Adam (Filippovsky)

Born on January 30, 1881 in the village of Ruda, Zhydachiv district in Eastern Galicia on the territory of Austria-Hungary, in the family of an Orthodox priest who belonged to an old family.

At the end of the public school, he entered the gymnasium of the city of Berezhany . In the gymnasium, he conducted a secret literary and educational circle to study Russian history and literature, which was banned in Austria-Hungary. He graduated from high school in 1900.

He entered the Faculty of Theology at Lviv University , then transferred to the Faculty of Law. Having passed the first state exams in 1903, he went to the USA , where he began to publish his articles in the Russian-language press, mainly in the Truth newspaper, soon becoming its editor. He sang in the bishop’s choir, met with the archbishop of Aleut and North America, Tikhon (Bellavin) , Archpriest Alexander Khotovitsky and priest Alexander Nemolovsky , under the influence of which he decided to take the priesthood.

In 1905 he returned to Lviv to complete his studies at Lviv University.

In 1912, after graduation, he again left for the USA.

He was married to a widow, which made his ordination impossible from the point of view of church canons.

On September 14, 1912, he was ordained deacon by Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky), and on September 17, he was appointed presbyter .

He was assigned to the Mikhailovsky Church in Philadelphia with the aim of organizing a parish with her. He continued his pastoral ministry in Newark (pc. New Jersey ), and then in New York .

In 1914 he was appointed rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in New York. At the same time he taught at a theological seminary in Tenaflay (New Jersey), was a member of the Diocese Educational Committee, was the editor of the newspaper Svit, and the secretary of the Zealous of Orthodoxy society.

In 1916, the Archbishop of Aleutian Evdokim (Meshchersky) was appointed dean of the Orthodox parishes in Canada , in the same year united in the Canadian Diocese. He assisted the Bishop of Canada, Alexander (Nemolovsky) in carrying out the mission among the Carpathian Uniates , participated in disputes with them. In 1916, Archbishop Evdokim, manager of the North American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, responded to the writings of Archimandrite Adam with the following words: “I am glad that you fell in love with Canadian Russia and want to work for her” ^[1] .

In 1917, he was appointed rector of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Winnipeg (Canada).

In the same year, already being a widower, he was tonsured a monk and elevated to the rank of archimandrite bishop. Canadian Alexander (Nemolovsky). Due to the fact that Bishop Alexander was in his diocese only on short visits, he became the de facto administrator of it.

October 24, 1922 was consecrated bishop of Canada. The consecration was performed by the Bishop of Pittsburgh Stefan (Dzubai) and the Bishop of Moravian-Silesian Gorazd (Pavlik) . This ordination was performed without the consent of Metropolitan. Plato (Rozhdestvensky) , which had not yet fully entered into the administration of the North American diocese, in an extremely difficult situation: the intervention of the Renovationists accelerated the process of fragmenting the single Orthodox diocese in North America into several entities on the ethnic basis, held by a number of Local Orthodox Churches.

Bishop Adam provided archpastoral care for a group of Carpathian communities.

On February 11, 1930, by the decision of the Synod of Bishops, the ROCOR was accepted into “church-prayer communion and allowed to be forbidden in the priesthood” with the appointment by the vicar of the archbishop of North American and Canadian Appolinarius (Koshev) with rights and obligations as directed by archbishop Apollinaria ^[2] . On June 12 of the same year, the ROCOR Synod of Bishops designated him bishop of Pittsburgh, the first vicar of the North American Diocese ^[3] . However, no later than 1931 came out of obedience to the Church Abroad

In 1935 he entered the North American Metropolitan District, headed by the Metropolitan of America and Canada Theophilos (Pashkovsky) , and was appointed to the Philadelphia and Carpathian Diocese .

In 1936 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop .

He sent a petition addressed to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Sergius (Stragorodsky) about his admission to the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church. On November 21, 1944, according to the report of Metropolitan Nikolay Krutitsky (Yarushevich) ^[4] , the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church was accepted into the episcopate of the Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in North and South America, left in the dignity of the archbishop "for the patriotic works he had done in favor of the Soviet Union and Mother Churches".

In 1945, he initiated a memorandum sent to the ambassador of the USSR and the UN on the annexation of the Kholmshchyna , Lemkovschina and Karpato-Rus to the USSR. To this end, he held congresses in the United States for representatives of organizations, parishes, and the public. In 1946 and 1950 he visited the USSR.

From August 21 to October 31, 1947, he temporarily ruled the Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Americas .

In 1953 he was appointed Deputy Patriarchal Exarchate in America.

On July 30, 1954, according to the petition, he was fired for retirement due to health reasons with a pension.

Died April 29, 1956 in Philadelphia. Buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in the city of Maspeth (pc. New York).

• Adam (Filippovsky)