Moscow, September 7, 2023
foma.ru
His Eminence Metropolitan Veniamin of Orenburg and Saraktash of the Russian Orthodox Church reposed in the Lord yesterday at the age of 69.
He served the Church as a hierarch for 20 years.
He will be buried at the Nikolo-Ugresh Monastery in Moscow, where he served as abbot for 18 years, reports the press service of the Russian Church.
The interim administration of the Orenburg Diocese was entrusted to His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan and Tatarstan.
May Met. Veniamin’s memory be eternal!
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Met. Veniamin was born on September 12, 1953, in the village of Stodultsy, Vinnitsa Province, Ukraine.
After high school, he worked in construction until 1973 when he started working at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and became the subdeacon for His Grace Bishop Simon of Ryazan.
He was ordained to the diaconate on March 30, 1975, and to the priesthood on April 6. He served in churches in the Ivanovo Province and later in the Oryol Diocese. On May 27, 1977, he was tonsured into monasticism. He was elevated to the rank of igumen on March 25, 1982.
In 1985, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary. On June 6, 1987, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and was later appointed rector of the St. Nikita Cathedral in Oryol.
On December 11, 1990, he was sent to serve in the Nikolo-Ugresh Monastery. He was appointed abbot on June 12, 1992, and served as rector of the attached seminary from 1999 to 2010.
In 2002, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy, with a thesis on “The Life and Works of Metropolitan Makary (Nevsky) of Moscow and Kolomna.”
On August 14, 2003, he was consecrated as Bishop of Lyubertsy, vicar of the Moscow Diocese. In May 2010, he was appointed Bishop of Penza and released from his duties at Nikolo-Ugresh Monastsery. He was also appointed rector of the Penza Seminary. In December 2011, he was appointed abbot of the Kazan Mother of God Monastery in Norovka, Penza Province.
On August 1, 2012, he was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. In December 2013, he was transferred to the Diocese of Ryazan and was later appointed abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Ryazan.
On October 22, 2015, he was appointed to the Orenburg Metropolia. In May 2017, he was appointed abbot of the St. Dmitry Monastery in Orenburg.
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