Turning the pages back...

July 26, 1675

Yosyf Tukalsky-Neliubovych was born in Pynske in the 17th century, but the exact date is uncertain. What is certain is that he was a churchman actively involved in the politics of his day (during the period known as The Ruin) and whose orientation was uniquely Ukrainian.

1657 was a banner year. While serving as archimandrite of the Holy Ghost Monastery in Vilnius, Tukalsky was nominated as a candidate for the Kyivan metropolitanate. As a protégé of Kostiantyn Vyhovsky (commander of the Turiv-Pynske Kozak regiment), he participated in the officer's council (Rada Starshyny) in Korsun that elected Ivan Vyhovsky hetman in October.

In 1661, Tukalsky was consecrated bishop of Orsha and Mstislau (and Belarus). Two years later, a sobor of clergy, nobility and Kozak officers in Korsun elected him metropolitan of Kyiv, but the Polish king (pursuant to the Church Union of Brest of 1596) refused to ratify this appointment, preferring Bishop Antin Vynnytsky as a candidate.

This resulted in an administrative schism in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with Tukalsky exercising authority over Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, but not Galicia, Volhynia and Podilia. This also exacerbated Tukalsky's previous hostility to the Polish government, and to the pro-Polish Hetman Pavlo Teteria.

In 1664, when the latter's star was ascendant, Tukalsky was arrested and imprisoned in the Marienburg fortress and held there for two years. Hetman Petro Doroshenko secured his release and restored him to his position as metropolitan. In 1668, the Patriarch of Constantinople confirmed Tukalsky's status and named him exarch.

Following his release from prison, Tukalsky took up residence near Hetman Doroshenko's capital in Chyhyryn, and acted as his close advisor. He was particularly active in counseling the Kozak leader to steer clear of alliances with either Muscovy or Poland, and to seek support from the Turks.

In Church affairs, Tukalsky rejected any rapprochement with the Moscow Patriarchate and staunchly defended his metropoly's independence. This occasioned harsh conflicts with Moscow's representative in Kyiv, Bishop Maksym Fylymonovych.

Metropolitan Tukalsky died in Chyhyryn on July 26, 1675. His remains were subsequently re-buried in the Mhar Transfiguration Monastery and his valuable archives moved to the Kyivan Cave Monastery.

Source: "Tukalsky-Neliubovych, Yosyf," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 5 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993).

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 27, 1997, No. 30, Vol. LXV

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