| Sumy Transfiguration Cathedral |
Sumy and Akhtyrka diocese
of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Diocesan administration: Ukraine, 40000, Sumy, st. Sobornaya, 31
- Tel.: (+380 (reception); 22-05-60 (office); fax: 22-33-71
- Official website: , old website:
- Canonical territory: Sumy, Akhtyrsky, Belopolsky, Velikopisarevsky, Krasnopolsky, Lebedinsky, Trostyanetsky districts of the Sumy region.
- Cathedrals: Transfiguration Cathedral in Sumy, Intercession Cathedral in Akhtyrka
- On the map: Yandex.Map, Google map
From the beginning of the spread of Orthodoxy in Rus', the lands of the present Sumy diocese were under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Kyiv diocese, then together with it they were subjected to the destructive Mongol invasion and for several centuries turned into a deserted “wild field”.
But gradually these lands, part of the so-called. Sloboda Ukraine began to be repopulated by Orthodox Christians, mainly refugees from Polish oppression and forced union. The churches and monasteries located here were part of the Patriarchal region, and since 1667 - part of the Belgorod diocese. On October 16, 1799, the lands of Sloboda Ukraine entered the newly formed Sloboda-Ukrainian and Kharkov diocese. The Sumy diocese was established on November 9 [1] 1866 as the Kharkov Vicariate. It was stopped during Stalin's persecutions in 1935. However, after the liberation of Sumy in the fall of 1943 from the Nazi invaders, on December 4, 1943, the renovationist Bishop Korniliy (Popov) repented of the sin of schism, was accepted into his existing rank and appointed Bishop of Sumy and Akhtyrsky, which restored the vicar diocese.
In 1945, by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, an independent Sumy diocese was created, which included the following deaneries: Akhtyrskoye, Belopolskoye, Velikopisarevskoye, Glinskoye, Glukhovskoye, Grunovskoye, Konotopskoye, Krolevetskoye, Krasnopolskoye, Lebedinskoye, Nedrigailovskoye, Miropolskoye, Putivlskoye, Romenskoye, Seredina -Budskoye, Smelovskoye, Sumskoye, Talalaevskoye, Trostyanetskoye, Shtepovskoye, Shostkinskoye.
In June 1993, the independent Glukhovskaya diocese was separated from the diocese. From that time on, the Sumy diocese united the regions of the southern and central parts of the Sumy region.
On September 25, 2013, the Lipovodolinsky, Nedrigailovsky and Romny districts in the west of the diocese were transferred to the newly established Romny diocese.
Historical names
- Sumskaya (vicarate, 1866 - 1945)
- Sumskaya and Akhtyrskaya (since 1945)
Statistics
- January 1, 1958 [2] - 219 registered temples/houses of worship.
- 2000 - 1 monastery, 175 parishes, 145 clergy (135 priests and 10 deacons; of which 56 - in city churches and 89 - in rural parishes) [3].
- 2002 - 186 parishes [4].
- OK. 2004 - 92 parishes; 170 clergy (150 priests, 20 deacons) [5].
- December 2012 - 271 parishes, of which 23 are vacant (without a priest), the number of parishes without churches is 39 (of which 11 are chapels, 15 churches are under construction); 232 temples; 207 clergy, including 4 archimandrites, 3 abbots, 6 hieromonks, 99 archpriests, 68 priests, 4 protodeacons, 4 hierodeacons, 19 deacons, 34 clergy on staff [6]
Archpastors
Vicariate of Kharkov
- Herman (Ossiecki) (January 8, 1867 - 1872)
- Veniamin (Platonov) (July 30, 1872 - April 9, 1883)
- Gennady (Levitsky) (April 9, 1883 - November 29, 1886)
- Peter (Losev) (November 1, 1887 - July 22, 1889)
- Vladimir (Shimkovich) (August 24, 1890 – December 5, 1892)
- John (Kratirov) (April 25, 1893 - January 17, 1895)
- Peter (Drugov) (January 17, 1895 – May 30, 1899)
- Innokenty (Belyaev) (August 1, 1899 - December 10, 1901)
- Stefan (Arkhangelsky) (January 27, 1902 - April 29, 1904)
- Alexy (Dorodnitsyn) (May 30, 1904 - July 18, 1905)
- Evgeny (Berezhkov) (November 27, 1905 - May 22, 1909)
- Vasily (Bogoyavlensky) (July 26, 1909 - March 4, 1911)
- Feodor (Lebedev) (May 8, 1911 - May 14, 1916)
- Mitrofan (Abramov) (June 5, 1916 - 1920)
- Korniliy (Popov) (February 15, 1921 - September 1922)
- Sschmch. Konstantin (Dyakov) (September 21, 1924 - November 12, 1927)
- Vyacheslav (Shkurko) (October 23, 1934 - February 21, 1936 [7])
- 1936-1943 - stopped
Independent diocese
- Hilarion (Prokhorov) (September 30, 1945 - December 27, 1951)
- Evstratiy (Podolsky) (December 27, 1951 - July 13, 1958)
- Joasaph (Lelyukhin) (August 17, 1958 - May 21, 1959)
- 1959-1989 - ruled by Chernigov bishops
Russian Orthodox Church
Established in 1943
By the decision of the Synod of the UOC dated September 25, 2013 (journal No. 70), the Romny diocese was separated from the Sumy and Konotop dioceses. The Sumy diocese includes the Akhtyrsky, Belopolsky, Velikopisarevsky, Krasnopolsky, Lebedinsky, Sumy and Trostyanetsky districts of the Sumy region of Ukraine. The Synod decided to continue to refer to the diocesan bishop of the Sumy diocese as “Sumskaya and Akhtyrsky”.
