Biographies of Hierarchs

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I thought it might be neat to have people post biographies of bishops of the Traditional Orthodox Churches here in one thread. I will post a few to get started.

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Maximos of Thessalonika and Demetrias

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          His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Thessalonika and Demetrias Maximos, (whose secular name is Spyridon Tsitsibakos; born to Anastassios and Asemina) was born on May 11/24, 1933 in Athens. From a very young age he was brought up by the Fountain of Reverence which sprang from his pious parents and his spiritual father, the Enviable Geronta Chryssantho.

          In 1955, he becomes a novice at the Holy Monastery of “Axion Esti” in Varibobi, and at the same Monastery he is tonsured a monk who wears the great habit, after the completion of his studies and his military obligations.

          In 1951, he was ordained a deacon and then a priest by the ever-memorable Archbishop of the GOC, Akakios.

          Except for the Holy Monastery of the Holy Protection in Kerateas, he served as a parish priest in many parishes such as the Holy Trinity in Votaniko, the Transfiguration of the Savior in Kypseli, the Holy Unmercenaries in Nea Erythrea and at the parishes of the GOC in America such as the Holy Unmercenaries in Chicago and the Holy Protection in Boston.

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          From 1977 until the beginnings of 1978, he served as an abbot to the Holy Monastery of the Holy Protection in the area of Kerateas of Attica and in 1979 he was consecrated the Bishop of Magnesia with its headquarters in Volos. As a metropolitan of Demetrias and Magnesias and after the schism of 1924, he is the third Bishop in line in this area following the Bishop of Demetrias, Germanos, and the Bishop of Magnesia, Chryssostomos, and he saw the total reconstruction of the of the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Theotokos which constitutes a jewel of the city of Volos.

          In 1995, he is appointed by the Holy Synod of the Church of the GOC of Greece as a vicar of the Holy Metropolis of Thessalonica, and, in 1988, after the Synod’s Decision on the merging of the Metropolis of Thessalonika and the Metropolis of Demetrias, he undertook the pastorship of the GOC of Central-West Macedonia and Thessaly under the title of Thessalonika and Demetrias.

          The Bishop of Thessalonika and Demetrias has authored soul-benefiting pamphlets and books and constitutes a member of the Synod’s Committee on Dogmatic and Canonical Matters.

          The name day of His Grace, the Metropolitan of Thessalonika and Demetrias, His Eminence, Maximos, falls on January 13 (January 26 according to the New Calendar) - the Day of Saintly Maximos of Kafsokalyvites.

His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Thessalonika and Demetrias Maximos while talking with His Beautitude Archbishop Chrysostom II

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Akakios of Diavlia and Attica

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          His Grace, the gray-haired Metropolitan of Attica and Diavlia, His Eminence, Akakios (whose secular name is Athanassios Pappas; born to Efstathios and Lemonia) was born on October 12, 1926, in the small town of Desfina of Phocis. He is the nephew of the Enviable Archbishop of the GOC, His Eminence, Akakios. Thanks to the spiritual guidance of this Enviable Geronta, the Efstathios Pappas family returned to its ancestral traditions from the year 1929. Young, at the time, Athanassios Pappas completed his encyclical studies in his hometown during the German occupation of Greece..

          After the liberation, in September of 1946, the twenty year old Athanassios Pappas became a lay brother next to his uncle in the Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas in the area of Paiania of Attica. On May 7, 1947, lay brother Athanassios wears the honorable frock, and his name is changed to Akakios the monk. Wearing the great habit, he was tonsured on February 23, 1950 by the Bishop of Diavlia at the time, Polykarpos and by the Geronta and uncle of his who bears the same name as he. On December 9 and 10 of 1954, he was ordained a deacon and, subsequently, a priest by the ever-memorable former Bishop of Florina, Chryssostomos.

          During the years of 1957 and 1959, by the mandate of the Ecclesiastical Committee which led the holy struggle after the passing of the former Bishop of Florina, Chryssostomos, he went twice to western Europe (the second round was with the current Archbishop of the GOC His Eminence Chryssostomos II) Towards the end of 1960, he escorted his namesake uncle to America where the consecration of the Ever - memorable Geronta Akakios Pappas as the Bishop of Talantios by two priests of the Russian Church of the Diaspora took place in Detroit. They stayed in America for 72 days as guests of the Enviable, at the time, Archimandrite, Petros Astyfides (later Bishop of Astoria). On May 23, 1962, the newly consecrated: The Archpriests of Kylades, Parthenios and Gardikios Auxentios, they consecrated him Bishop of the once illuminated Episcopacy of Diavlia.

          According to his up-to-date pastorship, he struggled under unfavorable circumstances for the virtuous leadership of the Church and the cleansing of the holy clergy from foreign elements who interfered in the sacred struggle of the GOC. He was fortunate to live to see the sweat of his struggle ultimately pay off to a great degree. From May of 2003, he becomes the Vice-President of the Holy Synod and from May of 2004 he becomes the President of the General Treasury of the Church of the GOC of Greece.

          The name day of His Grace, the Metropolitan of Attica and Diavlia, His Eminence Akakios, falls on May 1 (May 14 according to the New Calendar) - the Day of Saint and Holy Martyr Akakios.

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ARCHBISHOP CHRYSOSTOMOS II

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          The Archbishop of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Athens and of all Greece, His Eminence, Chrysostomos II (whose secular name is Athanassios Kioussis, born to Konstantine and Syrmo) was born on October 8, 1920 at Erythres of Megara (also known as Kriekouki) where he grew up as a young boy. Later on he lived with his parents in the city of Lavrio. While a student, he would frequent around many churches and monasteries and, ultimately, grow fond of Byzantine music. Quite frequently, during the great holidays of the Orthodox calendar, he would travel from Lavrio to Erythres in order to chant at his village’s church where the Orthodox Traditionalists would congregate and conduct the Divine services (at times, without even the presence of a priest, for they were small in number in comparison to the needs of the parishes). He completed his secondary education at the age of 17.

          Fulfilling his father’s wish, he, then, sat for the examinations at the Military Academy where he would embark on a career in the military. However, he was inflicted by pleuritis which later transformed into a lighter form of tuberculosis. This became the reason for him to follow his own dream instead of his father’s and take the road towards monasticism. He spent the remaining time recuperating and studying on his own at his own home which coincided with the Greco-Albanian war as well as the German occupation of Greece which were in full effect.

          Right after the liberation of Greece, he was tonsured into the male Holy monastery of the Evangelist of Athikion at Corinth under the abbacy of the current, at the time, Archimandrite Kallistos Makris, who later became the Metropolitan of Corinth. During the civil war, the monastery was caught in between the adversaries combat fires, and he was miraculously saved from death. He was ordained a priest in 1947 by the Bishop of the Cyclades, Germanos, and due to his infirmary he briefly led a private life while servicing for a couple of years the Faithful of Erythrai and Villia. Wearing the great schema, he was tonsured into the Great Schema at the Holy Monastery of Kosmosotiros (World-Savior) in 1948 by the ever-memorable Gerontas Theokletos Darademas.

          During the years 1951-1953 the persecution of the True Orthodox Christians by the new-calenderist Archbishop Spyridon Vlachos broke out. Our hierarchs were exiled. The churches were shut down and our priests were captured and defrocked while expelled and scorned by the police authorities. On the eve of the Holy Annunciation, the ever-memorable Bishop of the Cyclades, Germanos, passed away. Spyridon Vlachos forbade his ecclesiastic burial and deeming him an unworthy successor of Caiaphas, he ordered that the corpse of the deceased be guarded at the Saint Helen clinic (where he was transferred from jail while breathing his last) as to deter the prospect of conducting a burial service by a True Orthodox priest. However, God had arranged otherwise. During the same period, then Archimandrite (now Archbishop) Chrysostomos Kioussis, was secretly hiding as to avoid being captured and defrocked by police authorities, by conducting liturgies in country chapels or in the apartments of faithful Christians who had transformed them into catacombes and by moving around only during the night and with great caution. In 1951, in one of those catacombes, he conducted a Vigil to the Annunciation of the Theotokos along with the ever-memorable Archmandrite Petros Astyfides (later, Bishop of Astoria, USA) both being deeply grieved by the news of the passing of the Ever-memorable Bishop Germanos. A white cloth with paper icons pinned on it would separate the Holy Altar from the rest of the room. Two tables would assume the role of the Altar Table and the Prothesis. They conducted the liturgy in this manner when suddenly (at 2 am) there was a knocking on the door! Fortunately, it wasn’t the police. They were members of the Youth branch of the Genuine Orthodox Church who were seeking a priest to secretly conduct a burial ceremony since they had already convinced the guard of the deceased to “shut his eyes.” Archimandrite Petros continued the Vigil while Archimandrite Chrysostomos went to the funeral of the monk-priest. While the funeral was reaching its end, the police guard who was faithfully participating, warned that the time had come for him to be relieved. Indeed, while the priest and his entourage were heading for their car, he was noticed by the oncoming police guards. Thus a police pursuit broke out. However, Pericles, who was the priest’s experienced driver, drove through the intricate streets of Athens and managed to escape and, thus, keep Archimandrite Chrysostomos from being captured and defrocked.

