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DECR Chairman

Chairman of the Department

The Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony


Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations
From 7th June 2022 to the present

BIOGRAPHY

Metropolitan Anthony (Anton Yurievich Sevryuk) was born on 12th October 1984 in the Russian city of Tver.


1991-2008

From 1991 to 1995 he studied in secondary school no.19 in Tver. In 1995 he joined the municipal Tver Lyceum, which he left in 2002, having been awarded the Gold Medal. During his studies in school, he also bore the obediences of altar server and subdeacon in the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Tver.

In 2002 he joined the Saint Petersburg Theological Seminary. During his studies he worked on the website of the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy and taught informal courses in English. He regularly represented the St. Petersburg Theological Schools at various conferences and seminars.

In 2006 he took part in the Orthodox youth movement Syndesmos seminar in Brussels.

From 2004 to 2007 he annually participated in the summer Orthodox youth camp in Potamitissa on Cyprus as a translator and leader of the Russian delegation.

In October of 2006 he was tonsured a reader in the Academy Church of Saint John the Theologian by the archbishop of Tikhvin Constantine.

In March 2007 he was sent for a period of study at the Orthodox department under the theological faculty of the University of Joensuu in Finland, and while a student there he simultaneously was the warden of the Church of Saint John the Theologian at the Theological Seminary in Finland, while in June upon returning to Saint Petersburg, he defended his seminary diploma thesis on eschatology in world religions.

On 17th June 2007 he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy as an outstanding student and was awarded the Metropolitan Nicodemus Prize. The teaching corpus of the academy invited him to be a teacher there without having to sit the entrance examinations.

In September 2007 he was temporarily commandeered to the Communications Service of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. From 7th October 2007 he was a consultant and speech-writer for the chairman of the DECR the metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill, now His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus. In September 2008 he was made lecturer at the Smolensk Theological Seminary.

2009-2022

From 5th February 2009 he served as personal secretary to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

On 5th March 2009 He was tonsured a monk by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill with the name Anthony in honour of the Venerable Martyr Anthony of Valaam in the domestic Church of Saint Philaret the Merciful in the Patriarchal Rooms of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and Saint Sergius.

From April 2009 to 8th April 2011, he was the director of the personal secretariate of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus.

On 3rd April 2010 he was ordained to the priesthood as hieromonk Anthony by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and given the right to wear the nabedrennik as part of his priestly vestments.

On 5th June 2010 he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy as an outstanding student.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of 22nd March 2011 (protocol no.32) he was appointed a cleric of the stavropegic parish of St. Nicholas in Rome.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of 30th May 2011 (protocol no.62) he was released from his position as cleric of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Rome and appointed rector of the stavropegic Church of Saint Catherine in Rome.

On 12th July 2011 by decree of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill he was appointed secretary of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy.

On 18th July 2013 at the service in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and Saint Sergius he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

On 7th October 2015 His Holiness Patriarch Kirill in the domestic Church of Saint Philaret the Merciful in the Patriarchal Rooms of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and Saint Sergius he was tonsured as a riasophore monk with the right to wear the mantle with the name of Anthony in honour of Saint Anthony of Rome.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of 22nd October 2015 (protocol no.62) he was elected bishop of Bodorodsk, auxiliary bishop to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus and entrusted with the pastoral care of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy. He was also appointed head of the Directorate of the Moscow Patriarchy for overseas institutions.

His proclamation as bishop took place on 23rd October 2015 in the Cathedral of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God at the Optina Hermitage. He was consecrated bishop on 26th October at the Divine Liturgy at Novodevichy Convent in Moscow. The service was headed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill

By the decree of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of 28th October 2015 he was appointed to the position of rector of the Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist ‘na Presne’ in Moscow.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of 24th December 2015 (protocol no.89) he was included in the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.


By the decision of the Holy Synod of 29th July 2017 (protocol no.52) he was released from his position as administrator of the Italian parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate and rector of the stavropegic Church of Saint Nicholas in Rome. The Synod also accorded him the title ‘of Zvenigorod’.

