Lugansk, June 21, 2021
Photo: aleksandrovsk-prav.ru
His Eminence Metropolitan Mitrophan of Lugansk of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reposed in the Lord on Friday, June 18, at the age of 58, having suffered a heart attack, reports the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
He served as a hierarch in Christ’s Church for 21 years, and was a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the UOC and Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations.
In his condolences, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine referred to His Eminence as “a zealous worker in the field of Christ.”
“Vladyka gave all his strength, spiritual experience, knowledge, and talents to the Church and the people of God. The Church hierarchy repeatedly noted his merits, and people treated him with sincere love and respect,” the Ukrainian primate emphasized.
The funeral for Met. Mitrophan was served in the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Lugansk on the feast of Pentecost. He will be buried today at the Kiev Caves Lavra.
May Met. Mitrophan’s memory be eternal!
***
His Eminence was born on November 19, 1962 in the Khmelnitsky Province. After serving in the army, he entered the Odessa Theological Seminary in 1984, and the Moscow Theological Academy in 1987. He then graduated from the Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw in 1993.
He was tonsured as a monk at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra on August 21, 1990. On September 1 that year, he was ordained as a hierodeacon, and on September 16 as a hieromonk.
In 1994, he became a brother of the Kiev Caves Lavra and began to teach at the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary. He later served as vice-rector of the Academy.
He was consecrated as bishop of the Diocese of Pereyaslav and Khmelnitsky on July 30, 2000, and appointed Chancellor of the UOC. He was elevated to the rank of Archbishop on July 9, 2003.
He was appointed Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations in May 2012, and on July 20, he was appointed to the Diocese of Lugansk. He was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan on August 28, 2014. In 2020, he became a member of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Committee on Theology and Theological Education.
Met. Mitrophan managed to do many things for the glory of God and the salvation of the flock entrusted to him, and he was greatly loved by his flock. He was known to celebrate the services with both prayerfulness and solemnity.
His Eminence showed his great love during the time of military operations in Donbass, repeatedly risking his life and zealously fulfilling his archpastoral ministry. He worked for the release of Ukrainian servicemen from captivity and developed the social mission of the Church to help those who were left without homes or means of subsistence.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