          In 1956, he assumed the responsibilities of the General Secretary of the Church Committee which had taken over the leadership of our Church after the passing of the ever-memorable Chrysostomos (former Archbishop of Florina) in which he partook. With the authorization of the Church Committee he traveled by train to Germany and France along with the monk-priest Akakios Pappas (current Metropolitan of Attica and Diavleia) in order to come to an agreement with the Bishops of the Russian Diaspora, Alexander and Ioannis (Maximovich), with the goal of consecrating Bishops for the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece from the Russians but without ever accomplishing that goal, for they were referred to the Metropolitan of the Russian Diaspora in America, Anastasios. Initially, from the entire clergy body (namely 105 clergymen), he was voted to the Episcopal rank along with his co-presbyters Akakios Pappas and Chrysostomos Naslimis. He worked diligently until the agreement with the Russian Diaspora in America regarding the consecration of both the Ever-memorable Gerontas Akakios Pappas and the remaining ordained archpriests was achieved. After that, he spent his private time at the Holy Monastery of the Panachrandou at Megara, which he himself founded, during which he would occasionally offer his services at the church as a secretary.

          . In 1971, he was consecrated the Metropolitan of Thessalonika while, simultaneously, undertaking the pastorship of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace and working hard with all his might on the organization of his Diocese until 1986 when he was elected the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece - a position which he still holds until this very date while presiding over the twelve member Holy Synod of the True Orthodox Church.

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          During his pastorship, he succeeded in the cleansing of his clergy from foreign and imported elements which had found their way in the struggle of the True Orthodox Church and, thus, renewed the clergy body with new bishop consecration during the years 1998, 1999 and 2000.

          Archbishop Chrysostomos II is the first Archbishop of the G.O.C. who ever became acceptable from the maximum sovereign of our Country (the President of the Democracy Mr. Constantinos Stefanopoulos on 8-6-1998).

          The name day of His Eminence the Archbishop of Athens kyr Chrysostomos is November 13 - the Feast of Saint John, the Chrysostomos (November 26 according to the New Calendar).

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His Beatitude, The Very Most Reverend Metropolitan Valentine of Suzdal and Vladimir

First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church, Chairman of the Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church

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  Metropolitan Valentine of Suzdal and Vladimir (in the world Anatoli Petrovich Rusantsov) was born on March 3, 1939 in the town of Belorechensk, Krasnodar region. Because his father died from war wounds and his mother became seriously ill, Anatoli was sent to an orphanage, from which he was adopted into the family of Ekaterina Buriak (in the city of Maycop, Krasnodar region), members of the Catacomb Christian Church.

  In 1952, during a pilgrimage to the sacred places of the Georgia region in the former USSR, the young Anatoli met monks who gave a new direction to his life. In 1956 he left for the Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Odessa, where he met Archbishop Nestor (Anisimov). Well-known as a missionary to Kamchatka, the Archbishop for a considerable length of time served one of the Far Eastern eparchies of the Russian Church Abroad. Together with him, Anatoli departed for the Novosibirsk eparchy and was appointed as a psalm-reader in the village of Great Uluj in the Krasnojarsk region.

  In 1957, Archbishop Nestor sent Anatoli to the Holy Spirit Monastery in the city of Vilnius. There, in 1958, he became a monk and took the name Valentine. He was tonsured by Archimandrite Seraphim (Smykov), who had been ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky). In 1960, Monk Valentine was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by Archbishop Anthony (Romanovki) of Stavropol and Baku, who was made a bishop by the Holy New Martyr, Patriarch Tikhon. Hieromonk Valentine then applied himself to the fulfillment of his pastoral duty in the Stavropol and Vladimir eparchy. Hieromonk Valentine became the superior of the Cathedral in Makhachkala (an Islamic center), where he revived Orthodox Christianity, saving the Cathedral from closure.

