Markell Popel

Markell Popel
Bishop of Polotsk and Vitebsk
Church	Russian Orthodox Church
Installed	1882
Term ended	1889
Orders
Ordination	January 20, 1850
Consecration	July 8, 1875
Personal details
Born	December 31, 1821 or 1825 Halych or Medukha
Died	September 29, 1903 Saint Petersburg
Buried	Nikolskoe Cemetery
Nationality	Ukrainian
Denomination	Eastern Orthodoxy

Markell Popel (born 31 December 1821 or 1825 in Halych or Medukha, died 29 September [O.S. 16 October] 1903 in Saint Petersburg) was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church of Ukrainian origin.

He was born into a Greek Catholic family. He completed studies in philosophy and Catholic theology and, after marrying, was ordained a priest in the Uniate rite in 1850. For a year, he engaged in pastoral work in the parish in Buchach, then from 1851 to 1859, he was a catechist at a gymnasium in Ternopil, and until 1866, a catechist at gymnasiums in Lviv. He published textbooks on liturgics and moral theology intended for Greek Catholic seminary students.

From 1854, he was active in the Russophile movement. He was also one of the leaders of the ritual movement in Galicia, which demanded the removal of all Latin elements from the Greek Catholic Church's liturgy. Initially, he only advocated for the purification of the Eastern rite within the Catholic Church, but over time, he came to believe that the Union of Brest had been a negative event for the Rus' people and that their original faith was Orthodoxy. Consequently, in 1866, he moved to Chełm Land, which was under Russian rule, to promote the purification of the Eastern rite from Latin influences. In this way, the Tsarist authorities intended to prepare for the complete abolition of the Union in the Russian Empire.

For his role in the liquidation of the last Uniate administrative unit in the Russian Empire, he was consecrated on 8 June 1875 as an auxiliary bishop of the Eparchy of Chełm and Warsaw with the title of Bishop of Lublin, maintaining personal oversight of the former Uniate parishes. In 1878, after a conflict with Archbishop Leontius [pl] of Chełm and Warsaw, he was transferred to the Podolia and Bratslav see, where he served as the ordinary until 1882. He was then the Bishop of Polotsk and Vitebsk from 1882 to 1889. In 1889, he retired but remained a member of the Most Holy Synod and participated in its work until his death in 1903. He died and was buried in Saint Petersburg.