From September to December 2017, he was the temporary administrator of the diocese of Berlin.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of 28th December 2017 (protocol no.116) he was appointed administrator of the dioceses of Austria and Vienna and Budapest and Hungary with the title ‘of Vienna and Budapest’, while still retaining the position of head of the Directorate of the Moscow Patriarchy for overseas institutions. The Synod also determined that he be temporarily charged with the administration of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy.

On 1st February 2018 at the Divine Liturgy in Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow he was elevated to the rank of archbishop by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

By decision of the Holy Synod of 15th October 2016 (protocol no.77) he was released from the temporary administration of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of 30th May 2019 (protocol no.49) he was appointed to be archbishop of Chersoneses and Western Europe, Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe, temporary administrator of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy, and was also released from administering the dioceses of Austria and Vienna and Hungary and Budapest, while still retaining the position of head of the Directorate of the Moscow Patriarchy for overseas institutions.

On 31st May 2019 at the Divine Liturgy in the Resurrection Cathedral of Novodevichy Сonvent in Saint Petersburg he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of 7th June 2022 (protocol no.61) he was appointed chairman of the Department for External Church Relations and permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church with the title ‘of Volokolamsk’, while temporarily administering the Patriarchal Exarchate of Western Europe and the position of head of the Directorate of the Moscow Patriarchy for overseas institutions. Simultaneously, he was released from administering the diocese of Chersoneses.

Concern expressed in the Russian Orthodox Church for the destiny of Christian shrines in Kosovo

04.10.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Holy Synod is to decide how the presence of the Russian Church in Africa is to be structured.

04.10.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: an unhealthy stir around the topic of Church revenues is most often associated with anti-Church speculation

27.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: Alexander Nevsky combined wisdom of a state ruler with personal holiness

22.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: President of Montenegro works to divide the population of the country, on religious grounds in particular

19.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: the Patriarch of Constantinople claims special privileges akin to those of the pope

19.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: working at an ecclesiastical institution is also a service to the Church

14.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: By his invasion in Ukraine Patriarch Bartholomew has fulfilled a political order

13.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion calls voters to be guided by the voice of their conscience

13.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: theological teaching is dynamically developing in Moscow

07.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: Dishonorable visit of Patriarch Bartholomew to Ukraine has demonstrated the fruits of his actions to the world

06.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion thanks MFA of Russia for attention to the problem of persecution of Christians

05.09.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Church teaches people love rather than tolerance

02.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: Today Christianity is the most persecuted religion on the planet

01.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Day of the Baptism of Rus' is a holiday of the entire multi-million Russian Orthodox Church

31.07.2021

Address by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at jubilee meeting of Inter-Religious Council of Russia

07.12.2023

DECR Chairman addressed the XV General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia

30.09.2023

Address by Patriarch KIRILL of Moscow and All Russia at the meeting of Russia-Islam Strategic Vision Group

19.05.2023

Metropolitan Anthony’s address at closing session of the 7th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions

15.09.2022

Presentation of the DECR Chairman at the interreligious meeting on Religion and Education

06.10.2021

Dostoevsky and the Gospel

20.09.2021

The topic of autocephaly is the only one worthy of a pan-Orthodox Council, believes the Serbian Orthodox bishop of Bačka Irinej.

17.09.2021

The Metropolitan of Kykkos Nicephorus: “The unilateral decision by Patriarch Bartholomew on Ukraine threatens pan-Orthodox unity with a schism of monstrous proportions”

17.09.2021

Constantinople’s claims to power as a threat to Church unity

16.09.2021

Presentation by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the opening of the ‘World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of Orthodox Dogmatic Teaching’ conference

16.09.2021

The Orthodox Understanding of the Eucharist

06.09.2021

"Freedom and Responsibility as Viewed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill". Address by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (International Hellenic University online seminar, 16th February 2021)

16.02.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk gave an online lecture for the Theological Institute of St. John of Damascus, Balamand University

31.01.2021

Address by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk at a session of the Interreligious Council of Russia attended by Mr. Miguel Moratinos, High-Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations

21.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk greets participants and guests of XIV International Festival ‘Russia Abroad’

08.11.2020

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