Original 1590 Synodal Tomos of Foundation of Moscow Patriarchate

A photograph of the May 8, 1590 tomos of the Council of Constantinople on the foundation of the Russian Orthodox Church as a patriarchate has been published online by the channel “Athonite Herald” on Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging service, reports OrthoChristian.

The historical document is written in ink on parchment in the Greek language. The tomos is signed by 106 people: Patriarchs Jeremias II of Constantinople, Joachim V of Antioch, and Sophronios of Jerusalem, as well as 42 metropolitans, 19 archbishops, and 20 bishops.

At that time Metropolitan of Wallachia was Nicephorus, and Metropolitan of Moldova George Mogila.

The tomos was delivered to Moscow in May 1591 by Metropolitan Dionysiy of Tarnovo, and handed to Tsar Feodor Ivanovich on June 20.

The Charter begins with an explanation by Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah. The Tsar Fyodor asked him to grant ‘the Archbishop of Moscow’ the title of patriarch. The patriarchal status and title was to be borne not only by Archbishop Job but also his successors on the chair of Moscow, who would be installed by ‘a Council of Moscow’.

Photography: foma.ru

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