Hierarch Peter (Mogila), Metropolitan of Kiev

CANONIZATION NUANCE: the ROC's Synodal Canonization Commission twice in 1996 (September 3-4 and October 25) reviewed and rejected his canonization, citing insufficient evidence of personal sanctity, miracles, and popular veneration. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) canonized him independently as a locally venerated saint on December 6, 1996. Despite the commission's initial rejection, on December 8, 2005, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II, St. Peter's name was entered into the ROC's general calendar — so his veneration is now recognized church-wide, though it originated from the Ukrainian (1996) canonization amid a documented initial ROC-commission reluctance. The Romanian Orthodox Church separately canonized him on March 12, 2002 (feast December 22 — a different date, reflecting his Moldavian origin).

St. Peter (Mogila) was born December 21/31, 1596, in Suceava (Moldavia) to the ruling Movilă boyar family. He was educated at the Lviv Brotherhood school and fought at the Battle of Khotyn (1621). From the mid-1620s he was a monk at the Kyiv Caves Lavra, becoming archimandrite in 1627 and Metropolitan of Kiev on April 28, 1633. He secured the return of St. Sophia Cathedral, the Vydubychi Monastery, and other holy sites taken by the Uniates; he restored the Church of the Savior at Berestove, uncovering remains venerated as the relics of St. Prince Vladimir. He founded the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium (later Academy), authored the "Orthodox Confession of Faith" (ratified by the Eastern Patriarchs in 1642) and a revised Trebnik (1646). He died January 1, 1647, in Kiev; his tomb was destroyed by shelling of the Dormition Cathedral in 1941.