Biographies of Hierarchs

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His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop Anthony of Vyatka and Yaransk

Archbishop Anthony was born in 1925 into a family of Catacomb Orthodox Christians. His parish priest was Protopriest Nikita (Ignatiev).

The future Archbishop Anthony was made a priest on the 12th of January 1966 by Catacomb Archbishop Anthony (Galinski-Mikhailov). He was among those priests who were received in 1980 under the omophor of St. Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesenski), First-Hierarch of the ROCOR (+1985). He joined the ROAC (at that time the FROC) on the 15th of November, 1991. On the 13th of August, 1998, he was tonsured by Bishop Theodore of Borisovsk and Sanino into monasticism with the name of Anthony, after St. Anthony the Great.

On May 24, 1999, Father Anthony was made bishop of Yaransk. He is responsible for Catacomb parishes.

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His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop Victor of Daugavpils and Latvia

Archbishop Victor was born in 1944, and tonsured into monasticism in 1988. He was consecrated a bishop on June 21, 1995.

Archbishop Victor is the head of the Latvian Orthodox Autonomous Church under the jurisdiction of the Synod of ROAC. The Latvian Church is greatly persecuted by the Latvian government, which desires that all Orthodox parishes within its borders be canonically-subject to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As a result, on many occasions the faithful have been harassed or arrested, and churches, dwellings, and diocesan buildings have been set on fire or have been vandalized. For resisting submission to the Ecumenist Patriarchate of Constantinople, the ROAC/LOAC faithful in Latvia are denied legal recognition by the government, which, while granting legal recognition to heterodox confessions in Latvia, even goes so far as to deny Archbishop Victor's flock the right to place crosses on their temples.

Vladyka Victor has ten parishes in Daugavpils, Riga, Tukumsa, and Jurmala. Two of these parishes are involved in building projects for the erection of a Cathedral dedicated to the Holy Equal-to-the- Apostles Saint Prince Vladimir in Daugavpils and for the construction of a monastery dedicated to the Holy Protection of Mother of God in Tukumsa.

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His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Hilarion of Smeli

Vladyka Hilarion was born in 1926. He was a spiritual son of persecuted priest Father Mitrophan. In 1952, he entered the Theological Seminary in Kiev, but he was expelled for his connections with the Catacomb Church. He was persecuted throughout his life.

In June 1993, he was tonsured, and on September 19 of the same year he was made a hieromonk by Archbishop Lazar (Zhurbenko) of the ROCOR.

On September 29, 1996, hieromonk Hilarion was received into the ROAC. In 1998, he was made an Archimandrite and then made Bishop of Sukhodolsk. From February 2001 he has been Bishop of Smeli. He is responsible for Catacomb parishes.

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His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Timothy of Orenburg and Kurgan

In the world Anatoly Alexeyevich Sharov, he was born on October 3, 1954, into a peasant family in the village of Ivanovka, Orenburg province, and graduated from the historical department of the Orenburg pedagogical institute. In November, 1989, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Gabriel of Khabarovsk (MP) and served in the town of Magadan. During his time there, he also completed a correspondence course with the Moscow Theological Seminary.

In 1991, confessing before the Church of God his will to strive “to serve the Church even unto confession and martyrdom”, “firmly standing for the truth, for the purity of the Orthodox faith”, Archimandrite Timothy and his community were received into the Free Russian Orthodox Church (FROC). Later, on November 24, 2000 in the St. Constantine church, Archbishop Valentine, together with Bishops Theodore, Seraphim, Victor and Anthony, carried out the hierarchal consecration of Archimandrite Timothy to the bishopric of Orenburg. In the Fall 2002 synod meeting of the ROAC, Bishop Timothy was made ruling-bishop of Orenburg and Kurgan.

Vladyka Timothy continues to serve the faithful in the village of Ivanovka, Orenburg province, in a small church he built, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. He helps to improve church life through publishing educational leaflets, and he sometimes submits articles for Vertograd-Inform Information bulletin (a journal published by members of ROAC from Moscow and St. Petersburg).

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His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Irinarch of Tula and Briansk

Bishop Irinarch was born in 1967 into a family of believers in the Nizhni-Novgorod region, where he attended church from childhood onward. He arrived in Suzdal in 1984, where he later met then-Archimandrite Valentine, became part of his parish, and, in 1987, was tonsured into monasticism. In 1990, the future-Bishop Irinarch left the MP along with then-archimandrite Valentin and many other clergy and believers, repudiating it, and becoming a part of the FROC. He was later made a priest-monk and then archimandrite.

On November 23, 2003, in the temple of the Mother of God in Suzdal, Archimandrite Irinarch was consecrated Bishop of Tula and Briansk by Metropolitan Valentine, Archbishop Theodore of Borisovsk and Sanino, and Bishop Ambrose of Khabarovsk.

He is quiet, prayerful, and has served in Suzdal for many years and is well-loved and respected by all. Along with his parishes, he is establishing a women's convent in his diocese.

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His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Amvrose of Khabarovsk

In the world Nicholas Victorovich Epiphanov, he was born on January 29, 1963, in the city of Vyazniki, Vladimir province, and studied in the Gorky Medical Institute. On August 28, 1988, he was tonsured into monasticism by Archimandrite Eulogy, who at that time was prior of Optina Skete, and, on October 10, 1988, he was ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop Barnabas of Chelyabinsk (MP). Graduating from the Moscow Theological Seminary in 1989, he was ordained to the priesthood on November 8, 1989, by Bishop Gabriel of Khabarovsk (MP). From 1989 to 1996 (inclusive) he served as the superior of churches in the cities of Ussuruisk, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, and in the churches in the Astrakhan and Krasnodar dioceses of the MP. On June 10, 1996 he was retired in accordance with his own petition.

On coming to understand the unrighteousness of sergianism, and the uncanonicity and the heretical nature of the Moscow Patriarchate, he broke communion with it. On April 29, 2000 he petitioned to be received into the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church.

On November 26, 2000, in the cathedral church of St. Constantine there took place the consecration of Archimandrite Ambrose (Epiphanov) as Bishop of Khabarovsk, a vicariate of the Suzdal diocese of the ROAC. In the sermon that Archimandrite Ambrose gave at his election, he thanked God Who by His ineffable Providence had led him out of “the dead, antichristian, ecumenist false-church” into His holy persecuted Church, which has preserved the purity of the faith “in woods and thickets, in houses and basements, in mountains and deserts, in prisons and exile” – the true Russian Church, which has steeped the Russian land in the blood of its martyrs, and has filled Paradise with holy confessors and the earth with holy relics. Vladyka besought the help of God and the prayers of the Church, which he recognized are so necessary for him in the work of gathering the lost sheep deceived by the false church “into one flock, the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church”.

In 2001, because he does not submit to the MP, Vladyka was attacked and severely-beaten by people connected with that organization as he exited one of the churches of his diocese. Thank God, he recovered fairly quickly, and he is now back to full health.

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His Grace, The Right Reverend Bishop Geronty of Sukhodolsk

Bishop Geronty (Ryndenko) was born on May 4, 1946 in the village of Smirnovka, Sumy province (Ukraine). He graduated from the University. In 1995 he was tonsured into monasticism and ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Lazar (Zurbenko).

Hieromonk Geronty along with several priests later applied to be received into ROAC. On January 24/February 6, 2001, in the St. Xenia church in the city of Sukhodolsk (Ukraine), Archbishop Valentine, together with Archbishops Theodore and Bishop Hilarion carried out the hierarchal consecration of Archimandrite Geronty to the bishopric of Sukhodolsk.