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Metropolis of Brăila (Proilavia)

The Metropolis of Brăila (Proilavia) was an Eastern Orthodox metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the territory of the Ottoman Empire, founded between 1540 and 1550, centered in the towns of Brăila (Romania) and Izmail (1751–1789). In the 17th and 18th centuries, Orthodox territories and parishes of Southern and Right-Bank Ukraine under Ottoman-Crimean protectorate fell under its canonical jurisdiction, including Khanate Ukraine and the Oleshky Sich.

Overview

The Metropolis of Brăila emerged in the mid-16th century to serve the Orthodox population of Ottoman-ruled lands in the Lower Danube and Northern Black Sea regions. Its initial jurisdiction encompassed Dobruja, Budjak, and Bender. After the signing of the Treaty of Buchach in 1672 between the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the jurisdiction of the Metropolis of Brăila expanded to include the Eparchy of Khotyn and all Orthodox territories of Right-Bank Ukraine led by Hetman Petro Doroshenko.

The successors of the Metropolitans of Brăila, notably Metropolitan Daniil (1751–1773), were officially styled in charters as "Metropolitan of Proilavia, Tomarovo, Khotyn, the entire Danube, Dnieper, and Dniester Coasts, and all of Khanate Ukraine." The Metropolis ensured the canonical independence of Ukrainian Cossacks and the population of Ottoman-ruled lands from the Moscow Patriarchate and the synodal governance of the russian empire until the Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1793) and the Treaty of Adrianople (1829).

Key Details / Subtopics

  • History of Creation and Centers: Founded in 1540–1550 in Brăila on the left bank of the Danube (Romania). In 1751–1789, the metropolitan seat was located in Izmail (now Odesa Oblast).
  • Canonical Territory and Khanate Ukraine: The Metropolis encompassed Dobruja, Budjak, Bender, the Eparchy of Khotyn, parishes of Right-Bank Ukraine (from 1672), Khanate Ukraine (the interfluve of the Dniester and Southern Buh), and the Oleshky Sich.
  • Metropolitans and Titulature:
  • Daniil (1751–1773) — held his see in Izmail, signing as "Metropolitan of... all of Khanate Ukraine."
  • Joachim (1773–1780) and Cyril (1780–1792) — continued to use the title of Ukrainian Metropolitan.
  • Subordination of Cossack Monasteries: Cossack monasteries of the Right Bank (Motronynsky, Moshnohirsky, Medvedivsky, Zhabotynsky, Lebedynsky, Mezhyhirsky) received abbots from Moldavia, Wallachia, and Khanate Ukraine, remaining outside the jurisdiction of Moscow-subordinated eparchies.
  • Clergy of Ottoman Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia: Priests were ordained by hierarchs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Wallachia, Moldavia, and Khanate Ukraine. The movement of "itinerant" or "wild priests" resisted attempts by the russian Synod to annex parishes.
  • Dissolution: Legally abolished under the terms of the Treaty of Adrianople (1829), it de facto functioned in the Danube region among the Danubian Cossacks until the 1840s.
  • What Do We Know About "Cossack" Metropolises? — article by Yevhen Buket on the Brăila and Kamianets Metropolises of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
  • Khanate Ukraine — Cossack entity under the protectorate of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, whose church parishes were part of the Metropolis of Brăila.
  • Metropolis of Gothia and Caffa — another see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Northern Black Sea region (Crimea).
  • Crimean Orthodox Eparchy — overview of church structures in Southern Ukraine and Crimea under Constantinople.
  • Petro Doroshenko — Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host, whose alliance with the Ottoman Empire subjected Right-Bank Ukraine to the Metropolis of Brăila.
  • Yosyp Tukalskyi-Nelyubovych — Metropolitan of Kyiv who, after 1668, removed the commemoration of the Moscow Tsar from Ukrainian churches.
  • Treaty of Korsun (1668) — agreement on Ottoman protectorate preceding the inclusion of Cossack lands into the Metropolis of Brăila.
  • Treaty of Buchach (1672) — treaty under which Right-Bank Ukraine officially came under the canonical omophorion of the Metropolis of Brăila.
  • Metropolis of Kamianets — temporary metropolis (1681–1690) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Right-Bank Ukraine.