Melchizedek (Lebedev)

Born on January 26, 1927 in the village of Novo-Cherkasovo, Shatursky District, Moscow Region, in a peasant family. Parents, being believers, visited the parish church and took young Vasily with them. Vasily from the age of 6 learned to quickly read Church Slavonic. Studied at school. He read and sang on the choir, before the closure of the temple in the village in 1937 . After school, he was a worker at a factory in the city of Kashira, Moscow Region.

Learning about the opening of theological courses in Moscow, Vasily wanted to get a religious education and in the fall of 1946 he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, and in 1950 he graduated from the first category.

On July 18, 1950, he was ordained deacon by the Archbishop of Mozhaisk, Makarii (Daev) , and on July 21, he was ordained a priest in the Transfiguration Church in the village of Besovo, Moscow Region.

In December of that year, he was transferred by the priest to the Pyatnitskaya church in the village of Tugoles . Here, through the labor and cares of Father Vasily, large repairs and restoration works were carried out, side aisles and an altar were painted.

In February 1955 he was appointed rector of the Resurrection Church of the village of Molody . In 1961, at the height of the Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaign, the church was closed.

In January 1961, he was transferred to the post of Dean of the Orekhovo-Zuevsky District of the Moscow Diocese and was appointed rector of the Theotokos-Nativity Church of the city ​​of Orekhovo-Zuevo .

Father Vasily in the family by this time already had three children. Over time, they all went along the spiritual path: the eldest son became a monk with the name Panteleimon and served in the Moscow diocese (he died in the rank of hegumen on July 30, 1994), the middle son Konstantin became a priest (died September 11, 2012), the third son Pavel served as a deacon (died April 14. 1986), and daughter Olga married Alexander Ganaba , who in 1991-2015 served as secretary of the Moscow Diocesan Administration. In 1961, he survived a divorce from his wife.

In 1962 he entered the Moscow Theological Academy . In 1963, he joined the brotherhood of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and, having adopted monasticism with the name Melchizedek, was sent to the Trinity Patriarchal Compound in Peredelkino .

After the 3rd year, Patriarch Alexy I and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church determined to be him bishop of Vologda and Velikoustyuzhsky . However, he did not leave classes at the academy and, having prepared over the summer for 8 subjects remaining in the 4th year, he passed them externally in two days. He took up the writing of his thesis: “The Second Vatican Council . Historical and critical review ”and, having defended it after 2 years, received the degree of candidate of theology .

June 15, 1965 was elevated to the rank of archimandrite .

Bishops

June 17, 1965 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, his bishop consecration took place. The consecration was performed by the Metropolitan of Leningrad and Ladoga Nikodim (Rotov) , the Archbishop of Tula and Belevsky Alexy (Konoplev) , and the bishops of Dmitrov Filaret (Denisenko) and Volokolamsky Pitirim (Nechaev) .

On October 7, 1967, he was appointed bishop of Vienna and Austria .

On June 24, 1968 he was appointed a member of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the IVth Assembly of the World Council of Churches .

May 8-11, 1969 participated in the celebrations of the 1100th anniversary of the blessed death of St. Cyril , held in Bulgaria .

June 25, 1970 was appointed bishop of Penza and Saransk .

When resolving issues related to the activities of churches, in the opinion of the Authorized Council for Religious Affairs S. S. Popov, he behaved, basically, correctly. So, on the recommendation of S. S. Popov, Melchizedek sent all the clergy of the diocese to explain to believers the message “On Observing the Established Order of Mutual Consent of Parents in the Baptism of Children” (06/28/1972), “On the Undesirability of Abundant Bringing Bread and Other Products to the Church in the days of remembrance of the departed ”(05/14/1973),“ On the prevention of re-sale of unburned candles ”(06/11/1973), etc. Melchizedek often went to the parishes of the region. “However, these trips do not go beyond the limits established by law. The temper is quick-tempered. In everyday life, he does not always behave with restraint ” ^[1] .

After the retirement of the Archbishop of Kazan, Mikhail (Voskresensky), he was appointed interim manager of the diocese. He managed to serve in all city churches and make a good impression on believers. Patriarch Pimen planned to appoint him to the Kazan department, but the active position of the new bishop provoked a protest from the authorized Council for Religious Affairs, who in his letter to the Council for Religious Affairs stated that he was categorically against the appointment of Bishop Melchizedek, which would entail a conflict over the transfer of the diocesan building Management: Vladyka Melchizedek did not like the place and the house itself, he declared that he would demand compensation from the authorities. In addition, according to Bishop Melchizedek, the parishes donated very little money for the maintenance of the diocesan administration ^[2] .

March 3, 1976 by the decision of the Holy Synod was appointed to the synodal commission on Christian unity.

September 9, 1976 was elevated to the rank of archbishop .

From July 22 to August 13, 1978 he was an observer at the Lambeth Conference , where he was directed by a resolution of the Holy Synod.

