Gregory II Bulgarian; (Born on an unknown date in Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, died 1474 in Novohrad-Volynskyi

Novohrad-Volynskyi

Novohrad-Volynskyi is a city in the Zhytomyr Oblast of northern Ukraine...

) was a Ukrainian Orthodox metropolitan

Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

 His official title was Metropolitan of Kiev, Galychyna and All-Rus'.

It is only in the middle of the fifteenth century, with the union of the Council of Florence

Council of Florence

The Council of Florence was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It began in 1431 in Basel, Switzerland, and became known as the Council of Ferrara after its transfer to Ferrara was decreed by Pope Eugene IV, to convene in 1438...

 in 1439 and its proclamation in Kiev and all Rus by Cardinal Isidore

Isidore of Kiev

Isidore of Kiev, also known as Isidore of Thessalonica was a Greek Metropolitan of Kiev, cardinal, humanist, and theologian. He was one of the chief Eastern defenders of reunion at the time of the Council of Florence.-Early life:...

.

In 1457, Kiev was confirmed as the metropolitan see by Patriarch Gregory of Constantinople with the appointment of Gregory, a disciple of Cardinal Isidore, as its metropolitan.

In 1458, Constantinople Patriarch Gregory III (Mamma) conducted a reorganization of the Kiev Metropolitan. The Patriarch gave the new Metropolitan, Gregory II, a new title: the Metropolitan of Kiev, Galychyna and All Rus'.

Moscow eventually proclaimed autocephaly

Autocephaly

Autocephaly , in hierarchical Christian churches and especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop...

, electing its own Metropolitan, Iona, in 1448independently of Constantinople. The Polono-Lithuanian rulers accepted him, but he was rejected by the Great Principality of Moscow, whose metropolitans started to abandon the Kiev title and took on the new title of "metropolitan of Moscow and all Rous'". Thus the ancient Kiev metropolinate was divided in half.

The Kiev metropolinate within the Polish kingdom

Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)

The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons was the Polish state created by the accession of Jogaila , Grand Duke of Lithuania, to the Polish throne in 1386. The Union of Krewo or Krėva Act, united Poland and Lithuania under the rule of a single monarch...

 and the Great Lithuanian principality under the rule of metropolitan Gregory (1458-1472) remained therefore in communion with the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

, as well as during the rule of the following metropolitan Міsail (1476-1480).