BISHOP OF LUHANSK AND ROVNO CONSECRATED IN IPTs(S)
The episcopal ordination of Archimandrite Aleksei (Storozhko), the rector of the parish and monastery in the village of Nizhniaia Gerasimovka of Luhansk oblast, was conducted on 27 January in the synodal church of the Holy Archangel Raphael on Radio St. in Moscow by the first primate of the centralized religious organization of the True Orthodox Church [Istinno-Pravoslavnaia Tserkov—IPTs(S)], Schema-Metropolitan of Moscow Serafim. As a correspondent of the portal Credo.Press reports, Bishop of Vladimir and Orekhovo-Zuevo Vikenty and Bishop of Krasnogorsk and Istra Sergii concelebrated with him.
The decision about the consecration of Fr Aleksei, who joined the IPTs(S) less than two years ago, was made at a session of the synod of this church on 21 January. Earlier Schema-Metropolitan Serafim visited Nizhniaia Gerasimovka and, in particular, performed there the glorification of remains, which Bishop Aleksei identifies as the relics of the catacomb Schema-Metropolitan Serafim (Afanasiev), about whom there is an absence of any information in publications about the catacomb church. According to the data base of Russian New Martyrs and Confessors, compiled in the PSTGU, the surname Afanasiev may have been that of a vicar of the Yaroslav diocese, Bishop of Rostov Serafim, who was arrested in 1935 and disappeared without a trace in camps of Kazakhstan, although Bishop Aleksei denies the identification of Schema-Metropolitan Serafim with this new martyr. On the internet and in the local press there is a number of negative articles about Bishop Aleksei pertaining to the time when he bore the name Feodosy (secular name of Artem) and served originally in the UPTsMP and later in the UPTsKP.
When bestowing the bishop's staff, Schema-Metropolitan Serafim gave the charge to Bishop Aleksei, noting especially that his archpastoral ministry will be performed on the territory of the unrecognized Luhansk People's Republic. Hegumen Innokenty, a kandidat of theology, participated in the liturgy. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 January 2019)
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