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Metropolis of Gothia and Caffa

The Metropolis of Gothia and Caffa was a united Orthodox metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople that encompassed the Christian sees of Crimea; formed in 1676 through the merger of the Metropolises of Gothia and Caffa, it existed until its liquidation by the russian government in 1786–1788. It was the last church structure independent of Moscow that was directly subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Overview

Christianity in Crimea dates back to apostolic times: according to tradition, the Apostle Andrew the First-Called preached on the northern coast of the Black Sea. The oldest was the Eparchy of Kherson (center — Chersonesus Taurica), whose first bishop is considered to be Saint Clement (martyred c. 100). The Eparchy of Bosporus (center — Panticapaeum, present-day Kerch) is known from the time of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 (Bishop Cadmus).

By the end of the 8th century, five Crimean eparchies of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (Bosporus, Kherson, Gothia, Sugdaea/Surozh, Phullae) were elevated to archdioceses, and at the end of the 13th century — to metropolises. In 1676, two metropolises of Crimea (Gothia and Caffa) were united into a single Metropolis of Gothia and Caffa.

The Metropolis of Gothia strengthened particularly after 1475, when the Crimean Khanate came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire: following the fall of Mangup, the center moved to the Dormition (Panagia) Skete near Bakhchysarai, and no earlier than 1627, the ancient Metropolis of Kherson was merged into Gothia. The Metropolis of Caffa (center — modern Feodosia) was established in 1485 (according to other sources, in 1616) by absorbing the Metropolis of Sugdaea and Phullae.

A firman of Sultan Mustafa III from 1759 testifies that the cities of Mangup, Caffa, Balaklava, Sudak, and Azov were under the omophorion of the Metropolitan of Gothia and Caffa.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Eparchy of Gothia (from 5th c.): In the 5th century, the Eparchy of Gothia under Constantinople was transferred from the Danube region to Crimea; its center became the new capital of Gothia, Theo-Doros (Mangup-Kale). According to one version, Crimean Goths converted to Christianity earlier than the Danubian Goths and had a separate eparchy from the very beginning.
  • Dormition Skete (Panagia): After the fall of Mangup (1475), it became the residence of the metropolitans; it arose on the site of the apparition of the Icon of the Mother of God back in the 8th century, near Bakhchysarai.
  • List of Metropolitans of Gothia and Caffa (according to a document in Crimean Tatar published by Feoktyst Khartakhay — the first researcher of the history of the Azov Greeks): Methodios (from November 15, 1673), Neophytos (from May 13, 1680), Makarios (from June 21, 1707), Parthenios (from December 23, 1710), Gedeon (from November 25, 1725). The last metropolitan was Ignatios (Gozadinos), who arrived at the see in April 1771.
  • Resettlement of Crimean Christians (1778–1779): On the initiative of Metropolitan Ignatios, a petition for resettlement was submitted to Catherine II on June 16, 1778; on May 21, 1779, a supreme charter granting lands in Northern Azovia was issued. The operation (in late 1779) was commanded by A. Suvorov; over 31 thousand Christians left Crimea (27 thousand were forcibly deported), laying the foundation for Mariupol.
  • Liquidation of the Metropolis: Following Ignatios's death in 1786, the Metropolis of Gothia and Caffa was liquidated by the russian government, and its territory was annexed to the Yekaterinoslav Eparchy of the ROC (legally in 1788). St. George's Monastery on Fiolent remained the last stronghold of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Crimea until 1794.