Moscow, June 4, 2021
Photo: pravoslavie.ru
Yesterday, June 3, His Grace Bishop Arkady (Afonin), a retired hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, reposed in the Lord at the age of 77 due to complications from the coronavirus, reports Patriarchia.ru.
Bp. Arkady served the Church in ordained ministry for 54 years, including 10 years as an active hierarch.
May his memory be eternal!
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Vladyka Arkady was born in a peasant family in the Kuibyshev Province on July 15, 1943.
He studied at the Moscow Theological Seminary from 1964 to 1968, during which time he was enrolled in the brotherhood of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, being tonsured on December 29, 1966. On February 15, 1967, he was ordained as a hierodeacon, and on March 9, 1969, as a hieromonk.
He studied at the Moscow Theological Academy from 1968 to 1972, after which he was sent to parish ministry in the Kaluga Diocese, where he remained until 1991. In 1974, he was elevated to the rank of igumen, and in 1988 to the rank of archimandrite.
On April 21, 1991, he was consecrated Bishop of Magadan and Kamchatka. He served in several dioceses over the next decade, and on July 17, 2001, he was granted retirement for health reasons. He served as rector of Moscow churches until his repose.
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