On October 10, 1978 he was appointed Archbishop of Berlin and Central Europe , the Patriarchal Exarch of Central Europe. From October 18 to October 25, 1979 he headed the delegation of the Russian Church at the VIII Conference of the General Assembly of the CEC on the island of Crete . From April 27, 1979 to October 11, 1981, he temporarily ruled the Diocese of Düsseldorf . On February 6–9, 1983, he attended the conference “How to Eliminate the Threat of War in Europe” in Vienna . June 17-19, 1984 in the city of Kiel , Germany , participated in a scientific congress held by the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Northern Elbe.

December 26, 1984 appointed archbishop of Sverdlovsk and Kurgan (after the transformation of the diocese - archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhotursky). Then he became the temporary administrator of the Chelyabinsk diocese , remaining them until April 10-11, 1989 .

In the year of celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus, the Bishop appealed to the state authorities with a request to return the relics of the righteous Simeon of Verkhotursky , taken from the Verkhotursky Monastery in 1929 , and the shrine was transferred to believers.

July 3, 1988 at the invitation of the Archbishop of Vologda and Veliky Ustyug Mikhail (Mudyugin) participated in the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia in Vologda.

Vladyka Melchizedek helped the rehabilitation commission from the Moscow Patriarchate, collecting documents to create an archive of innocent figures of the Orthodox Church. Vladyka devoted much attention to strengthening peace between disunited people and peoples. Every year he transferred to the Peace Fund 1000 rubles, transferred funds to the Children's Fund. V.I. Lenin, to the Monument Protection Fund. Under him, Sunday schools also began to be created, the Ekaterinburg Diocesan Vedomosti and the Orthodox Bulletin were published. Many remember his sermons.

He founded a Sunday school at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist , where he taught lessons. During his administration of the diocese, the Church of All Saints , the Ascension Church and other real estate were returned, the Temple on Blood was laid. On the other hand, it was marked by a series of scandals - the Izvestia newspaper accused the archbishop of numerous cases of corruption, gluttony and appropriation of church property. Human rights activist Gleb Yakunin included the Yekaterinburg bishop in the list of bishops who caused material damage to the church ^[3] .

In early 1993, Melchisidek wrote a letter to the deputies of the Yekaterinburg City Council and the “mass media” in which he categorically opposed the installation in the center of Yekaterinburg of a monument to the victims of Stalinist repressions by Ernst Unknown ^[4] . As a result, a powerful public campaign began, in which the Plenipotentiary of the Administration of the Sverdlovsk Region for Religious Organizations took part ^[5] . The creation of the monument was postponed. The monument was opened (in a very modified form) outside Yekaterinburg only in the fall of 2017.

On February 26, 1994, by decision of the Holy Synod, he was appointed to serve in the newly formed Bryansk and Sevsk diocese . In Yekaterinburg, this appointment was perceived as a punishment ^{[6] [7]} .

On March 13, 2002, the Holy Synod granted the request of Archbishop Melchizedek for retirement, according to the Charter of the Church and in connection with the achievement of the 75th birthday, expressing gratitude to him for the work ^[8] . Since that time, he constantly resided in the city of Klimovsk .

He died on June 8, 2016 in Klimovsk on the 90th year of his life on the eve of the Ascension Day of the Lord ^[9] . He was buried near the Resurrection Church in the village of Molody. .

Church

• Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir , 2nd class (12.16.1986)
• Order of the Holy Right Prince Daniel of Moscow, II degree (in connection with the 25th anniversary of the hierarchal ordination, 6/17/1990)
• Medal of St. Righteous Simeon of Verkhotursky I degree (Ekaterinburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2012)
• Medal of the Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (“in view of the labors and in connection with the 50th anniversary of the hierarchal ordination and the upcoming 65th anniversary of the service in the holy dignity,” 2015) ^[10]

Secular

• Gold medal “For the consolidation of peace” (25.6.1991)

• II Vatican Council: Historical and critical review (Ph.D. thesis).
• Speech in the name of Bishop of Vologda. Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate (ZhMP), 1965, No. 8, 7.
• Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the intronization of the Holy. Patriarch Alexy in the Vienna Diocese. ZhMP, 1970, No. 5, 28-29.
• Visit of the Primate of the Malabar Church of India. ZhMP, 1977, No. 2, 62.
• The historic visit is Holy. Patriarch Pimen to India. ZhMP, 1977, No. 6, 51-59.
• Visiting Owls Union Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Frederick Donald Coggan. ZhMP, 1978, No. 2, 66-72.
• Rev. Gerasim, the first Vologda miracle worker: On the 800th anniversary of the repose. ZhMP, 1978, No. 3, 66-68.

• Melchizedek (Lebedev) // Open Orthodox Encyclopedia "Tree"
• Chugunov, Vasily, Met. Prot., "Archbishop Melchizedek (Lebedev)", Vologda diocesan newspaper Blagovestnik, No. 6-8 (62-64) 2000
• Biography of Bishop Melchizedek on the website of the Russian Orthodoxy Foundation
• The plot for the 45th anniversary of the hierarchal ordination on the channel "Union"
• Melchizedek, Archbishop (Lebedev Vasily Mikhailovich)