  In 1970, he obtained a diploma from the historical faculty of Dagestan University. He graduated from the Moscow Theological College in 1973 and in 1979 he obtained a Ph.D. degree from Moscow Theological Academy.

  In 1973, Archimandrite Valentine came to serve in Suzdal as superior of the magnificent Kazan church, which for the previous five years had been left without Divine Services. He revived the parish and attracted young people to the Divine Services, while using his diplomatic abilities and influence to protect church life from the interference of the atheist authorities. In 1977, however, disgruntled by the revival taking place in Suzdal, the authorities forced the community to leave the church, which was situated on the city's trading square, and move to another, less prominent location. From that time until the present, Metropolitan Valentine has carried out Divine Services in the Saint Constantine church of the city of Suzdal. He has passed all these years in unceasing labor to administer church life despite ongoing struggles both with the atheist authorities and the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate (MP), which has zealously attempted to hinder Metropolitan Valentine in his efforts to create a strong community of believers both in Suzdal and abroad, rather than a "showcase" for tourists.

  In 1987, the authorities and the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate initiated a persecution against Archimandrite Valentine that lasted for almost three years, primarily for his frank remarks concerning the lack of religious freedom in the USSR during a lecture tour to America. In spite of numerous protests by believers, Archimandrite Valentine was retired, and it was proposed that he be exiled to a remote village. In view of the cynicism and mendacity in the highest ranks of the Moscow Patriarchate during these events, coupled with the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the subsequent presence of the Russian Church Abroad in the former USSR, Archimandrite Valentine decided to leave the Moscow Patriarchate, considering it a graceless entity, a tool of the Soviet regime. He was followed by the believers and clergy of his parish. On April 7, 1990, the departure of the Suzdal believers from the Moscow Patriarchate was completed. On April 11th  they were received under the omophorion of the Russian Church Abroad, and on October 4th, Archimandrite Valentine was appointed exarch of the Russian Church Abroad within the territory of the USSR.

  On February 10, 1991, by the decision of the Synod of Bishops, in the church of St. Job the Much-Suffering in Brussels, a memorial church dedicated to the memory of the Holy Royal New-Martyrs, Archimandrite Valentine was consecrated Bishop of Suzdal and Vladimir. The consecration was carried out by the following bishops of the Russian Church Abroad: Archbishop Anthony of Geneva, Archbishop Mark of Germany, Bishop Barnabas of Cannes and Bishop Gregory Grabbe, who had for many years assisted the great first hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitans Anthony, Anastassy and Philaret, and who rendered priceless assistance in years to come in the formation of the Russian [Rossijskaja] Autonomous Church.

  From this time onward, Bishop Valentine directed his labors towards strengthening the Russian Church, building up her internal life, and asserting the firmness of his opposition to the Moscow Patriarchate. He thus attracted both the hatred of the patriarchate, the atheists and political operatives, and the envy of many of his brethren in the episcopate of the Russian Church Abroad, who had lost their former spirit of zeal for God. When the Russian Church Abroad in the person of Bishop Barnabas became involved in the fascist organization "Pamyat" and sent a letter to the Ukrainian "Patriarch" Vladimir with the request to receive the Russian Church Abroad into communion, Bishop Valentine issued a strong protest. Immediately thereafter the canonical territory of the Suzdal Diocese was subjected to a series of invasions, aimed at tearing parishes away from it while compromising its president in preparation for a union with the Moscow Patriarchate. Communion with the Ukrainian Patriarchate would open the door to communion with the Moscow Patriarchate, just as communion with the Romanian Old-Calendarist Church helped the Russian Church Abroad bring about a union with the Synod of Resistors under Metropolitan Cyprian of Fili. Archbishop Mark became an irreconcilable struggler against the bishops in Russia, and most of all against Bishop Valentine. Fueled by desire to unite with the Moscow Patriarchate, the Russian Church Abroad Synod, under the covert instigation of Archbishop Mark, strove to remove Bishop Valentine, as an obstacle to this longed-for union. Therefore, the Synod of the Russian Church Abroad began to search for any denunciations that they might find of the most absurd content directed against Bishop Valentine by individuals from the Moscow Patriarchate. This laid the groundwork for recognition of the Moscow Patriarchate as a grace-filled entity, since the canons stipulate that in ecclesiastical tribunals of a moral nature, the witnesses must be morally upright and members of the Church. These types of canons were laid down to protect righteous hierarchs from being attacked by the heretics. Finally, the Russian Church Abroad Hierarchal Synod found their "canonical justification" to retire Bishop Valentine in July of 1993, based upon his alleged ill health. The Synod illegally disregarded the adequate physical condition of Bishop Valentine, and neither did they ask if he wished to retire. Such a course of action would be used again and again against various hierarchs in the Russian Church Abroad, notably the late Archbishop Anthony of Los Angeles, as the Russian Church Abroad juggernaut cleared the path of all "obstacles" to union with the Moscow Patriarchate.

