Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow, in the world Fyodor, came from the noble boyar family of Kolychyovs, who held an important place in the Boyar Duma at the court of the Moscow sovereigns. He was born in 1507. His father, Stepan Ivanovich, was an educated man with a warrior spirit and prepared his son for state service. Fyodor's mother, the pious Varvara, ended her days in monasticism under the name Varsonofiya, instilling in her son sincere faith and deep piety. Young Fyodor Kolychyov was fascinated by the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Church Fathers, which formed the basis of ancient Russian enlightenment, occurring in the Church and in the spirit of the Church. The Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasily III, the father of Ivan the Terrible, brought young Fyodor closer to the court, but he was not attracted to court life. Realizing its vanity and sinfulness, Fyodor increasingly immersed himself in reading books and visiting God's temples. Life in Moscow oppressed the young ascetic, and his soul longed for monastic feats and prayerful solitude. The sincere attachment of the young prince Ivan, which promised a great future in state service, could not keep him in the earthly city, striving for the Heavenly City.

On Sunday, June 5, 1537, during the Divine Liturgy in the church, the words of the Savior particularly struck Fyodor's soul: "No one can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24), which determined his future fate. After praying to the Moscow miracle workers, he, without saying goodbye to his relatives, secretly left Moscow in the clothing of a commoner and hid from the world for some time in the village of Khizhi near Lake Onega, earning his living through shepherding. His thirst for feats led him to the famous Solovetsky Monastery on the White Sea. There he performed the most difficult obediences: chopping wood, digging the earth, and working at the mill. After a year and a half of trials, the abbot Alexius, at Fyodor's request, tonsured him, giving him the name Philip in monasticism and entrusting him to the elder Ion Shamin, a companion of the venerable Alexander of Svir. Under the guidance of experienced elders, monk Philip spiritually grew, intensifying fasting and prayer. Abbot Alexius sent him to work in the monastery's forge, where Saint Philip combined heavy hammer work with unceasing prayer. He always arrived first at the temple service and was the last to leave. He also worked in the bakery, where the humble ascetic was comforted by a heavenly sign. In the monastery, they showed the icon of the Mother of God "Breadgiver," through which the Heavenly Intercessor revealed Her goodwill to humble Philip the Breadmaker. By the blessing of the abbot, Saint Philip spent some time in solitary seclusion, listening to himself and to God.

In 1546, in Veliky Novgorod, Archbishop Theodosius ordained Philip as the abbot of the Solovetsky Monastery. The new abbot strove with all his might to elevate the spiritual significance of the monastery and its founders, the venerable Savvatiy and Zosima of Solovetsky. He searched for the icon of the Mother of God Odigitria, brought to the island by the original founder of Solovetsky, the venerable Savvatiy, and found the stone cross that once stood before the cell of the venerable one. The Psalter belonging to the venerable Zosima, the first abbot of Solovetsky, and his vestments, which since then have been worn by abbots during services on the days of the miracle worker's memory, were also found. The monastery was spiritually revived. A new rule was adopted to organize life in the monastery. Saint Philip built two majestic churches on Solovki: the refectory church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, consecrated in 1557, and the Transfiguration of the Lord. The abbot himself worked as a simple builder, helping to lay the walls of the Transfiguration Cathedral. Under the northern porch, he dug a grave for himself next to the grave of his mentor, Elder Ion. Spiritual life flourished in the monastery during these years: among the students of the holy abbot Philip were the venerable John and Longin of Yarenga, Vassian and Ion of Pertoma.

For secret prayerful feats, Saint Philip often withdrew to a silent, desolate place two versts from the monastery, which later received the name Philip's Desert.

But the Lord was preparing the holy servant for another ministry and another feat. In Moscow, the Solovetsky recluse was remembered by Ivan the Terrible, who had once loved him in his youth. The Tsar hoped to find in Saint Philip a faithful companion, spiritual father, and advisor, who, due to the height of his monastic life, would have nothing in common with the rebellious boyars. The saint long refused to take on the great burden of being the head of the Russian Church. He did not feel spiritual closeness with Ivan. He tried to convince the Tsar to abolish the Oprichnina, while the Terrible sought to prove its state necessity to him. Finally, the Tsar and the holy metropolitan came to an agreement that Saint Philip would not interfere in the affairs of the Oprichnina and state governance, would not leave the metropolitanate in cases where the Tsar could not fulfill his wishes, and would be a support and advisor to the Tsar, as previous metropolitans had been to Moscow sovereigns. On July 25, 1566, the consecration of Saint Philip to the see of the Moscow saints took place, to which he would soon join.

