According to Archimandrite Macarius (Veretennikov), he was born in the
Byzantine Empire at the beginning of the 15th century. He served as a patriarchal clerk-official and lived in
Constantinople. During his tonsure, he was named after the
Philip the Apostle. He arrived to Russia apparently after the death of Metropolitan
Photius, after 1431. He stayed in Russia for a long time, became Russified, and the memory of his Greek origin was almost lost. In 1464, he was appointed Metropolitan of Moscow, hand-picked by
Theodosius at the time of his
resignation, just as Theodosius had been picked by his predecessor, Iona In the 1470s, Philip was actively engaged in a struggle against the Polish–Lithuanian influence over
Novgorod, particularly the influence of the Metropolitan of Lithuania and the fear that Novgorod would defect to him and eventually go over to Catholicism. While he was instrumental in bringing
Sophia Paleologue from Rome to Moscow in 1472, Philip was against admitting a
papal legate in her entourage into
Moscow, thus continuing his opposition to Catholicism or "Latinism" in his province. That same year, Philip started reconstructing the
Cathedral of the Dormition in the
Moscow Kremlin. The original cathedral, built by Metropolitan Petr in 1326, was in a dilapidated state; Philipp hired inexperienced workers and soon after his death the building collapsed. It was rebuilt by
Aristotile Fioravanti under Metropolitan Gerontius. Metropolitan Philip died on 5 April 1473 and was buried in the Cathedral of the Dorimition in the Moscow Kremlin. ==References==