List of heads of the Russian Orthodox Church

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In 1441 Metropolitan Isidore of Moscow joined the Union of Florence, briefly reuniting some Eastern churches with Rome. Moscow princes opposed the union, Isidore was imprisoned, and the see was vacant for seven years. In 1448 secular authorities appointed Jonah of Moscow as metropolitan; he was the last Moscow-based primate to bear a Kiev-related title and the first to be appointed without the Ecumenical Patriarch’s approval, later calling himself "Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus'," signaling independence from Constantinople. From 1722 to 1917, after Peter the Great’s reforms, the Ober-Procurator—a lay official—helped run the Holy Synod; the real head of the Synod was the Primus, its chair, usually a Metropolitan or Archbishop, the first Primus being Stefan Yavorsky (1700–1721). After 1797, the Emperor of Russia carried the title "Head of the Church."