Metropolitan Methodius: brief biography

The Most Reverend Methodius, who now headsThe Perm and Solikamsk departments in the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church are one of the most ambiguous hierarchs of Russian Orthodoxy. In the recent past, he claimed the patriarchal throne, competing with Metropolitan Kirill of Kaliningrad. The life and ministry of this man will be discussed in this article.

Formation of the personality of Metropolitan Methodius

Metropolitan Mefodiy (Nemtsov) was born, photowhich can be viewed below, February 16, 1949 in Ukraine, on the territory of the modern Lugansk region. After school he received a secular education in the railway technical school, after which he entered the Odessa Theological Seminary, which he graduated in 1972. This was an atypical choice, made by the future Metropolitan Methodius (Nemtsov). His family was from employees, but something affected the young man who connected his life with serving in the church. After the seminary, he entered the spiritual academy in Leningrad, and then in graduate school at the Moscow Theological Academy. At that time, as part of the youth delegation of representatives of theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church, he went abroad, visiting Greece, Bulgaria and Finland.

The acceptance of the sacred dignity

In 1974, the future Metropolitan Methodius acceptsmonastic tonsure at the hands of His Eminence Nicodemus, Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod. At this time he takes the name of Methodius in honor of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Enlightener of the Slavs. The civil name given to him in baptism is Nicholas. Two days after the monastic vows, the monk Methodius accepts the holy deacon's dignity, and a few months later becomes a priest.

Serving in the ROC as a priest

In the first years after his consecration, the MetropolitanMethodius served in Moscow, in the Novodevichy Convent. At the same time, he began his ecclesiastical career in the Department of External Church Relations, literally in a few months, passing from a rank-and-file referent to the deputy chairman of the department. This is a rather dark page in the biography of Metropolitan Methodius. After the collapse of the USSR, many facts of cooperation between clergymen and the KGB were revealed. Among other things, it became clear that the DECR was a secret service center inside the Russian Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Mefody did a dizzyingly fast career there, only with the submission of the leadership of the state security. Later, these same forces influenced his election to the bishops. Of course, after perestroika, the fact that Metropolitan Mefody was recruited into the KGB and had an officer rank in this structure was hushed up. The same policy of silence was held for all other recruited clergymen, who were very numerous. Often such a step was taken by the hierarchs, because this was the only way to receive the holy dignity or to keep it for yourself.
Later, Metropolitan Methodius (Nemtsov) served in the rank of archimandrite in various churches in Moscow, until in 1980 he was elevated to bishopric.

Hierarchical Ministry

Naming and ordination to the bishops of the archimandriteMethodius took place in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The place of service of the new bishop was the Irkutsk department, which also includes parishes in Chita and other cities. In addition, together with the Irkutsk diocese, he was assigned temporary management of the Khabarovsk church structures.

But served in Siberia, Metropolitan Methodius did not last long- Two years later he was transferred to Voronezh. In 1985-1989, parallel to the episcopal ministry, he performed the duties of financial and economic manager of the Patriarchate.

In 1985, the Most Reverend Methodius became an archbishop. In 1988 - Metropolitan, as a reward for his efforts to prepare and hold celebrations in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus.

In 1997, Metropolitan Methodius was appointedthe most holy Alexy, the patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, to the position of a member of the commission for the preparation and celebration of the 2000th anniversary of Christianity. Together with this, he also took the chair of the historic-legal commission of the Russian Orthodox Church.
As part of various commissions, Metropolitan Methodiusrather actively conducts a dialogue with various religious organizations. She is on the list of the members of the Trustees of the Orthodox Encyclopedia Project and in the editorial board of the World Religions edition, published annually by the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as the quarterly journal Historical Herald.

In 2003, the Most Reverend Methodiusbecomes the head of the metropolitan district in the Republic of Kazakhstan, carrying the ministry there until 2010, when he was transferred to the Permian Metropolitanate by a decree of the Holy Synod. This position he occupies to this day.