Raphael Zaborovsky

Raphael Zaborovsky (Russian: Рафаил Заборо́вский; (secular name: Mikhail; 1677 – 22 October 1747) was a Russian Orthodox bishop of Pskov and Narva and metropolitan of Kiev.

Zaborovsky, an Orthodox bishop of Polish origin, was born in Zaborov in the Galicia region. He studied at the Kiev-Mogila Academy and then at the Moscow Theological Academy, where he later taught rhetoric (1718). After serving as a chaplain in the Russian navy he became archimandrite of the Tver Monastery and a member of the Holy Synod in 1723.

In 1725 he was consecrated bishop of Pskov. He was elevated to the office of archbishop of Kiev by the tsar in 1731, and he later convinced the church authorities to restore Kiev eparchy as a Kiev metropoly, whereupon he took the title ‘Metropolitan of Kiev, Galich and Little Russia’ in 1743.

A supporter of Archbishop Teofan Prokopovych, Zaborovsky carried out the Russian government's policy of destroying the autonomy of the Ukrainian church by instituting the "Dukhovnyi reglament" of 1721 and other synodal ukases. He did, however, raise the academic standards and improve the economic standing of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He published a new statute for the academy, reformed the curriculum (adding new courses in more modern disciplines), and provided much money for the expansion of the academy's buildings and for scholarships for poor students. The academy even briefly became known as the Mohyla-Zaborovsky Academy. The Great Bell Tower of the Kievan Cave Monastery (1736–45), the bell tower of the Saint Sophia Cathedral, the baroque Zaborovsky Gate, and a number of other buildings were constructed during his tenure as metropolitan. He died in Kiev.

References

• Zaborovsky, Rafail at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine