Q4298051

Saint Michael, known in East Slavic sources as Mikhail, is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox tradition as the first Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus'. According to later chronicles and saints' lives, he was sent from Constantinople by Patriarch Nicholas II Chrysoberges in the aftermath of the baptism of Prince Vladimir and the people of Kiev in 988. No contemporary Byzantine or Rus' source from the late tenth century names him, and the Primary Chronicle is silent on the identity of the first metropolitan. Consequently, modern historians differ on whether Michael was a historical personage or a pious figure introduced in Muscovite-era compilations such as the Nikon Chronicle to supply an illustrious founder for the Kievan see. Accounts of his origin vary; some later texts call him a Syrian, others associate him with the Bulgarian church.

In the traditional narrative, Metropolitan Michael arrived with a company of clergy, bringing liturgical books, icons, and church furnishings. He is described as having organized the hierarchy of the new church, consecrating or sending bishops to Novgorod and other principal towns, and working to suppress remaining pagan cults. He is sometimes credited with a role in the foundation of the Church of the Tithes, the first stone church in Kiev. His recorded activity covers only a few years.

Church tradition states that he died on 15 June 992 and was buried in the Church of the Tithes. Subsequent centuries produced reports of the discovery of his relics, which were regarded as incorrupt. The relics were moved over time and by the eighteenth century were enshrined in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Veneration continued there until the disruptions of the twentieth century.

Saint Michael is commemorated on 15 June, the traditional date of his repose, and on 30 September, the feast of the translation of his relics. He is also included in the Synaxis of the Saints of the Kiev Caves and of all the wonderworkers of Kiev. Although the historical evidence for his life is late and sparse, he occupies a foundational place in the hagiographical memory of the Orthodox churches that trace their origins to the baptism of Rus'.