Dionysius, Metropolitan of Moscow

Dionysius was Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus', the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, from 1581 to 1587. He was the sixteenth metropolitan in Moscow to be appointed without the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as had been the norm.

Biography

He first served at the Khutyn Monastery. Dionysius was selected as the metropolitan bishop by Ivan IV in 1581. He was notable for his eloquence and a number of works, and was known as a "wise grammarian". Being a close friend of the Shuisky family, Dionysius managed to reconcile them with the Godunovs in 1585. At the same time, he attempted to persuade Tsar Feodor I to divorce Irina Godunova. For this, he was deposed at the instigation of Boris Godunov in 1587 and was exiled to the Khutyn Monastery outside Novgorod the Great. He died there in 1591.