Metropolitan Arseniy Istra, biography

Metropolitan Arseny of Istra is a prominent bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1997 he received the order of the archbishop, and in 2014 became the metropolitan. At the moment he is a vicar in the Moscow Patriarchate.

Biography of the priest

Metropolitan Arseny Istra was born in 1955 in the Moscow region. He was born in a small village Vostryakovo, which is now one of the micro-districts in the Western administrative district of the capital.

The hero of our article graduated from an ordinary Soviet school. And immediately went to work. He got a job at the post office, located at the Kazan station in Moscow. Having earned the first money in his life, Yuri Alexandrovich Epifanov (as he was then called), went to serve in the army.

Way to church

From the age of 15 the hero of our article already professed Orthodoxy. Purposeful church career, the future metropolitan Arseniy Istrinsky chose right after he served in the Armed Forces of the USSR. In 1975, at the age of only 20, he became an altar boy at the St. Nicholas Church in Biryulyovo. His duties included assistance during the service in the altar. To this church office, ordinary men from the laity were recruited. No separate training and education, in order to become an altar boy, it was not required to receive.

The temple in Biryulyovo, in which Arseny began his ecclesiastical career, was named in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker. It was built shortly after the Civil War, in 1924. At that time, Soviet power did not frankly interfere with the work of the church. At first it was wooden. And burned down in 1956. In the next year it was restored and sanctified. Practically secretly. This temple is unique, because it was built during the years of Soviet power, when the clergy were oppressed in every possible way.

Studying in seminary

Becoming an altar boy, the future metropolitan Arseniy Istrańskiy was convinced of his desire to forever give himself to the church. To this end, in 1976, he entered the seminary in Moscow. And afterwards to the Moscow Theological Academy. He graduated in 1983.

After that, for six years, he serves as a referent and personal secretary for the future patriarch Alexy II. However, in those days Alexy was only a metropolitan. First, Estonian and Tallinn, later Leningrad and Novgorod. He did not receive the patriarchal order until 1990.

By that time, Arseny had parted with him. In 1988 he received the post of clergyman of the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg. This is an ancient Orthodox church, built in the time of Peter I.

Meanwhile, in those years he had already received the rank of archpriest.

Bishop of Ladozhsky

In 1989, the hero of our article received a new appointment. He became bishop of Ladoga and vicar of the Leningrad diocese. That is, an assistant to a diocesan bishop who does not have his own diocese.

In September he took monastic vows, having received the name of Arseny. He was so named in honor of Arseny Konevsky - an Orthodox Novgorod monk, who lived in the XIV-XV centuries. It was he who brought to Russia from Athos the icon of the Mother of God. Together with this icon, he settled on the island of Konevets, located on Lake Ladoga. Over time, founded a community monastery, which dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin.

At this time it turned out that the new patriarch Alexy II had not forgotten his former secretary-referent. At the first meeting of the Holy Synod, after his assumption of office, the hero of our article became Metropolitan of Istra Arseny. The biography of the priest later developed very successfully. He was ordained a vicar at the Moscow diocese.

In 1997 he was elected to the secretariat of the Cathedral.

San Archbishop

At the same Council of Bishops, where Arseny entered the secretariat, he was given the rank of archbishop. So went up the church career ladder Metropolitan Arseniy Istra. Where this priest serves, many parishioners knew.

In his Istra vicariate, located in the suburbs (in the city of Istra), came from different parts of the country for advice and forgiveness of sins. By the way, Metropolitan Arseny still manages it. Here already throughout 27 years.

In 2009, Arseny became vicar of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, who succeeded in the post of deceased Alexy II. His area of responsibility included the capital's parishes.

Duties of Metropolitan

San Metropolitan Arseny received in 2014. In the sphere of his immediate duties is to supervise the capital's temples in the Southern and Central parishes of the capital. Since 2015, Metropolitan Arseny is one of the members of the Supreme Church Council. In fact, this is the executive body of power, which functions under the Russian Orthodox Church.

Vicar of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia is not only concerned with the supervision of the activities of the parishes. He must also be responsible for the work and performance of his duties by the clergy and parish councils at the temples that are his subordination.

святых мощей, которые возвращают в церковь или обнаруживают вновь. He is one of the permanent members of the commission, which is engaged in the examination of holy relics, which are returned to the church or discovered again. In recent years, the commission has confirmed the authenticity of the relics of many saints: in 1988 Alexander Nevsky, and in 1990 - Reverend Savvaty, Herman and Zosima Solovetsky. These are priests who became one of the founders of the world-famous Solovetsky monastery back in the 15th century. One can not help mentioning Serafim Sarovsky (he founded the Diveevo women's monastery) and Patriarch Tikhon, who led the Russian Orthodox Church during the October Revolution and the Civil War.

In 1998, the authenticity of the relics of Matrona Nikonova, a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, was heard, which, according to rumors, even counseled Josef Stalin.