Bishop Konstantin ( Kozma Sergeyevich Korovin in the world; November 1, 1816 (according to other sources in the 1820s ) - September 18, 1881 ) - bishop of the Old Orthodox Church of Christ , bishop of Orenburg and Perm.
Biography
He was a native of the Verkhne-Tagil plant, where his father served as a “ranger of the forests and a grain store”. Thanks to the position of the parent, Kozma was spared the need to "send factory work." In his youth, he served as a clerk in a factory office. He devoted his free time to reading, correspondence, and binding books [1] .
He was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Perm, Gennady , and received tonsure.
December 8, 1862 was ordained by the Bishop of Kazan Paphnutius to the Bishop of Orenburg and Perm.
On March 15, 1864, the first attempt was made to arrest Bishop Konstantin at the Nizhny Tagil plant, and they managed to avoid the arrest almost by accident.
On May 3, 1864, Bishop Constantine was arrested by a military command. He was placed in the secret part of the prison castle of Perm , and in July was transferred to Yekaterinburg . He was kept under heavy guard, was deprived of the opportunity to take walks and see anyone. The bishop himself wrote that they held him stricter than a political criminal. According to rumors, the bishop was taken for questioning by the governor. The bishopric denied his questions about the dignity. This, in connection with the undoubted evidence of the opposite, probably aggravated his own misadventures. In a letter to Archbishop Anthony, he noted: “I have already become utterly exhausted both in enduring disasters and in all needs. Here the stay is the most destructive and unbearable, and therefore it is necessary to slander freedom, but after undergoing repeated ruin, I was very exhausted and impoverished. ”
The case of the bishops was conducted with "the greatest slowness," and then was forwarded to the Minister for consideration.
The fate of Bishop Constantine exacerbated the refusal, even under the weight of irrefutable evidence, to recognize his episcopal dignity. This also posed serious problems for the defenders of the "grandfather," since it was impossible to intercede as him as a bishop. Archbishop Anthony and the Spiritual Council have repeatedly and very strongly urged Bishop Constantine to acknowledge himself in the title which is “entrusted with Divine grace” to him. The bishop did not heed the advice, justifying himself before the archbishop that "my strength is not enough for that, and I do not find the ability, and I do not foresee anything useful."
In the summer of 1866, Bishop Konstantin was released from prison, but the investigation of the case continued, and his position, both a spiritual person and a member of society, was very uncertain.
The Orenburg diocese remained in the provisional administration of Bishop Savatius, and Konstantin was given the opportunity to perform services in the house church, in his cell and without publicity, and to accept confession. Having experienced a serious emotional upheaval, Bishop Konstantin was afraid of further persecution by the authorities and himself refused to manage the diocese. He wrote to Bishop Savatiy: "My health is very poor, and it is impossible to go to Yekaterinburg, but my living is the same in constraint ... Everywhere the clergy report and guard, and even decide to send fires to set fire to my house, they want to completely destroy the living from the ground."
Later, taking control of the diocese, Bishop Constantine rarely left Tagil.
The parish of Bishop Constantine in the 1870s amounted to only 10 houses and families. During a search in 1864, 30 books and 83 icons were seized from the bishop. Later it was decided to return at first part, and then all the seized property to the owner. A dragging with the Zemstvo police and even an appeal to the Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, who decided to return the seized books and icons worth 1.5 thousand rubles. they didn’t return to the owner.