Theodosius of Moscow

Holy Hierarch Theodosius of Moscow (Byvaltsev), Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia and a spiritual writer, died in 1476.

In 1453 he is mentioned as archimandrite of the Chudov monastery. On 23 June 1454 he was consecrated bishop of Rostov by Metropolitan Jonah. In 1455 he was censured because on the eve of Theophany, which then fell on a Sunday, he had allowed the laity to eat meat and the monks fish, cheese and eggs. Metropolitan Jonah summoned him to a council at Moscow and threatened him with deposition. But Theodosius's full repentance and humility, as well as the intercession of the Grand Princess Maria Yaroslavna, turned aside Jonah's anger. After this event Theodosius became extremely watchful over himself, careful with his flock and demanding of the clergy. To urge the clergy of his diocese to a stricter fulfilment of their duties, in 1459 (according to other reports, 1458) he convened at Belozersk a private council of all abbots, priests and deacons.

On 9 May 1461 he was elected Metropolitan of Moscow; Saint Jonah himself had chosen him during his lifetime. From his rule began a new period in the relations of the Russian metropolitans with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, a period of de facto independence and de facto autocephaly. Theodosius was the first metropolitan whose election the grand prince confirmed directly. Having become metropolitan, he set about correcting the morals of his clergy with still greater zeal. Every week he gathered the priests of Moscow and gave them spiritual instruction. He was especially strict with widowed priests and deacons, whom for the most part he sent to monasteries. The metropolitan's strictness caused murmuring and resentment among both the clergy and the flock.

Feeling the clergy's disfavour and the flock's discontent, on 13 September 1464 Saint Theodosius left the metropolitanate and settled in the Chudov monastery. There he took into his care a paralysed man and served him, washing his wounds, to the end of his days. Theodosius spent about ten years in humble struggle. Near the end of his life, in 1475, he moved to the Holy Trinity-⁠Saint Sergius Lavra. He died on 15 October 1476 in Saint Sergius's monastery. According to some sources he was buried in the Chudov monastery in Moscow, in the church of the Archangel. The historian E. E. Golubinsky, however, citing an inventory of 1641, says that on the tombs of three hierarchs, Serapion of Novgorod, Joasaph and Theodosius of Moscow, three covers were laid in Serapion's chamber; Theodosius's grave was forgotten after 1641. No information about the time of his canonization has reached us. Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin) mentions him as a non-⁠canonized saint, but in the service to all Russian saints his name is spoken in the litia prayer. In 2009 Metropolitan Theodosius's name was included in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow, among the hierarchs. He is commemorated on 19 July (new style), in the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh, and on 5 September, on a movable day, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow.