Sylvester Kossów | |
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| Native name | Silvester Kosaw |
| Church | Ruthenian Orthodox |
| Metropolis | Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' |
| See | Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople |
| Elected | 1647 |
| In office | 1647–1657 |
| Predecessor | Petro Mohyla |
| Successor | Dionysius Balaban |
| Other posts | Bishop of Mstsislaw, Orsha, and Mahiliow (1635–1647) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Stefan-Adam Kosaw |
| Died | (1657-04-13)13 April 1657 |
| Buried | Dormition Cathedral (Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra) |
| Denomination | Eastern Orthodox |
| Alma mater | Zamość Academy |
Sylvester Kossów,Kosiv orKosov (secular nameStefan-Adam Kosaw,Polish:Sylwester Kossów; born Zharobychi,Vitebsk Voivodeship,Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, died 13 April 1657) was theMetropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus'[a] in theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in theEastern Orthodox Church from 1647 to 1657. He reigned during theKhmelnytsky uprising.
Kossów was a descendant of aRuthenian noble family. He studied at the Kyiv andVilno Brotherhood schools and at theLublin Jesuit Collegium andZamość Academy before beginning to teach at the Vilno and Lviv Dormition brotherhood schools. After finishing his education, Kosiv acceptedmonastic vows at theSaint Trinity Monastery in Vilno. With the opening of the Kyiv Lavra School in 1631, Kosiv be its lecturer on the request of MetropolitanPetro Mohyla becoming its prefect. In 1632–1635 he was the first prefect at the Kyiv Collegium teaching courses on rhetoric and philosophy. At the same time in 1632 Kosiv joined the Kyiv Epiphany Brotherhood.
In 1635 he became bishop ofMstislavl,Orsha, andMahiliow. Following theUnion of Brest, the eparchy of Mstislawl, Orsha, and Mahiliow became the only Eastern Orthodox eparchy within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1647 he became the metropolitan of Kyiv. It happened just before theKhmelnytsky Uprising, a time of uncertainty in Ukraine and in the Ruthenian church.
Kossów himself was strongly opposed to union withTsardom of Russia, and also against unreserved alliance withPoland. He condemned the 1654treaty of Pereyaslav between the Cossack Hetmanate and the Tsardom of Muscovy. Despite being critical of some of the policies of theUkrainian Cossacks, he attempted to rectify the situation and along with thePatriarch of JerusalemPaiseus gaveBohdan Khmelnytsky a hero's welcome when he entered Kyiv on 2 January 1649 (Old Style 23 December 1648). Kossów strived for an independent Ruthenian Orthodox Church that would be only under the jurisdiction of thePatriarch of Constantinople, and he fought against the subjugation of the Kyiv metropolate to Moscow.
In 1650 Sylvestr headed a delegation of the Orthodox clergy and Kyiv voivodeAdam Kysil to the Sejm inWarsaw and contribute to ratification of the 1649treaty of Zboriv.
| Preceded by | Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus' 1647–1657 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Iosif Bobrikovich | Bishop of Belarus 1635–1647 | Succeeded by Iosif Kononovich-Horbacki |
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