Raphael (, ;

secular name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth ...

: Mykhailo Zaborovsky, , , ; 1677 – 22 October 1747) was the Bishop of

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

and

Narva Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia border, E ...

and the

Metropolitan of Kiev Metropolitan of Kyiv is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title that has been created with varying suffixes at multiple times in different Christian churches, though always maintaining the name of the Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolita ...

in the

Patriarchate of Moscow The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The primate of the ROC is the patriarch of Moscow and all R ...

. Zaborovsky was born in Zborów in the

Ruthenian Voivodeship The Ruthenian Voivodeship (; ; ) was a voivodeship of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1434 until the First Partition of Poland in 1772, with its center in the city of Lwów (lat. Leopolis) (modern day Lviv). Together with a number of ot ...

of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. He studied at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and then at the

Moscow Theological Academy Moscow Theological Academy () is a higher educational institution of the Russian Orthodox Church, training clergy, teachers, scholars, and officials. The Academy traces its origin to the Slavic Greek Latin Academy, which was founded in 1685 by th ...

, where he later taught rhetorics (1718). After serving as a chaplain in the Russian navy he became

archimandrite The title archimandrite (; ), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot ('' hegumenos'', , present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") whom a bishop appointed to supervise several "ordinary" abbots and monaste ...

of the

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

Monastery. In 1723, he became a member of the church's

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthodox ...

. In 1725, he was consecrated bishop of Pskov. He was elevated to the office of

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Kyiv by the tsar in 1731. He later convinced the church authorities to restore the

archeparchy Eparchy ( ''eparchía'' "overlordship") is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. An eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the administrative structure ...

of Kyiv to metropolis status, whereupon he took the title of ‘Metropolitan of Kyiv, Halych and Little Russia’ in 1743. A supporter of Archbishop Theofan Prokopovich, Zaborovsky carried out the Russian government's policy of destroying the autonomy of the Ukrainian church by instituting the "Dukhovnyi reglament" of 1721 and other synodal ukases. He did, however, raise the academic standards and improve the economic standing of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He published a new statute for the academy, reformed the curriculum (adding new courses in more modern disciplines), and provided much money for the expansion of the academy's buildings and for scholarships for poor students. The academy even briefly became known as the Mohyla-Zaborovsky Academy. The Great Bell Tower of the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves (1736–45), the bell tower of the

Saint Sophia Cathedral Saint Sophia Cathedral may refer to: * Saint Sophia Cathedral in Harbin, the Russian Orthodox cathedral in Harbin, China * Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine * Saint Sophia Cathedral, London, United Kingdom * Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod ...

, the baroque Zaborovsky Gate, and a number of other buildings were constructed during his tenure as metropolitan. He died in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

References

*
Zaborovsky, Rafail
' at the
Encyclopedia of Ukraine
' 1747 deaths Kyiv-Mohyla Academy alumni Academic staff of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Ruthenian nobility 1677 births People from Zboriv People from Ruthenian Voivodeship Metropolitans of Kiev and all Rus' (Patriarchate of Moscow) Moscow Theological Academy alumni Eastern Orthodox saints from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth {{Ukraine-bio-stub