Early history of Orthodoxy in Galicia

Exclusive. According to church tradition, the appearance of the first Christian communities in present-day Galicia dates back to the time of the activity of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, teachers of the Slovenes. Conquered during the reign of Svyatopolk I in Great Moravia, its western part under the name "Transtheissia" from 881/882 to 896 was part of the Moravian possessions. Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius and his disciples carried the Good News throughout the lands of the principality and probably had time to baptize a certain part of Dulibs, white Croats and peasants who lived in its extreme east before the Hungarian invasion at the end of the 902th century. However, the Hungarians quickly went to the Danube, to Pannonia, and from XNUMX a part of present-day Galicia came under the rule of Polish princes.

Early history of Orthodoxy in Galicia

In 981, Grand Duke Volodymyr of Kyiv recaptured Przemyśl and the towns of Chuvnia from Poland, and these lands began to be called Red Russia. The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles prince, according to his younger contemporary, the future first Russian Metropolitan Hilarion, "baptized the entire Russian land from one end to the other", hence also Red Russia, which became part of the Volyn diocese. Metropolitan Makariy (Bulgakov), an outstanding church historian of the XNUMXth century, assumed already in the XNUMXth century. the existence of separate dioceses here: "It is natural to agree with the tradition that, if not during the time of Volodymyr, then during the time of Yaroslav, two dioceses were founded in Red Rus: Galicia and Peremyshl, although there is no information about them in our chronicles. True, everything we have said is nothing more than guesses, but the guesses are not groundless, and it is at least probable that not only in the six directly named in the annals, but also in other cities, bishops were first appointed in our country."

However, most modern historians do not share his opinion and consider a much later date to be more reliable - 1156, when the Galician diocese (its archbishop was at that time Bishop Cosmas) was first mentioned in the annals, or others close to this date. The Galician Principality, which was actually independent from Kyiv, was created 12 years earlier from several smaller ones. In the 40s of the XII century. under Volodymyr Volodarevych, the creator of the unified Galician principality, a princely palace complex with the Church of the Savior was built in Galicia, which has not survived to this day. According to the researchers, a group of Polish craftsmen worked here on the order of the Galician princes - the temple clearly shows the features of Romanesque architecture, the technique of white stone masonry, which was not previously used in Russian lands, is used. According to the Orthodox Encyclopedia, an idea of ​​the appearance of these churches can be given by the preserved Rostov-Suzdal monuments of the era of Yuri Dolgoruky (the Savior-Transfiguration Cathedral in Pereyaslavl-Zalisky, the church in honor of the holy princes Boris and Hleb in Kideksha), apparently built , with the same artillery received by Yuriy from his main ally Volodymyrko Halytskyi.

In the last years of Volodymyrka's reign, a majestic cathedral was built in the capital in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (according to archaeological data, it was mentioned for the first time in the annals in connection with the burial of Prince Yaroslav Osmomysl in it), which became a cathedral. The dimensions of its foundations, established by archaeologists, are inferior only to Sophia of Kyiv. "Romanesque elements are one of the essential features of the architecture of ancient Halych," writes art critic V.S. Vuytsyk. — The same construction technique was used here, similar materials were used. At the same time, the typological features of Byzantine architecture, which appeared in the general concept of the cross-domed church, remain the leading ones. If the plan of the Assumption Cathedral in Halychi is similar to the plans of Kyiv buildings (the Church of the Ten) and the churches of Northeast Russia (the Assumption Cathedral in Volodymyr), then the white stone carving, on the contrary, has direct analogies among Romanesque, particularly South German, monuments."

The Principality of Galicia reached its highest power under Prince Yaroslav Volodymyrovych (Volodymyrkovich) Osmomysl (1153–1187). Located on the trade route from Kyiv to Western Europe, the principality established active trade and diplomatic relations with Poland, Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire, and Byzantium (with the latter, and ecclesiastical ones — the Ipatiev Chronicle in 1165 reports on the embassy to Constantinople on headed by Bishop Cosmas).

The accumulation of private wealth also had a negative side - a significant strengthening of boyarism under Yaroslav, which is a characteristic feature of the subsequent history of Halych. Volyn prince Roman Mstislavich the Great, who united the Galician and Volyn principalities in 1199, managed to curb boyar arbitrariness for a time. These years, especially after the fall of Constantinople under the blows of the Crusaders in 1203, the Latin expansion into Russia, especially in its southwestern part, intensified sharply. Roman Mstislavich was offered the royal crown by Pope Innocent III on the condition that Roman would convert to Catholicism, but the prince resolutely refused and kept the Orthodox faith in his possessions. With him, a church was built in the capital in the name of the great martyr Panteleimon, which adorns Halych to this day.

Prince Roman, called by the chronicler "autocrat of the entire Russian land" and "king in the Russian land", took part in Polish conflicts and died in 1205, leaving behind two young children. One of them (Danilo), after several decades of fierce struggle against the rebellious boyars and the Hungarians who claimed the lands of the principality, managed to revive his father's state and increase its glory. Unfortunately, Danylo Romanovych Halytsky's adversary, not his assistant, in this struggle was Bishop Artemiy (30s - early 40s of the 1245th century), a supporter of his rival for the Galician throne, Prince Rostislav Mykhailovych. Artemiy fled from Halych after the decisive victory of Prince Danylo in XNUMX in the battle of Yaroslav on the Syan River, together with the Hungarian and Polish feudal lords, who repeatedly captured Halych, and joined the Latin clergy.

