Sviatopolk-Chetvertynsky, Hedeon

Sviatopolk-Chetvertynsky, Hedeon [Святополк-Четвертинський, Гедеон; Svjatopolk-Četvertyns’kyj; secular name: Григорій; Hryhorii], b ?, d 1690. Orthodox metropolitan. A descendant of the Riurykide dynasty (the Sviatopolk-Chetvertynsky family), ca 1661 he was consecrated bishop of Lutsk and Ostroh. He defended the rights of the Orthodox in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. When his relations with King Jan III Sobieski, the Catholic church, and Yosyf Shumliansky, the Orthodox bishop of Lviv, deteriorated, however, he moved to the Baturyn Monastery in the Hetman state. In June 1685 a church sobor elected Hedeon Sviatopolk-Chetvertynsky metropolitan of Kyiv, and in October 1685 he went to Moscow to be installed formally by patriarch Yoakim Savelov. His election and his decision to accept his installation from the patriarch of Moscow, which undermined the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox church and cut its historical link to the Patriarch of Constantinople, were opposed by many church leaders in Ukraine. When Hetman Ivan Samoilovych, his main supporter, who also favored a pro-Muscovite orientation for the Ukrainian church, was replaced by Ivan Mazepa, his authority began to fall. By 1688 Mazepa had forbidden his use of the title ‘Metropolitan of All Rus'.’

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]