Isaiah Kopinsky

Isaiah Kopinsky (Ukrainian: Ісая Копинський, Russian: Исаия Копинский; b ? in Galicia region – 5 October 1640) was a Ukrainian Orthodox metropolitan (official title – Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and All-Rus').

Orthodox church figure and Kievan metropolitan. He studied at the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood School and entered a monastery as a youth. Eventually he became the hegumen of the Kiev Epiphany Brotherhood Monastery and the Mezhyhiria Transfiguration Monastery and one of the founders of the Kiev Epiphany Brotherhood School.

In 1620, when the Orthodox hierarchy was renewed by Patriarch Theophanes III of Jerusalem, Isaiah was consecrated bishop of Peremyshl and Sambir; however, he was not permitted to assume his post by the Polish king, and he was instead named bishop of Chernihiv and Smolensk. He was well known as an organizer of monasteries; through his efforts the Mgarsky Monastery, the Hustynia Trinity Monastery, and other monasteries were founded. In 1631 he succeeded Metropolitan Yov Boretsky as Kievan metropolitan.

Isaiah was a conservative and a decided foe of Catholicism and the Uniate church. He was also pro-Muscovite and favored conciliation with the tsar and the Moscow metropolitan. After the legalization of the Orthodox hierarchy by Poland in 1632 and the election of Petro Mohyla as metropolitan of Kiev, Isaiah was forced by the latter to relinquish his post. He became the supervisor of the Kiev St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in 1633, and lobbied unsuccessfully to regain his title from Mohyla, supported by many monasteries and Cossacks.

In 1635 he moved to Polisia, and in 1638 back to Kiev, where he probably died.

References

• Kopynsky, Isaia at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine