Kungur Vicarism

Kungursky district was one of the most significant centers of religious life of the Perm diocese. Therefore, on November 18 ( December 1 ), 1903 , the bishop Pavel (Pospelov) was appointed to help the sick bishop of Perm, John (Alekseev) , with the formation of the Kungur vicarate of the Perm diocese ^[1] . But already in 1905, the vigorous activity of the Kungur Vicariate was interrupted.

The petition of the clergy and laity of the city ​​of Kungur of the Perm diocese addressed to Patriarch Tikhon of March 3/16, 1924 stated: “the clergy and laity of Kungur and the county do not accept the renovation movement and the cathedral of 1923, elected the executive body represented by the Kungur Church Council, which currently unites more than 100 parishes of Kungursky and Krasnoufimsky districts; the parishes are under the jurisdiction of Bishop Nikan of Ohan , who accepted them in canonical communion in September 1923 and approved the Church Council. Okhansk is 100 versts from Kungur, and Krasnoufimsky uyezd is even further, and the need for a bishop is great! Big obstacles are connected with administrative division into districts - you have to be very careful. “Representatives of the renewed church authority take every opportunity or seek these cases to frighten us, who profess the truth of the Holy Christ Universal Church and reject the 1923 Council, its decrees and all its followers, take every opportunity to divide us and do harm ... Bishop Okhansky Nikon was arrested and expelled from the Perm diocese in October, and the need for a bishop is great, as we are among the Renovationists who have a bishop in Kungur ^[2] “...” .

On March 27 of that year, Patriarch Tikhon decided to open a vicar chair in Kungur and consecrate the widow Archpriest Alexander Ershov into the bishop ^[3] .

In 1925, the Kungurian Vicariate became an independent Kungur diocese , which at that time consisted of 1,000 to 1,200 Orthodox parishes .

With the restoration of Orthodox bishops in the city of Perm and other cities of the Urals, the Kungur diocese lost its significance, therefore, on May 14, 1930, by the decree of the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) and the Provisional Patriarchal Holy Synod, the Kungur diocese was transformed back to the Vicariate of Permian Perm the parishes which appeared in connection with the new civil division in the Sverdlovsk and Sarapul districts were transferred to the jurisdiction of local bishops. Wicariate jurisdiction has over 100 parishes left.

In 1932, the deans of the eight constituencies of the Kungurian Vicariate appealed to the Patriarchal Locum Tenens with a motion to restore an independent Kungur diocese, but this motion was rejected.

Vicarism existed until 1935, when it existed it virtually ceased to exist due to the mass closure of churches .

Kungur vicarism of the Perm diocese

• Pavel (Pospelov) ( November 19 ( December 2 ) 1903 - January 17 ( 30 ), 1905 )

Kungur diocese

• Arkady (Ershov) (March 30, 1924 - January 23, 1929)
• John (St. George) (January 23, 1929 - May 14, 1930)

Kungur vicarism of the Perm diocese

• John (St. George) (May 14 - July 13, 1930)
• Ioannikiy (Chantsev) (1930 - October 22, 1932)

Kungur diocese

• Ioannikiy (Chantsev) (October 22, 1932 - July 1, 1933)

Kungur vicarism of the Perm diocese

• Vladimir (Gorkovsky) (August 24, 1933 - January 30, 1935)
• Leonid (Antoshchenko) (January 30 - March 1935)
• Peter (Savelyev) (April 16, 1935 - January 21, 1937)

• Bishop Arkady (Ershov) of Kungursky and his struggle against the renovationist schism in the Urals (inaccessible link)
• Kungur diocese on the site "Russian Orthodoxy"