Cathedral city - Sumy. Cathedrals - Spaso-Preobrazhensky (Sumy), Pokrovsky (Akhtyrka).
The diocese is divided into 10 deanery districts according to the number of districts in the region.
Diocese today (as of December 2012)
The total number of parishes is 271, of which 23 are vacant (without a priest), the number of parishes without churches is 39 (of which 11 are chapels, 15 churches are under construction).
The total number of temples is 232.
Church service is carried out by 207 clergy . Of these: archimandrites - 4, abbots - 3, hieromonks - 6, archpriests - 99, priests - 68, protodeacons - 4, hierodeacons - 4, deacons - 19. There are 34 clergy on staff.
Diocesan departments:
- missionary (headed by Archpriest Maxim Denisenko);
- publishing (headed by Archpriest Maxim Denisenko);
- religious education and catechesis (headed by Hieromonk Innocent (Ivlev));
- for work with medical institutions (headed by Archpriest Vasily Korovets);
- on work with military personnel (headed by Archpriest Evgeny Fedenko);
- on social service and work with convicts (headed by Archpriest Sergius Shulga);
- for work with youth (headed by Archpriest Vladimir Ravlyuk);
- pilgrimage (leader - Archpriest Alexander Petrenko);
- pastoral and liturgical (headed by Priest Vasily Buryas);
- church construction and architecture (headed by Archpriest Alexander Petrenko);
- legal (headed by S.V. Miroslavsky);
- Commission on Canonization Issues (headed by Archpriest Sergius Shulga).
Active monasteries:
- Holy Trinity Akhtyrsky Trinity Monastery. Hegumen - Archimandrite Simeon (Gagatik);
- Belopolsky in honor of the Bogolyubskaya Icon of the Mother of God husband. mon-ry, established as a women's monastery in 1991, converted to men's in 1997. Ukraine, 41800, Sumy region, Belopole, st. Gogolya, 5. Tel.: (5443) 9-15-85;
- monastic community Zhuravnoye, Akhtyrsky district, organized as a monastery of mercy;
- the organization of monastic life is carried out at the Nikolsky bishop's metochion in the village. Miropolye. The governor is Archimandrite Smaragd (Petrenko).
Educational establishments:
- Sumy Pastoral and Theological School, founded in 1999, Ukraine, 40002, Sumy, st. Komsomolskaya, 180. Tel.: (0542) 21-04-54;
- courses “Orthodox Academy for the laity”;
- lecture hall of the ruling bishop (takes place in the session hall of the Sumy Regional Council, lecture materials are broadcast in the TV program “Orthodox Sumy Region”).
Orthodox associations and organizations: educational, sisterhood of mercy in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God; Diocesan legal advice service.
Church media: newspapers “Orthodox Sumy”, published by the diocesan administration, “Missionary”, published by the Ilyinsky Church of Sumy; TV program “Orthodox Sumy Region”, aired on the Vidikon TV channel; Orthodox newsletter “Na hvilyakh viri”, broadcast on radio Sloboda-FM; online magazine "Seraphim".
Sumy diocese against propaganda of perversions
Sumy diocese against propaganda of perversions
Statement by the Diocesan Council of the Sumy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in connection with the registration of the Gay Alliance organization in Sumy
We, members of the Diocesan Council of the Sumy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, on behalf of the Orthodox believers in more than 200 parishes of the Sumy region, are concerned about the fact of state registration of a certain public organization, which sets the main goal of its activities to promote same-sex sexual relations.
As Sumy media reported, on August 22, 2011, the main department of justice in the Sumy region made a decision on legalization by written notification of the establishment of a local cell of the so-called “All-Ukrainian public organization “Gay Alliance Ukraine”. This fact shook the Sumy public. Orthodox priests are receiving numerous requests to take action against the official registration of a depraved organization that seeks to establish vile vice as a “social activity.” Some Sumy residents are very determined, rightly seeing in this fact the special cynicism of officials who, before making a decision to register the odious “alliance,” were obliged to take into account the opinion of the residents of the territorial community whether they wanted to have a haven for perverts in their home. And since the aforementioned registration took place “by notification” (???), the residents of Sumy are concerned about what new “interesting” organizations may soon be registered in a similar way at the main department of justice?
The general church definition regarding the sodomite sin of homosexuality is exhaustively outlined in the “Fundamentals of the Social Concept” (chap. XII, 9):
The Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Church unequivocally condemn homosexual sexual relations, seeing in them a vicious distortion of the God-created nature of man. If anyone lies with a man as with a woman, then both of them have committed an abomination (Lev. 20:13).
