Rahoza, Mykhailo

Rahoza, Mykhailo [Рагоза, Михайло; or Rohoza], b 1540 in Volhynia, d 1599 in Navahrudak, Belarus. Metropolitan of Kyiv. In 1576 he entered a monastery in Minsk and in 1579 became its archimandrite. He was appointed metropolitan of Kyiv by the king of Poland and was consecrated by Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople in August 1589 in Vilnius. He supported the Church Union of Berestia; he dispatched Bishops Ipatii Potii and Kyrylo Terletsky to Rome to complete the negotiations, and he signed the act of union in 1596. For this he was opposed by the Orthodox brotherhoods and some of the Orthodox clergy and nobility, led by Prince Kostiantyn Vasyl Ostrozky.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]