Volodkovych, Fylyp

Volodkovych, Fylyp [Володкович, Филип; Volodkovyč], b 6 June 1697 in Navasëlki, near Vilnius, d 2 February 1778 in Uman. Uniate bishop. He joined the Basilian monastic order and studied theology at the papal seminary in Braunsberg. He was superior of the monastery and school in Volodymyr-Volynskyi and then hegumen of a monastery in Lublin. In 1730 he became archimandrite of the Dubno Monastery and Derman Monastery and in 1731 he was consecrated bishop of Kholm and Belz (see Kholm eparchy). In 1755 he was appointed coadjutor to Metropolitan Floriian Hrebnytsky despite opposition from the Polish nobility. He became bishop of Volodymyr-Volynskyi (see Volodymyr-Volynskyi eparchy) the next year, and in 1762 he succeeded Hrebnytsky as metropolitan of Kyiv and titular archimandrite of the Kyivan Cave Monastery, although he remained in Volodymyr-Volynskyi. During his tenure as metropolitan, Catherine II of Russia actively sought to destroy the Uniate church throughout Right-Bank Ukraine. Volodkovych also faced opposition from the haidamakas and went into hiding during the Koliivshchyna rebellion.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 5 (1993).]