Ivan the Terrible, one of the greatest and most controversial historical figures in Russia, lived a tense and active life, was a talented writer and bibliophile, personally intervened in the compilation of chronicles, delved into the intricacies of monastic rules, and often thought about abdicating the throne and becoming a monk. Every step of state service, all the drastic measures he took for the radical restructuring of all Russian state and social life, the Terrible sought to understand as a manifestation of Divine Providence, as God's action in history. His favorite spiritual examples were Saint Michael of Chernigov and Saint Fyodor the Black, warriors and figures of complex and contradictory fates, who courageously pursued the holy goal, overcoming any obstacles in fulfilling their duty to their homeland and to the Holy Church. The darker the shadows gathered around the Terrible, the more resolutely his soul demanded spiritual purification and redemption. Arriving on a pilgrimage to the Kirillov Belozersky Monastery, he announced to the abbot and the assembly of elders his desire to be tonsured a monk. The proud autocrat fell at the feet of the abbot, and he blessed his intention. Since then, all his life, the Terrible wrote, "it seems to me, the accursed one, that I am already half a monk." The Oprichnina itself was conceived by the Terrible in the image of monastic brotherhood: having served God with weapons and military feats, the Oprichniks were to be clothed in monastic garments and attend church services, long and regulated, lasting from 4 to 10 in the morning. For the "brotherhood" that did not appear for prayer at four in the morning, the Tsar-abbot imposed penance. Ivan himself, with his sons, tried diligently to pray and sang in the church choir. After church, they went to the refectory, and while the Oprichniks ate, the Tsar stood beside them. The remaining food was collected by the Oprichniks from the table and given to the poor upon leaving the refectory. With tears of repentance, the Terrible, wishing to be a venerator of the holy ascetics, teachers of repentance, wanted to wash away and burn his sins and those of his comrades, nurturing the confidence that even the terrible cruel deeds he committed were for the good of Russia and the triumph of Orthodoxy. The most vivid spiritual work and monastic sobriety of the Terrible is revealed in his "Synodic": shortly before his death, by his order, complete lists of those killed by him and his Oprichniks were compiled, which were then sent to all Russian monasteries. Ivan took upon himself all the sins before the people and asked the holy monks to pray to God for the forgiveness of his tormented soul.

The self-styled monasticism of the Terrible, a dark yoke weighing down on Russia, outraged Saint Philip, who believed that one could not mix the earthly and the heavenly, the service of the cross and the service of the sword. Moreover, Saint Philip saw how much unrepentant malice and hatred lay hidden beneath the black hoods of the Oprichniks. Among them were simple murderers, hardened in unpunished bloodshed, and extortionists-robbers, entrenched in sin and crime. By God's permission, history is often made by the hands of the wicked, and no matter how much the Terrible wished to whitewash his black brotherhood before God, the blood shed in his name by murderers and torturers cried out to heaven.

Saint Philip resolved to oppose the Terrible. This was connected with a new wave of executions in 1567 and 1568. In the autumn of 1567, as soon as the Tsar set out on a campaign to Livonia, he learned of a boyar conspiracy. The traitors intended to capture the Tsar and hand him over to the Polish king, who had already sent troops to the Russian border. Ivan the Terrible dealt harshly with the conspirators and shed much blood again. It was sad for Saint Philip, but the awareness of his pastoral duty compelled him to boldly speak out in defense of the executed. The final break occurred in the spring of 1568. On the Sunday of the Cross, March 2, 1568, when the Tsar arrived with the Oprichniks at the Assumption Cathedral, as usual, in monastic vestments, Saint Philip refused to bless him but began openly to condemn the lawlessness committed by the Oprichniks: "Metropolitan Philip taught the sovereign to wage war in Moscow over the Oprichnina." The rebuke of the hierarch interrupted the beauty of the church service. The Terrible, in anger, said: "Do you oppose us? We will see your firmness! I have been too lenient with you," added the Tsar, according to eyewitnesses.

The Tsar began to show even greater cruelty in persecuting all who opposed him. Executions followed one after another. The fate of the saint-confessor was decided. But the Terrible wanted to observe the canonical order. The Boyar Duma obediently issued a decision for a trial against the head of the Russian Church. A council was convened over Metropolitan Philip in the presence of the diminished Boyar Duma. False witnesses were found: to the deep sorrow of the saint, they were monks from the Solovetsky Monastery, whom he had once loved, his former students and novices. Saint Philip was accused of numerous fictitious crimes, including sorcery. "I, a stranger on earth, like all my fathers, humbly replied the hierarch, am ready to suffer for the truth." Rejecting all accusations, the holy sufferer tried to terminate the trial by declaring his voluntary resignation from the metropolitan see. But his resignation was not accepted. The martyr awaited new humiliation. Already after the verdict of life imprisonment in a dungeon, Saint Philip was forced to serve the liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral. This was on November 8, 1568. In the middle of the service, Oprichniks burst into the church, publicly read the council's condemnation, disgracing the hierarch, tore off his episcopal vestments, dressed him in rags, pushed him out of the church, and transported him on simple sleds to the Epiphany Monastery. The martyr was long tormented in the dungeons of Moscow monasteries, his feet were locked in stocks, he was kept in chains, and a heavy chain was thrown around his neck. Finally, he was taken into confinement in the Tver Otruch Monastery. There, a year later, on December 23, 1569, the saint accepted a martyr's end at the hands of Malyuta Skuratov. Even three days before, the holy elder foresaw the end of his earthly feat and received the Holy Mysteries. His relics were initially buried there, in the monastery, behind the altar of the church. Later, they were transferred to the Solovetsky Monastery (August 11, 1591) and from there to Moscow (July 3, 1652).

The memory of Saint Philip was celebrated by the Russian Church since 1591 on the day of his martyr's death, December 23. Since 1660, the celebration was moved to January 9.