This week in Christian history: Bob Jones University exonerated, missionary nurse martyred

Philip becomes Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia – July 25, 1566

This week marks the anniversary of the consecration of Philip, a prominent leader of the Russian Orthodox Church during the 16th century, as Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia.

Born Theodore and the son of a nobleman named Stephen Ivanovich, Philip abandoned the upper-class life in 1537 and became a monk, being promoted to head of a monastery in 1546.

Metropolitan Philip was most known for his open opposition to the policies of Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible, especially the monarch’s use of a violent police order known as the Oprichniki.

"Saint Philip saw how much unrepentant malice and envy was concealed beneath the black cowls of the Oprichniki. There were outright murderers among them," noted the Orthodox Church in America. "The blood spilled by its thugs and fanatics cried out to Heaven. Saint Philip decided to oppose Ivan."

In response to his dissents, the Oprichniki arrested Philip during a worship service. He was imprisoned at various monasteries in Russia until an Oprichniki named Maliuta Skuratov killed him in 1569.