  Under these circumstances, Bishop Valentine worked with great energy to protect the resurgent Russian Church from destruction. Without interrupting his efforts to re-establish full communion with the Russian Church Abroad, he created, in March, 1994, the Higher Church Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church (as stipulated by Ukase #362 of Patriarch Tikhon of All Russia), which entity acted to regulate the situation in the dioceses which had been abandoned, in effect, by the clerical leadership of the Russian Church Abroad. These measures were ardently supported by the faithful of the Russian Church, who saw in Bishop Valentine their reliable and wise leader. In the words of Archbishop Theodore of Borisovsk, it took much time and many uncanonical actions by the Russian Church Abroad hierarchs for the deep respect and love the Russian hierarchs had for them to begin to be replaced with the recognition that the Russian Church Abroad was striving by all possible means to crush the revival taking place in Russia.

  In the winter of 1994, a temporary truce with the Synod of the Russian Church Abroad was effected at the Council in the Lesna Monastery, France, due to the readiness of Archbishop Valentine (who, as a result of the turmoil he experienced at this council, fell seriously ill) to make substantial compromises in the name of ecclesiastical peace. It was at this council also that Archbishop Valentine attempted to raise the question of the Russian Church Abroad's new union with the Greek Old Calendar Synod of Metropolitan Cyprian, whose Orthodox ecclesiology was questioned by all the Bishops in Russia who had not participated in the vote for this union. The Council, however, would not let Archbishop Valentine bring up this topic for discussion! Soon, however, the insincerity of the foreign bishops became apparent, and in February of 1995 they imposed uncanonical bans on the Russian hierarchs. Therefore, the Temporary Higher Church Administration (THCA) of the Russian Church was re-established in June, 1995, under the leadership of Archbishop Lazar (Zhurbenko). At such a difficult moment in the history of the Russian Church, the THCA resolved to end its administrative and canonical submission to the Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Church Abroad in view of the numerous canonical violations that had been introduced into the system, considering that obedience to this entity was tantamount to handing their flocks over to the Moscow Patriarchate.

  It was at this time, by decree of the THCA, that Bishop Valentine was elevated to the rank of Archbishop.

  In 1996, the Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church was created, under the official name of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC). In this manner, the Russian Church finally defined its independent canonical existence as a self-governing part of the local Russian Church. At the Synod meeting of March 2/15, 2001, it was decided that the head of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church should have the rank of Metropolitan.

  Despite poor health, Metropolitan Valentine administers all matters subject to his jurisdiction as ruling bishop of Suzdal and Vladimir, as well as all matters pertaining to his position as First Hierarch. He defines the general course of the Church; supervises parish life and the selection of worthy candidates for the priesthood; protects the heritage of the Church from the scheming civil authorities; pays the most careful attention to the development of spiritual education, specifically in the Sunday School attached to the Saint Constantine Cathedral Suzdal; teaches his flock by means of instructive epistles; and watches over, and often personally takes part in, the restoration of dilapidated church buildings restored to the Church. Vladika carries out Divine Services in the churches of Suzdal and regularly carries out pastoral trips throughout Russia and beyond its boundaries, including America.

   Vladika is also known as an authority on the history and architecture of Suzdal, and is the author of several books about the city. He was proclaimed an honorary citizen of Suzdal by the City Council.