The Bible tells of the grave punishment that God subjected to the inhabitants of Sodom (Gen. 19:1-29), according to the interpretation of the Holy Fathers, precisely for the sin of sodomy. The Apostle Paul, characterizing the moral state of the pagan world, names homosexual relations among the most shameful passions and lewdness that defile the human body: Their women replaced natural use with unnatural; Likewise, men, abandoning the natural use of the female sex, were inflamed with lust for one another, men committing shame on men and receiving in themselves the due retribution for their error (Rom. 1:26-27). Do not be deceived... neither the wicked nor the homosexuals... will inherit the kingdom of God, wrote the Apostle Paul to the inhabitants of corrupt Corinth (1 Cor. 6:9-10).
Patristic tradition is equally clear and definitely condemns any manifestations of homosexuality. “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” the works of Saints Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nyssa, Blessed Augustine, and the canons of Saint John the Faster express the unchangeable teaching of the Church: homosexual relations are sinful and subject to condemnation. The people involved in them do not have the right to be members of the church clergy (Basily the Great Ave. 7, Gregory Nis. Ave. 4, John the Great. Ave. 30). Addressing those who had stained themselves with the sin of sodomy, the Monk Maxim the Greek cried out: Know yourselves, wretched ones, what vile pleasure you have given yourself over! anathema as an opponent of the Gospel of Christ the Savior and corrupting its teaching. Purify yourself with sincere repentance, warm tears and feasible alms and pure prayer... Hate this wickedness with all your soul, so that you do not become sons of curse and eternal destruction...
While treating people with homosexual tendencies with pastoral responsibility, the Church at the same time resolutely resists attempts to present the sinful tendency as a “norm,” much less as a source of pride and an example to follow. That is why the Church condemns all propaganda of homosexuality. Without denying anyone the fundamental rights to life, respect for personal dignity and participation in public affairs, the Church, however, believes that persons who promote a homosexual lifestyle should not be allowed to teach, educate and other work among children and youth, as well as occupy leadership position in the army and correctional institutions (Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church).
The stated views are shared not only by Orthodox believers, but also by the majority of Christian and non-Christian religious organizations, whose representatives live in the Sumy region. Registration of godless perverts is a cynical disregard for the moral principles of hundreds of thousands of people for whom such things are incompatible with the concept of the norm.
At the same time, it is worth recalling that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has not been able to obtain the status of a legal entity from the state for the past 20 years. Changing presidents and governments cannot decide to give this status to the largest denomination in Ukraine, which traces its history back to the Baptism of Rus and has determined the cultural and historical development of Ukrainian society for centuries. Odious characters, the mention of whose “oddities” in polite society have always been accompanied by a feeling of disgust, with amazing ease receive “by notification” everything that allows them to be present not only in public life, but also to “spread ideas of tolerance” in relation to the sin of homosexuality. The unscrupulousness of officials who impede the teaching of the fundamentals of Christian ethics and indulge perverts is amazing!
It is worth remembering that at the dawn of Ukraine’s independent history, criminal liability for homosexuality was abolished, and only 20 years later, perverts have free access to raising our children. What's next? Are we really destined to be witnesses (or, more precisely, accomplices) of a self-made apostasy, after which the Dead Sea and pillars of salt will remain, as happened with Sodom and Gomorrah?
Expressing our concern about what is happening, we appeal to all fellow believers in Christ. Dear ones, danger has already crept into our homes, encroaching on our conscience and our morality. There can be no doubt: the main goal of the “Gay Alliance” is the trampling of Christian morality, a spit in the soul of a Christian who sweeps aside all impurity. Let no one doubt: if Christians do not express their decisive protest, our house will very quickly become a den of sodomites. Let the voice of our Christian conscience be a firm and decisive statement of categorical protest against the registration of the “Gay Alliance” and other organizations of a similar orientation in the Sumy region.
We appeal to representatives of non-Orthodox and non-Christian faiths living in the Sumy region. A newly registered organization of homosexuals, striving to promote same-sex sexual relations, seriously raises the question of the immediate future of our children. We urge you to support our initiative and make a strong protest against the registration of the mentioned organization in the Sumy region. Let our joint determination to resist immoral perverts become the key to overcoming this disaster in our common home - Sumy region.
We appeal to all people, believers and non-believers, to all residents of the Sumy region and the regional center, for support of our protest against the registration and activities of the “Gay Alliance” and other organizations of a similar nature. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, power in our state belongs to you and me. And it is we, Sumy residents and residents of the region, who have the right to decide who to let into our home and who to show to the door. Let us remember: the kind of home we leave for our children depends on our joint determination. Let's not be cowardly, let's declare our protest against organizations of perverts! Let this be our contribution for the right to live without coming into contact with the abomination of unnatural vices!
Dear Sumy residents! The time has come to test our conscience, our morality, not in words, but in deeds. Evil is too concrete to doubt its presence and effectiveness. Let us not deceive ourselves: God is betrayed by silence. May the Almighty Lord Almighty strengthen each of you on the path of following His holy Truth!
2.IX.2011
"Orthodox Sumy region"
