Cheboksary, Russia, June 1, 2020
Photo: kan-eparhia.ru
Another hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church who suffered from complications due to the coronavirus has reposed in the Lord.
His Eminence Metropolitan Barnabas, one of the eldest hierarchs of the Russian Church at 90 years old, reposed today, June 1, reports the site of the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Metropolitan was earlier hospitalized in Cheboksary and later transferred to the ICU, being diagnosed with double pneumonia. The Patriarchal Coronavirus Working Group specifies on its Telegram channel that Met. Barnabas’ repose was due to complications from the coronavirus.
His Eminence was loved and respected as an elder, and is known to English-speaking Orthodox from the book Everyday Saints by His Eminence Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Pskov. One day, during the Divine Liturgy, Met. Barnabas clairvoyantly reproached then-Fr. Tikhon for not reading the prayer rule before the service, telling him that the only time Fr. John (Krestiankin), the beloved elder of the Pskov Caves Monastery, missed reading the prayer rule before Liturgy was when he was tied up in the cellar by bandits.
Met. Barnabas is the third hierarch of the Russian Church to succumb to the coronavirus, and the fifth Orthodox hierarch overall, following His Grace Bishop Milutin of Valjevo of the Serbian Orthodox Church, His Grace Bishop Benjamin of Zheleznogorsk and His Eminence Metropolitan Jonah (Karpukhin) of the Russian Church, and His Eminence Archbishop Pimen of Suceava and Rădăuți of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
May his memory be eternal!
***
Met. Barnabas (Vladimir Viktorovich Kedrov in the world) was born on April 21, 1931 in the village of Vysokoe in the Ryazan Province, coming from a long line of priests.
In 1952-1953, he assisted in the Church of the Holy Trinity in the village of Bakhmacheevo in the Ryazan Province. In 1953-1955, he was a subdeacon in the Cathedral of the Holy Passion-bearers Boris and Gleb in Ryazan.
In May 1955, he joined the brotherhood of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and was appointed assistant to the sacristan. He was tonsured on December 10 of the same year, receiving the name Barnabas in honor of the holy Apostle. On January 18, 1956, he was appointed sacristan of the Lavra.
He was ordained as a hierodeacon by His Holiness Patriarch Alexei I on February 15, 1956, and as a hieromonk on March 9, 1957.
He was awarded the pectoral cross in 1958. In 1960, he was elevated to the rank of igumen. In 1963, he was awarded the jeweled cross, and in 1965, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.
In 1970, he was appointed dean of the Lavra.
On November 30, 1976, he was consecrated Bishop of Cheboksary and Chuvash by His Holiness Patriarch Pimen and several other hierarchs.
On September 7, 1984, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop, and in 2001 to the rank of metropolitan.
On October 4, 2012, by decision of the Holy Synod, he was appointed head of the Chuvash Metropolitanate and abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Cheboksary.