        In the year 2002 another wave of persecution started against the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church. Many churches were attacked by arsonists, and some were broken into and vandalized, while clergy were beaten and the faithful were terrorized, in order to incite them to leave the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church and join the Moscow Patriarchate. All this was instigated by the Moscow Patriarchate because the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church is the only alternative in Russia to the Soviet-started, ecumenist Moscow Patriarchate. This persecution was also directed at Metropolitan Valentine in a most vicious manner through slanderous accusations attacking the First-Hierarch's morality. All of these false attacks proved ineffectual, for the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church has not lost one of its four hundred churches; but on the contrary, more have been added, and the Church grows day by day.

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His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop Theodore of Borisovsk and Sanino

In the world Vladimir Alexandrovich Gineyevsky, Archbishop Theodore was born on April 5, 1955, in the Kuban of the Otradnaya Region, where he grew up surrounded by catacomb Christians. In 1972, while living in Makhachkape, he became acquainted with the then-Archimandrite Valentine (Rusantsov) and became his spiritual son. Over the next several decades, he became Archimandrite Valentine's irreplaceable assistant. In 1973, he followed Fr. Valentine to Suzdal where he was appointed reader in the Kazan church. In 1976 he was tonsured into monasticism. He was later ordained first as hierodeacon and then as priest of the St. Constantine cathedral in Suzdal, and finally to the rank of hegumen. Supporting the labors of Archimandrite Valentine, he took a most active part in the regeneration of church life in Suzdal.

In 1990, following the initiation of the persecution of Archimandrite Valentine, he petitioned for retirement, and together with Archimandrite Valentine and the Suzdal believers, he transferred to the Russian Church Abroad. He was then raised to the rank of archimandrite, became secretary of the Suzdal Diocesan Administration, and undertook great labors to regulate the life of the diocese.

On March, 19, 1994, in accordance with a decision of the Temporary Higher Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was consecrated as Bishop of Borisovskoye and Sanino, a vicariate of the Suzdal Diocese. As a result of intrigue initiated by Archbishop Mark and his faction, the consecration was not immediately recognized by the Hierarchal Council of the ROCA. Following the reconciliatory Lesna Council of the ROCA in December of 1994, the foreign bishops recognized his consecration and invited Bishops Theodore and Seraphim to a session of the Hierarchal Synod of the ROCA in New York. Trampling upon their expressed word, at this session, the Hierarchal Sobor revealed their true motive for inviting the Russian Bishops to New York, imposing uncanonical bans on the Russian Bishops. Archbishop Valentine and Bishops Theodore and Seraphim were informed by this Hierarchal Sobor (which wished to remove them as a cause of trouble with the Moscow Patriarchate) that they would remain bishops only if they would agree to never return to Russia, accepting instead residence in another remote place such as Australia. As mentioned previously, at the diocesan assembly of the Suzdal Diocese and the sessions of the THCA, it was decided to cease submission to the Hierarchal Council of the ROCA in view of its uncanonical policies. Since 1996 Bishop Theodore has served as secretary, and then as chancellor of the Hierarchal Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROAC).

Archbishop Theodore is ardently loved by the believers for his kind and simple manner and unfailing goodwilll. In the diocese and Synod he bears a huge load of administrative work, helps Metropolitan Valentine in all his labors, and carries out numerous pastoral journeys.

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His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop Seraphim of Sukhumi and Abkhazia

Vladyka Seraphim is a Catacomb bishop who spends the majority of the year traveling all around Russia, Georgia, and other places, visiting his parishes. He is quiet, very modest, and simple.

In order to safeguard the Catacomb communities in which he serves, very little is made public knowledge about the life and struggles of Vladyka Seraphim. It is commonly-known that, in his youth, he was under the omophorion of St. Schema-Bishop Peter (Ladygin) (+1957), and he was at one time with Catacomb priest, Fr. Michael Rozhdestvensky (+1988). Vladyka Seraphim, a native of the very mountainous Caucasus region, in which many Catacomb communities can be found, has been blessed with the agility of a good climber. In spite of his age, he has used this talent to help repair roofs in Suzdal. There, at times and without the slightest apparent fear or hesitation, he has been seen walking along the roof ridge without rope slings. When he needed to turn around, he just jumped up and turned himself around without losing his footing.

Vladyka is always prayerful, and he knows the Psalter and the entire Horologion by heart. He also has the hobby of making wooden crosses for newly tonsured monks and for parish churches.