Kyshka, Lev

Kyshka, Lev [Кишка, Лев; Kyška, also Кішка; Kishka, secular name: Лука; Luka], b 1663 (1668 according to other sources) in Kovel, Volhynia, d 19 November 1728 in Kupychiv, Volhynia. Uniate metropolitan of Kyiv. After his ordination he studied at the Collegium de Propaganda Fide in Rome (1687–91). He was protoarchimandrite of the Basilian monastic order in 1703–13 and consecrated bishop of Volodymyr (Volodymyr-Volynskyi) and Berestia in 1711. As bishop he proved to be an able administrator and organizer of religious education; among other schools he founded a theological seminary in Volodymyr. In 1714 he was elected metropolitan of Kyiv. His most important act as metropolitan was the organization of the Synod of Zamostia in 1720, which ratified several reforms in the organization and creed of the Uniate Church. His works include O Sakramentakh (About the Holy Sacraments, 1697), a Polish translation of the sermons of Metropolitan Ipatii Potii (1714), and a book about the Synod of Zamostia, published in Rome in Latin (1724). His correspondence with the Vatican was published by Atanasii Velyky in 1959.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]