Metropolitan Peter

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Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia (Пётр in Russian) (? — December 20, 1326) was the Russian metropolitan who moved his see from Kiev to Vladimir and then to Moscow. Later he was proclaimed a patron saint of Moscow.

Peter was born in Halych-Volynia. He founded a monastery on the Rata River river (Western Bug's tributary) and became its abbot. In 1308 king George of Galicia nominated and the Patriarch of Constantinople appointed Peter to the vacant see of Kiev and all Rus.

Mikhail Yaroslavich, Grand Prince of Vladimir and Tver, wanted to advance his own candidate for this position. Peter's nomination caused prolonged animosity between Mikhail and Peter to the point that the latter had to ask for protection from the Muscovite princes.

Peter's alliance with Moscow helped assert his own authority and contributed to the rise of the House of Moscow. Peter transferred his metropolitan duties from depopulated Kiev to Vladimir and then to Moscow, where he received property estates. The move strengthened the political position of Moscow and established it as the spiritual capital of defragmentated Russia.

After Peter's move to Moscow, the Cathedral of the Dormition and several other stone churches were built by Ivan Kalita in the Moscow Kremlin. The foundation of the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery in Moscow is ascribed to St. Peter the Metropolitan. He also authored a few sermons and epistles.

After his canonisation by Metropolitan Alexis, his veneration was propagated all over Moscovy. Accordingly, many churches were dedicated to Peter the Metropolitan in Moscow and other cities of Russia.