Bah! Look who's come: the new shepherd of Kuban

Bah! Look who's come: the new shepherd of Kuban

Light of Divine Power

From open sources it is known that Metropolitan
Pavel
, in the world
Ponomarev Georgy Vasilyevich
, was born in Karaganda on February 19, 1952 in a family of workers. His father ended up in Kazakhstan as the son of a priest, his mother as the daughter of a dispossessed man. She was a believer, and the head of the family was a convinced atheist. At school, Georgy dreamed of becoming a pilot, but he understood the unreality of his fantasies, since he was neither an October student, nor a pioneer, nor a Komsomol member. While in the army, I served in Germany and it was there that I realized that God was near. After demobilization, he worked as a driver, mechanic, and studied at a vocational school.

“Many times I was saved by divine power: the prayer of my mother, nuns, priests,” the bishop admitted in an interview. “At some point I realized that I couldn’t live in an atheistic society, and I went to church.”

In 1973-81, he studied along the spiritual path: first at the Moscow Seminary, then at the Moscow Academy (candidate of theology), and later was a student in graduate school at the Theological Academy. In 1977, he took monastic vows and entered the brotherhood of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The following year he was ordained a hierodeacon, and a little later - a hieromonk.

He quarreled with the communists

In 1979-81 he served as a referent for the Department of External Church Relations (
Kirill
, the current patriarch, then served as deputy chairman of this Department).
In 1981, he was sent to the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem and a year later was appointed deputy head of the Mission. And in 1986-1988 he headed the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem. During the “Israeli” period, he was elevated by Patriarch Diodorus
to the rank of hegumen (in 1983) and to the rank of archimandrite (in 1986).

In an interview, he explained why he was recalled from Jerusalem. The Russian spiritual mission had a number of buildings in different cities of Israel, some of which were rented out. In Nazareth, at the House of Friendship, some dispute arose regarding rental issues, and Father Paul

filed a lawsuit against the tenant - the Israeli Communist Party! These were still Soviet times, and the overly brave clergyman was “exiled” - to the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, as a governor, where he served until 1992.

Mission abroad

By the decision of the Holy Synod of February 19, 1992, Archimandrite
Paul
was appointed Bishop of Zaraisk - administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA and temporarily in Canada. He served in the New York Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. He spent a lot of time visiting Patriarchal parishes in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Life in a foreign land forced the future metropolitan to master the English language. “The German language was taught at school and seminary. I decided to start studying English at the (spiritual) academy, and for this I had to attend an intensive English language study group. And to this day I use the stock of knowledge that I received there. And in the USA I studied English on my own: every day I learned new words, tried to read and communicate in English. I even have a collection of school textbooks. At first, I communicated through an interpreter, and in subsequent years I tried to talk myself, so that people would feel more comfortable with me,” he recalled.

Somehow not much is written about this, but apparently Pavel, Bishop of Zaraisk, when he was the manager of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA, was actively in contact with the highest clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR). This created the preconditions for the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) with the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (ROC), which happened in May 2007.

In 1999, he was appointed Bishop of Vienna and Austria, and two years later he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop with the title “Vienna and Budapest”, since he began to simultaneously manage the Budapest diocese, which became independent in 2000. At Vladyka Paul's

reputation as a church conservative, although he worked abroad for many years.

“Russia is not Georgia or Ukraine”

From 2003 and for ten and a half years he served in Ryazan, first as Archbishop of Ryazan and Kasimov, and from 2011 as Metropolitan of Ryazan and Mikhailovsky. It was in Ryazan that he said on camera about the “Chernobyl faucet”, which he still remembers with an unkind word. In December 2011, he commented on the protests in Russia regarding the results of the parliamentary elections: “All these meetings, protesters - it makes me feel sorry. I think this is all being done with the participation of Western intelligence services. Taking this opportunity, I would like to say to those who make orange, pink and other revolutions: Russia is not Georgia or Ukraine for you! This is not Egypt or Libya. Russia has a large number of means of mass destruction - both atomic and bacteriological weapons. And I must say that for many of our people, unlike Americans, life is not worth a damn. They will pester us - our people will become desperate, if they are driven into a corner, we will have no choice but to open the Chernobyl tap... something like that. In this case, everyone will suffer, both Americans and wealthy Europeans.”

Confused

And with such “baggage”, by the decision of the Holy Synod at the end of December 2013, Metropolitan
Pavel
was appointed Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus.
(“exarch” is the head of a separate church district in Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Ed.
).
If until now the bishop’s church career had been on an upward trajectory almost all the time, then in Belarus somehow... it didn’t work out. A man without Belarusian citizenship, without knowledge of the Belarusian language, but in such a high position, Pavel
was subjected to constant criticism. Moreover, both “from below” and “from above”. He promised to receive a Belarusian passport, but until the end he remained a Russian citizen. Although Metropolitan of Minsk must be, according to the charter of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, a citizen of Belarus. He promised to study the Belarusian language, but, as he himself admitted in an interview, “I understand, but I don’t speak.”