Even during their first seizure of Halych in 1188–1189, the Hungarians "started putting horses in the shrines." During the youth of Prince Danilo, the boyars contributed to the fact that in 1215–1219 Kalman (Koloman), the son of the Hungarian king András (Andriy) II (1205–1235), was on the Galician throne. In order to strengthen his son's position, Andras II sought to subjugate the Galician eparchy to Rome.

The king wrote to Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) about the desire for "the nobles and the people of Halych... to remain in unity and obedience to the Holy Roman Church, so that they would not be allowed to deviate from their rite in anything else." The Pope readily approved the union and ordered the Archbishop of Esztergom to crown Kalman with a royal crown. What was the "desire" of the union among the inhabitants of the principality can be seen from the attitude of this chronicler: "The Hungarian king will appoint his son in Galicia, and he will expel the bishops and priests from the church, and he will bring Latin priests to his service."

Koloman was chased away by the Novgorod prince Mstislav Udatny (Brave), who acted in alliance with Danylo Romanovych, who ruled at that time in Volyn, marrying his daughter Anna to him. Having won, Mstislav made peace with Andras II and gave his other daughter Maria in marriage to his son Andras. Mstislav soon died, and Danylo was left alone against the combined forces of the Hungarian and Polish kings, who renewed their aggression. The next period of the short reign of the Hungarians in the Galician land was 1227–1234 (with a break between 1229 and 1232), when the Galician king was the aforementioned Andras, known in Russia as "King Andriy". Apparently, the Dominican monastery was founded in Halycha at this time. Andriy ruled with the support of the Galician boyars, in constant conflict with the common people, who wanted to see Danylo Romanovych as the Galician prince.

In 1238, Danylo Romanovych finally took possession of Halych, handing over Volyn to his brother and faithful companion Vasylko Romanovych, and then briefly occupied Kyiv. Waging a fierce struggle against the princely feuds and the dominance of the boyars, Danylo relied on petty servants and the population of the cities, the development of which he contributed in every way, attracting artisans and merchants there, built new cities: Kholm, Lviv, Ugrovesk, Danyliv, renovated Dorohochyn, which he recaptured from Dobzhynsk knights

Danylo moved the capital of the Galicia-Volyn principality from Halych to Kholm, decorating it with several churches. Successfully repelling the constant raids of Polish and Hungarian feudal lords and new opponents in the west of Russia - the Lithuanians and their related Yatviags, Danylo faced with an irresistible force even for such a large separate principality as Halytsia - Volhynia - with an influx of Mongol-Tatars who came to those years in Russia.

After the death of Metropolitan Iosif during the capture of Kyiv by the Mongols in 1240, Danylo Romanovych took care of the election of a new Metropolitan of Kyiv. Through his efforts, a local native became Cyril II (III) for the third time in the history of Russia. In 1246, after receiving a khan label for his reign in the Horde (this trip was generally successful, which, however, was accompanied by humiliation in the khan's ranks, left an indelible trace of bitterness in the soul of Prince Danylo, vividly described by the chronicler: "O evil, evil Tatar honor!" ), the prince sent Metropolitan Kirill to Nicaea to Patriarch Manuel II, who confirmed him in the metropolitan power. Cyril († 1281), "archbishop of all Russia", as he called himself, became an outstanding figure of the Church, who zealously protected and strengthened it in the conditions of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, which "drains the very soul of the people"

Danyla was immeasurably burdened by dependence on the Horde. Counting (as it turned out, in vain) on Western European allies in the confrontation with her, he agreed to accept from Pope Innocent IV in 1254 the royal title ("king of Russia" or "prince of all the Russian, Galician and Volodymyr land"), but the proposed church rejected the union. He concluded several dynastic marriages: he married his son Shvarn to the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Mindovga, whose niece became the second wife of Danylo himself after the death of Anna Mstislavivna; the king of Hungary, Béla, agreed to the marriage, which Danylo had planned for a long time, of his daughter with Danylo's son Lev; his other son, Roman, married the heiress of the Austrian duchy.

However, the hopes of getting help from European rulers, preoccupied with their feuds, in the fight against the Mongols did not come true, and Pope Innocent IV pursued an active policy of careful rapprochement with the Horde, trying to subjugate the Nestorians and other Christians in its possessions to his power. Wanting to conclude an alliance against the Mongols with other Russian princes, Danylo married his daughter Ustina (Hanna) to the Grand Duke of Volodymyr Andriy Yaroslavich, they were personally crowned in Volodymyr-on-Klyazma by Metropolitan Kirill, but in 1252 he was overthrown by the army of Khan Sartak, and his label was transferred to his more loyal brother, then the Kiev prince, Alexander Nevsky, who understood, like the metropolitan, the impossibility of Russia resisting the much superior force of the Horde in the existing conditions.

Having won several skirmishes with the Mongols, Danylo still obeyed the new governor, Burundai, the jailer, whose two campaigns in 1258–1259 forced him to build fortifications in many cities, including Volodymyr-Volynskyi, and to participate in raids on Poland and Lithuania. Now the Mongol-Tatar yoke was firmly established in the Galicia-Volyn Principality.

However, Danylo continued the policy of developing his possessions to the best of his ability. Around 1240, he moved the center of another new diocese from Uhrovska to his new capital, Holm. Several temples were built here, which burned down in the fall of 1257 in the flames of a grandiose fire. King Danylo rebuilt the city and the church in the name of St. John, which was consecrated by the local bishop John, built a new, more spacious church in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, decorating it with "wonderful" icons. Four years after its consecration, in 1264, Rus's great son was buried there: "And they laid him in the church of the Holy Mother of God in Kholm, which he himself built."

Ivan Verstyanuk, columnist Newsky