Philip (Vasiltsev)

Born December 26, 1969 in Saratov in a family of hereditary clergy.

In 1987 he graduated from high school number 10 in Saratov and from 1987 to 1992 studied at the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov majoring in Russian Language and Literature, where his classmate was Psya Korolenko .

In 1998 he graduated from the Kiev Theological Seminary in absentia.

From July 1992 to October 1999, he was a brother of the St. Danilov Monastery in Moscow, where on March 18, 1993, the governor of the Danilov Monastery, Archimandrite Alexy (Polikarpov) was tonsured with the name Philippe .

On April 26, 1993, in the Trinity Cathedral of St. Danilov Monastery, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon , and on June 9, 1994 - in the St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Perervinsky Monastery in the rank of hieromonk .

From 1998 to 2004 he studied at the external school of the Kiev Theological Academy .

On October 6, 1999, by a decision of the Holy Synod, he was placed at the disposal of the Bishop Innokenty of Korsun ^[2] .

From October 1999 to October 2001, he was a clergyman of the Three Saints Compound in Paris and, concurrently, from June 2000, he was rector of the parish of the Holy Trinity and the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Vanves (a suburb of Paris).

From October 7, 2001 to August 21, 2007 he was a clergyman of St. Nicholas Stavropegic Parish in Rome .

On August 21, 2007 he was appointed clergyman of the parish of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in Rome, and on January 17, 2008 he was appointed secretary of the parish manager of the Moscow Patriarchate in Italy .

In January 2009, he was a member of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church from clergy of the Patriarchal Parishes in Italy ^[3] .

On May 30, 2011, by decision of the Holy Synod (Journal No. 62), he was relieved of his post as clergyman of the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in Rome and appointed rector of the Patriarchal Compound in Sofia . ^[four]

July 3, 2011 took part in the festivities on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the First Hierarch's intronization of Patriarch Maxim of Bulgaria, held at the Patriarchal Cathedral in the name of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky in Sofia ^[5] .

On July 4, 2011, he took office as the representative of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia under the Patriarch of Bulgaria.

Abbot Philip’s ministry in Bulgaria was overshadowed by a parish conflict that was widely reported in the media ^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [ 17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]}

On February 24, 2013, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk (Alfeev) was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite ^{[26] [27]} .

On March 11, 2013, according to some media reports, after a protest note by the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, Archimandrite Philip was forced to leave Bulgaria ^{[28] [29]} , but this information was false, and the departure from Bulgaria was short-term and was associated with the need to obtain a long-term Bulgarian visa ^{[30 ] [31]} .

However, already on June 18, 2013 he was received by the Patriarch of the Bulgarian Neophyte in the Synodal Chamber, handing the last letter from the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill with an invitation to attend the celebrations dedicated to the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia ^{[28] [32]} .

On March 7, 2018, by the decision of the Holy Synod, he was appointed rector of the Compound of the Russian Orthodox Church in Beirut, Lebanon with the dismissal of the rector of the Compound of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia, Bulgaria ^[33] .

• Grandfather - Archpriest Stafan Vasiltsev, clergyman of the Spirit-Conjuring Cathedral in Saratov.
• Father - Archpriest Vsevolod Stepanovich Vasiltsev (later - Archbishop of Kirovograd and Alexandria Vasily).
• Mother - Agafya Danilovna Vasiltseva († 1971)

• Philip, Igumen (Andrey Vasiltsev) on patriarchia.ru
• Hegumen Philip (Vasiltsev): Russian Compound in Sofia is called to be a spiritual bridge between the Russian and Bulgarian Churches
• Rector of the Russian Compound in Sofia, Igumen Filipp (Vasiltsev): Canonization of Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) is one of our main tasks