Anthony (Rudei)

Born on March 14, 1969 in the village of Shestac, Sîngera district in Moldova, in a family of peasants. After graduation, he studied at the Novo-Nyamitsky Theological Seminary of the Novo-Nyametsky Monastery in honor of St. Paisiya Velichkovsky .

On November 21, 1989, Bishop of Chisinau Vladimir (Kantaryan) was ordained a deacon, and on December 19, 1989, he was ordained a presbyter ^[1] .

On January 5, 1990, he was appointed rector of the church in honor of the holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel in the village of Biliceni Vec, Sîngera district of Moldova ^[1] .

In 1997, he transferred from the Moscow Patriarchate to the ROCOR from his parishes, exposing the leadership of the Chisinau Metropolis in symony, levying exorbitant taxes on parishes, and also rudely violating the principles of Orthodox collegiality ^[2] .

In the same year, Bishop of Odessa and Tauride Agafangel (Pashkovsky), he was tonsured a monk with the name of Anthony in honor of St. Anthony of the Caves ^{[1] [2]} .

December 31, 1997 by the decision of Metropolitan of Chisinau Vladimir (Kantaryan) for number 415 prohibited in the priesthood ^[1] .

Gradually, the closest assistants and disciples of Hieromonk Anthony were ordained to sacred degrees. On April 1, 2000, the Moldavian Deanery of the ROCA was established, headed by Hieromonk Anthony ^[2] .

In 2000, he applied for the registration of the “True Orthodox Church in Moldova”. After the refusal of the Ministry of Justice to register jurisdiction, he filed a lawsuit on November 29, 2000 ^[1] .

On September 4-5, 2001, in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God, the Examination of the dead in Voronezh took part in the “1st All-Russian Conference of Bishops, Clergy and Laymen of the RTOC - ROCOR”, which was attended by Lazar (Zhurbenko), Veniamin (Rusalenko) , Agafangel (Pashkovsky ) , 23 priests and 13 laity. The meeting in the message to Metropolitan Vitaly expressed "full support for your District Epistle of June 22, 2001 <...> In this regard, we continue to consider you to be the only legitimate First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad and filially ask you not to leave the post of First Hierarch in this troubled time" ^{[3 ]} .

In October 2001, Hieromonk Anthony (Rudei), along with the church’s headman Dr. A. A. Kovalyov, visited New York during the ROCOR Bishops’s Council, when his candidacy for bishop congregation was also to be discussed ^[4] . He did not recognize the election of Archbishop Lavra (Shkurly) as the first hierarch of the ROCA, and having supported the schism in the Russian Church Abroad, he became part of the newly formed non-canonical "Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia" jurisdiction of Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov) . On November 20 of the same year, the Moldavian deanery of the ROCA, headed by Hieromonk Anthony, passed into the jurisdiction of the deprived Bishop of Barnabas (Prokofiev) ^[5] .

March 19, 2002 was banned from serving as Bishop Agafangel (Pashkovsky) for leaving the schism ^[6] . On March 1, 2003, Bishop Agafangel (Pashkovsky) sent a letter to the Moldovan government, informing the department responsible for registering religious organizations that the clergy of the Moldavian deanery had withdrawn from the ROCA, “does not represent any recognized religious centers and cannot claim jurisdiction to the Orthodox Church ” ^[5] .

The ROCOR Bishops' Council (B) of May 16–20, 2003 decided to consecrate Archimandrite Anthony (Rudei) as bishop of Balti and Moldova with the construction of the Moldavian Deanery into the Vicariate of the European Diocese of ROCOR (B) ^[2] .

On July 28 of that hedgehog in the Temple of All Saints in the Russian Land that shone in Paris, rector of which was Archpriest Veniamin Zhukov , in the morning before the service of Barnabas (Prokofiev) , Archimandrite Anthony (Rudei) was appointed bishop of Balti, Vicar of the Western European Diocese of ROCOR ( ) On the same day during the liturgy, his episcopal ordination took place, which was performed by the hierarchs of the ROCOR (B): Barnabas (Prokofiev) and Bartholomew (Vorobyov) ^[7] .

By the decision of the ROCOR (B) Council of Bishops held on November 23–25, 2005, the Western European Diocese of ROCOR (B) was entrusted with the “temporarily pastoral care of Bishop Anthony” ^[8] .

On June 11, 2006, Bishop Anthony (Rudei) addressed in writing to Metropolitan Vitaly and all the Bishops, stating in particular: “... I cannot agree with the canonical violations of church order by Vl. Anthony (Orlov) and Victor (Pivovarov) ”, asking Metropolitan Vitaly“ to immediately intervene and convene the Council of Bishops, after the penance of the aforementioned bishops, in order to avoid a final split in our Church ” ^[9]

On July 30, 2006, by decision of the Synod of Bishops, ROCOR (B) was appointed interim manager of the “European part of the Russian territory” in connection with the removal of Victor (Pivovarov), who left the ROCA (V-V) ^[9] .

In November 2007, after winning the case at the ECHR , he managed to officially register his diocese as the “ True Orthodox Church of Moldova ” (Biserica Adevărat-Ortodoxă din Moldova), after which he unceremoniously and solely (in violation of the canons) carried out the bishops of Seraphim (Skuratov) in “Bishop of Birmingham” and Roman (Apostolescu) to “Bishop of Brussels”. According to the assurance of Anthony himself (Rudei), these ordinations were performed “with the consent of His Grace Bartholomew , Bishop of Edmonton and West Canada” ^[10] .

Further development of the intra-church conflict led to the convening of a joint parish meeting of parishes of the South Russian Diocese of ROCOR (BB) on December 21-24, 2007, which decided to withdraw from administrative subordination to the "bishop" Anthony (Rudei) and transfer to the jurisdiction of the "bishop" Anastasia (Surzhika) .

On January 9, 2008, Bishop Anthony (Rudei) announced the separation from the other two bishops of the ROCA (BB) and proclaimed the independence of the newly-formed religious organization. Then it became known about the consecration performed by him. According to observers, behind such radical actions and statements by Anthony was the Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of ROCOR (B), deprived of the holy dignity in 2001, Parisian Archpriest Veniamin Zhukov ^[10] .

On April 7, 2008, the ROCOR Bishops 'Council (BB) in Montreal decided to “begin a judicial investigation of the schismatic activities of Bishop Anthony (Rudei) and remove him from the management of the dioceses entrusted to him (Decision of Bishops' Council No. 5), including Western European ” ^[11] .

July 17, 2008 vested with the title of “Archbishop of Balti and Moldova”. The department is located in the village of Biliceni Vec (Moldova) ^[1] .

By the definition of the Bishops' Council of ROCOR (BB) of November 12/25, 2008, it was banned in priesthood ^[12] .

By the definition of the Bishops' Council of ROCOR (BB) of September 24 / October 7, 2011, he was deprived of priesthood. ^[12]

On May 6, 2014, in his Appeal, he stated that “a fratricidal war broke out in Ukraine, leading, as the number of victims increased, to worsen the warring parties” and called on “all clergy and laity of our Church to begin the prayer feat for healing internecine warfare in Ukraine” ^[13] .

• Anthony (Rudei), Archbishop of Chisinau and Moldova
• Anthony (Rudei) “Archbishop of Balti and Moldova”
• Anthony (Rudei), Archbishop of Balti and Moldova