allowed him to gain the court fees from Novgorod during the time he sat in judgement there. Cyprian was an erudite person and alumnus of Tarnovo Literary School. He oversaw the copying and creation of a number of important works, including the Troitskaia Chronicle (or Troitskaya letopis) and, probably, the Metropolitan Justice (also known as the Pravosudiye metropolich’ye or Правосудие митрополичье). He also rewrote the Life of Metropolitan Peter, originally written around 1327. He also corrected biblical books and translated a number of ecclesiastic works from Greek into Old Church Slavic. The Book of Degrees (Stepénnaya kniga), which grouped Russian monarchs in the order of their generations, was started by Cyprian in 1390 (but completed only in 1563). ==Death==

He died on 16 September 1406. Cyprian is buried in the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in the 15th century. St. Kiprian Peak on Greenwich Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Cyprian. ==Notes==