Work of the March 2010 Session of the MP Holy Synod

On Friday, a number of important decisions on church administration and personnel changes within the Patriarchate of Moscow and all the Russia were adopted in St Petersburg at a meeting of the MP Holy Synod. Vladimir Legoida, the chairman of the Synodal Department of Information, told journalists, “The Synod decided to establish a new Synodal Division for Prison Ministry. It will address questions related to our ministry to our prisoners”. Bishop Irinarkh Grezin of Krasnogorsk, formerly the ruling bishop of the Diocese of Perm and Solikamsk, shall head the new body. In addition, the Moscow Patriarchate founded a Patriarchal Council on the Arts, which will interact with museums and other cultural institutions. The Synod appointed Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, the superior of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, as its executive secretary. It was also decided to establish a Commission on Church Shelters and Guardianship of Children, headed by the chairman of the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis, Bishop Merkury Ivanov of Zaraisk. The hierarchs at the meeting also established a Synodal Committee on Interaction with the Cossacks, headed by the superior of the Donskoi Monastery in Moscow, Bishop Kirill Pokrovsky of Sergeyev Posad, who was named to the Presidential Council for the Cossacks. Within the Synodal Department for the Relationship of Church and Society (headed by Fr Vsevolod Chaplin), the Synod established a new Council of Orthodox Associations.

Among the important personnel changes approved by the Synod, was the transfer of Metropolitan Mefody Nemtsov from Astana in Kazakhstan to Perm and Solikamsk in the RF. Archbishop Aleksandr Mogilyov is becoming the new Metropolitan of Astana and Alma-Ata, transferred from the Diocese of Kostroma. In addition, he will be the acting head of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs. Archbishop Aleksei Frolov of Orekhovo-Zuevsk shall take over the Diocese of Kostroma and Galich. Vladyki Aleksei shall step down as the head of the Synodal Commission for Monasteries; at the same time, he shall retain his position as head of the Synodal Liturgical Commission. The new Chairman of the Synodal Commission for Monasteries is Archbishop Feognost Guzikov of Sergeyev Posad, the governor of the Trinity-St Sergius Lavra. Archbishop Yustinian Ovchinnikov of Tiraspol and Dubossary was named the head of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA with the title of Naro-Fominsk. Bishop Savva Volkov of Krasnogorsk shall take his place in his present diocese. Metropolitan Sergei Fomin of Voronezh and Borisoglebsk was removed as the head of the Division for Church Charity and Social Service. A clergyman of the Moscow diocese, Archpriest Arkady Shatov, replaced him. Archimandrite Veniamin Tupeko was appointed a vicar bishop of the Minsk diocese with the title Bishop of Borisovsky. He is the superior of the Annunciation Monastery in the Diocese of Minsk. The formal election and ordination of Fr Veniamin to the episcopal dignity will occur in Moscow.

5 March 2010

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=34523

Editor’s Note:

There is one thing you should notice… two of KMG’s most bitter rivals, Sergei Fomin and Mefody Nemtsov were demoted. They weren’t dismissed by any means… but they were demoted. Quite obviously, KMG shall brook no opposition. Note well that the Boy Wonder has been given no diocese. Oh, it can happen… but it hasn’t happened yet. KMG must not trust him… wise move, I say.

BMD