Anthony (Sevryuk)

Metropolitan Anthony (Russian: Митрополит Антоний, secular name Anton Yuryevich Sevryuk, Russian: Антон Юрьевич Севрюк; born 12 October 1984), is the primate of the Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe of the Russian Orthodox Church. He holds the title of "Metropolitan of Chersonesus and Western Europe".

Anthony
Metropolitan of Chersonesus and Western Europe
Metropolitan Anthony in Kyiv in 2019
Native name	Антоний
Church	Russian Orthodox Church
Metropolis	Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe
Diocese	Diocese of Chersonesus and Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe
Appointed	30 May 2019
Predecessor	John (Roshchin)
Successor	Incumbent
Orders
Ordination	5 March 2011 (deacon) by Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) of Smolensk and Kaliningrad
Rank	Metropolitan
Personal details
Birth name	Anton Yuryevich Sevryuk
Born	October 12, 1984 Tver, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox Church

Early life

Sevryuk was baptised at the age of 11.[1] From 1991 to 1995 he studied at the secondary school number 19 in his home city of Tver. In 1995 he entered the Tver Lyceum.[2]

In his youth Sevryuk volunteered as an altar server at the Holy Resurrection Cathedral of Tver.[1]

Academic studies

In 2002 he entered the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary. During his training he studied, and later was the teacher of an optional English course. He regularly represented the school at various Orthodox conferences and seminars. In 2006, he participated in a workshop of the Syndesmos youth organization in Brussels, Belgium. In 2004-2007 participated annually in the summer Orthodox youth camp in Potamitissa, Cyprus, as a translator and head of the Russian-speaking delegation.[2] In March 2007 he took an internship at the Orthodox religious department at the University of Joensuu, and at the same time worked on parish assignments for the Finnish Orthodox Church. On June 2007, upon returning to St. Petersburg, he successfully defended his thesis for a seminary course on "Eschatology in World Religions", and on 17 June he graduated from Saint Petersburg Theological seminary, and in 2010 graduated from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy.[2] In September 2008, he was appointed teacher of the Smolensk Theological Seminary.[2]

Religious life

Monk

Bishop Anthony leading prayers in Italy in 2017

On 5 March 2001 he was tonsured a monastic monk by then Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, now Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. On 7 October 2015 he was again tonsured by Kirill, this time with the manel with the name of Anthony after Anthony of Rome.[2]

In Italy

From 22 March to 30 May 2011, he served as the leading clergyman of the parish of St. Nicholas Stavropegic in Rome, Italy. From 30 May to 12 June 2011 he served as the leading clergyman of the Stavropegial Church in honor of St. Catherine the Great Martyr also in Rome. On 12 June 2011 he was appointed secretary of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy, and elevated to the rank of Archimandrite by Patriarch Kirill.[2]

During his time in Rome, Anthony said that he felt rather lonely as for the first time in his life he was living for a prolonged period of time in a place where Russian Orthodox made a small percentage of the population. Before and during his time in Rome the Orthodox community in Italy had grown to over 50 parishes, mostly due to immigration to Italy from Orthodox populations in Eastern Europe and to a lesser extent by converts.[1] During the same time the Romanian Orthodox community in Italy grew to 163 parishes. Despite feeling uneasy at times, Anthony said that there are many similarities between Italians and Russians in tradition and customs, so the transition to being a pastor in Italy was not hard culturally.[1]

Metropolitan of Chersonesus and Western Europe

On 30 May 2019, Anthony succeeded John (Roshchin) as the primate of the Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe (Moscow Patriarchate),[3] after the Holy Synod of the ROC decided to appoint him and to appoint John (Roshchin) as primate of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Vienna and Austria.[4] As a result, Anthony became the Metropolitan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Chersonesus and Patriarchal exarch in Western Europe,[5] and the locum tenens of the Patriarchal parishes in Italy.[6]

Views on ecumenism

Having spent most of his pastoral career in predominantly Roman Catholic areas, Anthony has stated that it is important for the two churches to have good relations, especially in areas where both Orthodox and Catholic faithful worship.[1] At the Roman Catholic Basilica di San Nicola, a shrine to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Bari, he would lead Divine Liturgy on Thursdays. He has thanked the Catholic church in Italy for its tolerant view of the Orthodox population there and for occasionally allowing Orthodox to pray in Catholic shrines dedicated to saints that both churches venerate. He said that it is important that Orthodox worshippers do not pray together with Catholics or attend Catholic Mass, as the two churches are not in full communion with one another, and there are still theological differences between the two.[1]

References

1. "Иеромонах Антоний (Севрюк): О Вечном Городе, духовном стержне и Святейшем Патриархе" [Anthony (Sevryuk): About the Eternal City, the spiritual core and the Holy Patriarch] (in Russian). 10 July 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
2. "Антоний, митрополит Корсунский и Западноевропейский (Севрюк Антон Юрьевич)" (in Russian). Retrieved 30 October 2019.
3. "ЖУРНАЛЫ заседания Священного Синода от 30 мая 2019 года / Официальные документы / Патриархия.ru". Патриархия.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-06-01.
4. "Archbishop Anthony of Vienna and Budapest appointed Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe". www.sourozh.org. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
5. Sheshko, Prêtre Georges. "Mgr Antoine, archevêque de Vienne et de Budapest, est nommé chef de l'Exarchat patriarcal en Europe Occidentale". Eglise orthodoxe russe en France (in French). Retrieved 2019-06-01.
6. "L'Arcipastore - Sua Eminenza Antonio | Chiesa Ortodossa Russa in Italia". ortodossia.org. Retrieved 2019-06-16.