Peter Mogila

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Peter Mogila
Metropolitan of Kiev and Halych
Born December 21, 1596 (1596-12-21), Moldavia, Romania
Died December 22, 1646 (aged 50), Kiev, Ukraine
Venerated in Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Romanian Orthodox Church, Polish Orthodox Church
Feast January 1, but also October 5
Saints Portal

Peter Mogila (Ukrainian: Петро Могила; Romanian: Petru Movilă; December 21, 1596December 22, 1646) was a Metropolitan of Kiev and Halych from 1633 until his death. He was born into a Moldavian boyar family — the Movileşti — one that gave Moldavia and Wallachia several rulers, including his father, Ieremia Movilă. His mother, Margareta, was a Hungarian princess.

Contents

[edit] Life

Peter Mogila was an important political figure of his time and a profoundly influential theologian in the Eastern Orthodox Christianity, managing to reconcile the religious thesis of three of the most important East Orthodox churches: Constantinople Patriarchate, Russian/Ukrainian and Moldavian-Wallachian ones.

Ukrainian stamp
Ukrainian stamp

Mogila initiated the foundation of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy in Kiev, one of the oldest and most distinguished academic and theological schools in Eastern Europe. He also fought successfully for the consecration of the Orthodox Church inside the Polish kingdom and the scholasticity and the academism of the Orthodox religious education, along with the setting of a network of printing presses and education institutions. Mogila believed that the future of Orthodoxy in Ukraine depended on accommodation of Ukraine within the Polish Commonwealth as an equal partner and tried to undermine pro-Russian forces within the Church.[1]

[edit] Sainthood

Mogila was also Archimandrite of the Kiev Caves Lavra, and while archimandrite, glorified as saints all 125 Venerable Fathers and 61 Venerable Myrrh-bearing Heads of the Kiev Caves Lavra.

He is venerated as a saint in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Polish Orthodox Church. His feastday is January 1, but is also commemorated October 5 together with the other sainted Metropolitans of Kiev.

[edit] Honours

[edit] References

Inline:
  1. ^ Magoscy, R. (1996). A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 
General: