Innocent (Hawks)

Born in the family of a priest. In 1888 he graduated from the Astrakhan Theological Seminary, then, in 1892, from the Kazan Theological Academy with a candidate of theology degree. During his studies, his spiritual mentor was Shiarchimandrite Gabriel (Zyryanov) (later ranked as a saint). In 1892-1893 he was a professor scholarship holder of the Kazan Theological Academy in the department of the Kalmyk language. Master of Theology (1898, dissertation topic: “Missionary His Eminence Vladimir, Archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsky: A Study on the History of the Development of Missionaryism in Russia”). Honorary member of the Kazan and Moscow Theological Academies (1914).

Since 1893 - and. Doctor of Economics, Kazan Theological Academy, since 1898 - Associate Professor, Department of Kalmyk Language. He taught the history of the mission, the ethnography of the Mongol tribes and the Kalmyk language.

Several times he went on business trips to study the language, life and religious beliefs of the Kalmyk people in the Kalmyk uluses of the Astrakhan province, and also went to Siberia to study the missionary work and the language of the Siberian Mongols. He published articles on missionary issues in the journal Orthodox Evangelist . Together with the Kalmyk scientist Mikhail Badmaev, he compiled a primer for Kalmyk ulus schools and an initial Russian language textbook for Kalmyks. He was engaged in the translation of scripture books into the Kalmyk language.

On June 7, 1902 he was tonsured a monk, from June 8, 1902 he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, from June 9 - to the rank of hieromonk , and from 1905 - archimandrite.

Since June 29, 1906 - Bishop of Kanevsky , Vicar of the Kiev Diocese . Adhered to extreme right-wing monarchical political views, was chairman of the Kiev branch of the Union of Russian people .

Since October 6, 1910 - rector of the Kiev Theological Academy and administrator on the rights of the rector of the Kiev-Brotherly Annunciation Monastery .

Since July 11, 1914 - Bishop of Polotsk and Vitebsk .

January 10, 1915 was dismissed from the administration of the diocese and appointed permanently present in the Holy Synod .

Since January 14, 1915 - Chairman of the Missionary Council at the Holy Synod and managing director of the Stavropegial Moscow Don Monastery .

In November 1915, participated in the Petrograd meeting of monarchists.

From September 1917 to March 19, 1918 - again the bishop of Polotsk and Vitebsk.

From September 1918 to 1922, he again ruled the same diocese.

In 1920 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop .

In June 1922 he was arrested by the Polotsk Provincial Revolutionary Tribunal in the case of resistance to the seizure of church property . He became seriously ill with typhus , raved, and was mistaken by the authorities for a madman. He was held in a psychiatric hospital, then in a Kalinin prison. Vladyka was released from Tver Prison, receiving “minus six,” that is, he could live free, excluding six cities. Since Vladyka had a heart disease at this time, he was appointed the reigning bishop in Kislovodsk .

In 1923 he was expelled to Moscow without the right to leave, he lived in Moscow until 1925.

On April 12, 1925, Vladyka signed an act transferring the highest church authority to Metropolitan Peter Krutitsky (Polyansky) .

He suffered from heart disease, was treated in Kislovodsk , from where he was deported in 1925 . For some time he lived on New Athos , then he was allowed to return to Kislovodsk.

Since 1926 - Archbishop of Stavropol .

In June 1927 he was appointed Archbishop of Astrakhan , but did not receive permission to come to Astrakhan and remained to live in Stavropol .

Deprived of the opportunity to personally nourish his flock, Archbishop Innocent governed the Astrakhan diocese through his vicar, Bishop Stepan Enotayevsky (Gnedovsky) .

In December 1927, the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) obtained permission for the sick Bishop Innokenty to come to Moscow for treatment. He was placed in the clinic of the First Moscow Medical Institute , where he died on May 22, 1928 .

Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) with a cathedral of hierarchs in the Donskoy Monastery buried him. He was buried near the Dukhovsky church at the Danilovsky cemetery in Moscow.

• Missionary His Eminence Vladimir, Archbishop of Kazan and Sviyazhsky: A Study on the History of the Development of Missionary Work in Russia. Kazan, 1898.
• The process of assimilation of Christianity by Altai foreigners. // Orthodox interlocutor , 1899, April.
• About missionary enthusiasm. Kazan, 1900.
• Archimandrite Makarii, founder of the Altai mission. Speech at the consecration of the new building of the Kiev City Public Library on November 19, 1911. // Proceedings of the Kiev Theological Academy, December 1911.

• Biography
• LIFE DESCRIPTION OF THE ARCHBISHOP INNOCENT (YASTREBOV) on the website of the Vitebsk diocese