The exarch had a positive attitude towards services in the Belarusian language. Once he completely called for complete autocephaly (ecclesiastical independence) of the Belarusian Church, but quickly renounced this position, saying: “...today, under the plausible pretext of freedom, independence, they are trying to impose a new idea that does not unite people, but divides them.” Although Lukashenko

and many ordinary Belarusians would like their church to be an independent entity in the Orthodox world or - at least - not so dependent on Moscow.

Also Metropolitan Pavel

opposed the Belarusian Uniates, calling them a “sectarian organization”: “The task of the Uniates is to say that we have one God. Sorry, but we have more than one God, my friends. You have your own God because you believe in God differently. You confess it differently. There is really one God, but a corporation has its own god, and some sectarian organization has its own. They have nothing to do with our common Creator and Lord.” Greek Catholics on the territory of modern Belarus are still an impressive part of society. It is probably quite risky for an Orthodox metropolitan to label them all as sectarians.

And here are the events of this August. 9th – elections of the President of the country, 10th Metropolitan Pavel

congratulated (!)
Alexander Lukashenko
on his victory.
But, having received information about the dispersal of the protesters, he apologized for the congratulations. Metropolitan Pavel
appealed to
Lukashenko
to stop the violence, and he later visited people injured during the protests in the hospital: he urged them not to lose heart.

Moscow obviously did not like such throwing around. As a result, he had to write a petition for dismissal from the post of Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church did just that on August 25, thanked him and appointed him head of the Kuban Metropolis. In the Belarusian segment of social networks, these personnel changes caused a mixed reaction. But the majority were happy that instead of a Russian citizen, the BOC was headed by a Belarusian citizen.

Nothing human is alien

On the Internet you can find the amazing career story of
Dmitry Varlamov
, personal secretary of Metropolitan
Paul
.
Orthodox blogger Burbalka
noticed that before his departure to Minsk,
Varlamov
was only a 5th year student at the Ryazan Orthodox Theological Seminary.
But in 2013, in 40 days, he “passed” nine years of service: on October 27 he was ordained a deacon, on November 24 - a presbyter, the next day he was appointed a cleric of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ, on December 1 he was awarded a breech cloth, on December 22 - a kamilavka (headdress) and on the same day was appointed clergyman of the Diocesan Metochion in honor of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, and on January 4, 2014, during the first service of Metropolitan Paul
Priest
Dimitry Varlamov
already had a pectoral cross.

To make the rate of rise clear, let’s open the Regulations on the awards of the Russian Orthodox Church: “2.3.2. Gaiter. The award takes place no earlier than three years after the consecration of the recipient. 2.3.3. Kamilavka. The award takes place no earlier than three years after the award of the gaiter. 2.3.4. Pectoral cross. The awarding takes place no earlier than three years after the awarding of the kamilavka.” Why did the young man get up so quickly?

Like most ordinary people, Metropolitan Pavel apparently loves luxury and comfort. He publicly admitted that over the past 15 years he had been given new cars several times: “For my 65th birthday, they gave me a Maybach.” Not official, not for use, but given as a gift!” In Belarus, he did not live in the modest diocesan administration on Osvobozhdeniye Street, where he was registered. And in the residence, which is located in the fashionable area (more precisely, the park) of Drozdy. This is Lukashenko

gave him a new residence. Allegedly, she was “stuffed” with video cameras. As a result, the old man could blurt out in parliament: “Moscow priests are quietly messing up something somewhere, I know it.”

At the moment, Metropolitan Pavel

– still in Minsk. At the Holy Spirit Cathedral on Saturday, August 29, he served the All-Night Vigil, and on August 30, the Divine Liturgy of St. Alypius the Stylite.

We may soon learn the answers to the questions posed in this material, when the new head of the Kuban Metropolis arrives in Krasnodar. Will Dmitry Varlamov

?
Will a white Maybach with Moscow license plates appear on the streets of the southern capital? Where will Metropolitan Pavel
- at the residence of Bishop
Isidore
on Lenin Street? Or in the region they will offer him their own video cameras...

Previously "Living Kuban"

reported that in Kuban they said goodbye to Bishop
Isidore
.

