Cyprian, Metropolitan

Cyprian, Metropolitan, b ca 1330 in Tirnovo (now Veliko Târnovo, Romania), d 16 April 1406 in Moscow. Metropolitan of Kyiv, probably of Bulgarian origin. He lived for some time at Mount Athos. In 1376 he was ordained as a bishop in Constantinople at the behest of the Lithuanian grand duke Algirdas. Because this ordination was not recognized by Moscow, he became the metropolitan of “all Rus’” only in 1389. He resided thereafter in Muscovy, although he visited Kyiv and other Ukrainian eparchies. Cyprian left a few small liturgical works, translations of liturgical books, and three epistles, which explain pastoral practice and contain valuable information about church life in the 14th–15th century. He changed church rituals and texts from the Studite to Jerusalem rubric.