Phillip Kolichev, Moscow and All Russia Metropolitan

Moscow and All Russia Metropolitan

Phillip was borne in 1507 and served in the court of Ivan the Terrible. His relatives were engaged in plots in the court and were executed. Phillip escaped, wandered for a long time and finally ended up taking a habit in the Solovki monastery. In 1548, when he was only 41 years old, the fraternity of the monastery unanimously supported the abbotship of Phillip. This support was also affirmed by Theodosius, the archbishop of Great Novgorod.

Phillip possessed a great talent: organization. The young Father Superior managed not only to estimate, but also to use the economic power of Solovki monastery. Phillip began stone building. The temples were raised, canals were constructed, roads were laid and harbors were arranged during his abbotship. He gained glory in the ordering of control under patrimonies. He developed and continued the traditions of book-learning and iconography. The fame of Phillip reached tsarist court and he obtained an imperative proposal of Metropolis from Ivan the Terrible. This occurred in spite of Phillip's disgraced family, his sincere relation to the disgraced town Great Novgorod and his indirect participation in the escape of solovki prisoner Artemii (the Father Superior to the Trinity-Sergei's monastery).

Phillip demanded the limitation of the palace guard of Ivan the Terrible. After the agreement with the tsar was signed (July, 20, 1566), Phillip becomes the metropolitan of Moscow and All-Russia. But his reign was short-lived. As early as the spring of 1568 during the service in the Assumption Cathedral, Metropolitan Phillip threatened the tsar to suffer infernal torments because of the "fire of fierceness" that had enveloped Russia. The appearance of the Metropolitan on the divine service in the Novodevichiy monastery (July, 28, 1568) led Ivan the Terrible into an indescribable fury. The trial of Metropolitan Phillip took place on November, 1568. Phillip was found guilty of "stingy matters". According to church canons he must be burned. But execution was substituted with exile to the Tver' Otroch Monastery. On December 23, 1569, the Metropolitan was strangled by Malyuta Skuratov. Today Metropolitan Phillip is the most well-known solovki person in Russian history. Meanwhile, 45 years later Solovki witnessed one more personality, who also had a noticeable influence on the history of our state.