© Press service of the Ekaterinodar and Kuban Diocesan Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church MP 2003

• Departments
• Deanery
• Monasteries
• Temples (addresses, telephone numbers, web pages)
• Educational establishments

Statistical information

Address of the Ekaterinodar Diocesan Administration:

350000. Krasnodar, Sobornaya 60, phone: (8612) 622081, fax: 620948

Diocesan email: [email protected]

Departments of the Ekaterinodar and Kuban diocese

1. Department of Religious Education and Catechesis:

prot. Alexander Ignatov priest. Dimitry Kravchenko

2. Missionary Department:

A.E. Shpakov prot. Alexy Kasatikov

3. Department of Charity and Social Service:

priest Konstantin Kapranov priest. Andrey Kravchenko

4. Department for interaction with the armed forces:

priest Vladimir Mishchenko priest. Andrey Byatets

5. Department for interaction with the GUFSIN:

Hegumen German Kamalov Priest. Sergiy Yadrushkin

6. Department for interaction with the Central Internal Affairs Directorate:

Abbot Tikhon (Lobkovsky) police colonel V.F. Slobozian

7. Department for interaction with executive and legislative authorities:

prot. Andrey Dashevsky

8. Architectural department:

Subbotin Yu.S.

9. Department of Youth Affairs:

priest Evgeniy Ivanov, hero. Lazar (Tokarev)

10. Department for the canonization of saints in Kuban:

prot. Sergius Tokar priest. Dimitri Boltonov priest. Andrey Chuklin

11. Department for interaction with the media (press service):

Deacon Ilya Bystrov

Deaneries and deaneries of the Ekaterinodar and Kuban diocese

• Abinsk district

  prot. Alexy SEROV

• Anapa district

  prot. Victor POLYANKIN

• Absheronsky district

  prot. Vitaly OSIPOV

• Armavir district

  prot. Vasily PLISKA

• Goryacheklyuchevsky district

  prot. Mikhail SPITSYN

• Dinskaya district

  prot. Sergiy MAKSIMETS

• Yeisk district

  prot. Ilya KORYAK

• 1st Ekaterinodar district (Central)

  prot. Alexander IGNATOV

• 2nd Ekaterinodar district

  prot. Valentin MERTSEV

• Kanevsky district

  and about. priest Victor SAVENKO

• Kropotkinsky District

  prot. Vasily KOZAK

• Crimean district

  prot. Sergiy KARPETS

• Kurganinsky district

  prot. Valery KOVALENKO

• Novorossiysk district

  prot. Georgy FEDORENKO

• Poltava district

  abbot. Simeon (NIKITIN)

• Slavic district

  prot. Nikita GAVRILCHIK

• Starominsky District

  prot. Alexy SAMOILENKO

• Sochi district

  prot. Alexy STADNYUK

• Temryuk district

  Archpriest Nikolay VORONA

• Timashevsky district

  priest Viktor SAVENKO

• Tikhoretsky district

  prot. Valery SKRIGANYUK

• Ust-Labinsk district

  Archpriest Leonid CHERNYKH

Monasteries

• Timashevsky husband. monastery

  Viceroy: Archimandrite. Georgy (SAVVA), phone: (230) 4 - 25 - 72

• Monastery "Krestovaya Hermitage"

  Rector: Hieromonk John, address: Sochi, village. Solokh-Aul, st. Koshmana 10, phone

• Korenovsky female monastery

  Rector: Archimandrite Vissarion (MAKAROV), phone: (242) 3 - 46 - 72

• Rogovskaya's wife
  monastery : mon. Sevastiana (LEBEDEVA), phone: (230) 9 - 60 - 51
• Convent in honor of the Icon of the Mother of God “The Unbreakable Wall”

  (photo: , , , , , ) Abbess: Nun Zosima (BYSTROVA), address: Apsheronsk, Yudina Street 4, telephone: (252) 2-53-87

• Trinity-St. George Convent

  Abbess: nun Anastasia (Mikhalko), address: 354000, Sochi, Lesnoye village, st. Mira, 25; telephone

  Temples (addresses, phone numbers, pages)

• Temples of Krasnodar
• Internet pages of diocesan churches

Educational establishments

• Armavir Orthodox Social Institute

  . Website: www.apsi.ru; email 352905, Armavir, st. Lunacharkogo, 185 phone: (86137) 5-43-38; fax:(86137) 4-64-83

• Russian Orthodox Secondary School in Krasnodar
• Orthodox school of St. Prince Alexander Nevsky in Kurganinsk
• Orthodox school "Transfiguration" in Anapa
• Orthodox school "Favor" in the village. Mostovsky

  Statistical information

  As of November 1, 2003, the Ekaterinodar diocese includes:

  341 parishes, 6 monasteries, including 2 men's and 4 women's.

  The number of clergy is 484, including 434 priests; deacons-50.

  Read also:  Sayings of the Holy Fathers, sayings and quotes from priests, monks, elders, quotes from the Holy Scriptures

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