The Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' (Russian: Митрополит Киевский и всея Руси, romanized: Mitropolit Kiyevskiy i vseya Rusi; Ukrainian: Митрополит Київський та всієї Русі, romanized: Mytropolyt Kyivskyi ta vsiiei Rusi) was a metropolis of the Eastern Orthodox Church that was erected on the territory of Kievan Rus'. It existed between 988 AD and 1596 AD. Canonically, it was under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The episcopal seat (cathedra) was located in the city of Kiev until it was moved to Vladimir-na-Klyazme in 1299 and then Moscow in 1325.
In 1596, the Union of Brest was adopted which transferred the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the western part of the metropolis from the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the Holy See. As a sui juris Eastern Catholic particular church, the metropolis retained its ancient rights; in time, it came to be known as the Ruthenian Uniate Church. To reflect its exclusion from the eastern part (in the Tsardom of Russia), it was renamed as the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia.
The metropolis was later revived in the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1620 AD to 1686 AD as an exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Again, to reflect its exclusion from the Tsardom of Russia, this episcopal title was renamed the "Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus'". The fate of the metropolis after that date is a matter of dispute: according to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the metropolis was uncanonically annexed or was in abeyance until it received the tomos of autocephaly[1][2][3] from the Ecumenical Patriarch; on the other hand, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) maintains that it was absorbed by the Patriarchate of Moscow and all Rus' and is currently an exarchate of the ROC that styles itself on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOC-MP).
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