Patriarch Kirill. Biography

Patriarch Kirill. His real name in the world is Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev. Born on November 20, 1946 in Leningrad. Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, since February 1, 2009, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Named by name Kirill and tonsured a monk by Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod (real name - Boris Georgievich Rotov) on April 3, 1969. Took the name in honor of the Saint Kirill(real name in the world - Constantine, nickname Philosopher) - Byzantine missionary. Together with his brother Methodius, he was the creator Slavic alphabet. Brothers Kirill and Methodius are canonized and revered as saints in both the East and the West. In Slavic Orthodoxy, “Slovenian teachers” are revered as saints, equal to the apostles. The accepted order is “Methodius and Kirill».

After publications in the Christian Messenger magazine for October 1992 about the connections of church hierarchs with the Fifth Directorate of the KGB, the operational pseudonym(agent nickname) belonging to the then still young hierarch - “Mikhailov”. Nickname, apparently formed on behalf of the father of the patriarch - Mikhail. Myself Kirill when meeting with MSU students, he justified himself: “The fact of the meeting of the clergy with representatives of the KGB is morally indifferent.”

After the Tobacco scandal* in the late 90s. V.M. Gundyaev, who at that time held the post of Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, had pseudonym-nickname “Tobacco Metropolitan”. In various publications of that time, the Metropolitan, now Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill, were also called: “Kundyaev”, “Moscow Pope” and “Russian Caesar Borgia”.

Short biography:

Born on November 20, 1946 in Leningrad in the family of the chief mechanic of the Leningrad plant named after M.I. Kalinin, later an Orthodox priest.

After finishing 8th grade high school entered the Leningrad Complex Geological Expedition of the North-Western Geological Directorate, where he worked from 1962 to 1965 as a cartographic technician, combining work with studying in high school.

In 1965 he entered the Leningrad Theological Seminary, then the Leningrad Theological Academy, accelerated (in two years) graduated with honors in 1970.

Fast-paced career of the future Patriarch Kirill began already at the academy: on April 3, 1969, he was tonsured a monk, 3 days later he was ordained a hierodeacon, and already on June 1 of the same year - a hieromonk. After graduation, he remained at the academy as a professorial fellow, teacher of dogmatic theology and assistant inspector.

From August 30, 1970, he served as the personal secretary of Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad. On September 12, 1971 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

Since 1971 - representative of the Moscow Patriarchate at the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

On December 26, 1974, at the age of 28, he became the rector of the Leningrad Theological Academy and Seminary, where he created a special regency class for girls and introduced physical education classes.

Since December 1975 - member of the Central Committee and Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches, since 1975 member of the “Faith and Order” commission of the World Council of Churches, since March 3, 1976 member of the Synodal Commission on Christian unity and inter-church relations.

On March 14, 1976, he was consecrated (ordained) Bishop of Vyborg, vicar of the Leningrad diocese. From November 1976 to October 1978 he served as Deputy Patriarchal Exarch Western Europe Metropolitan Nikodim. On September 9, 1977 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.

On October 12, 1978, he was relieved of his post as Deputy Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe and appointed administrator of the patriarchal parishes in Finland.

In 1978, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations.

Since 1983, teacher in graduate school at the Moscow Theological Academy. From December 26, 1984 - Archbishop of Smolensk and Vyazemsky; relieved of his post as rector of the Leningrad Theological Academy and Seminary. In April 1989, the title was changed to “Smolensky and Kaliningrad”.

On November 14, 1989, he was appointed Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, a permanent member of the Holy Synod ex officio.

Since 1990 - Chairman of the Holy Synod Commission for the Revival of Religious and Moral Education and Charity, member of the Synodal Biblical Commission. On February 25, 1991 he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.

Since 1993 - co-chairman, since 1995 - deputy head of the World Russian People's Council. Since 1994, Honorary President of the World Conference on Religion and Peace. Since February 26, 1994 - member of the Synodal Theological Commission.

Since 1994, he has been hosting the spiritual and educational program “The Word of the Shepherd” on Channel One.

In 1995-2000, Chairman of the Synodal Working Group on developing the concept of the Russian Orthodox Church on issues of church-state relations and problems modern society.

On December 6, 2008, the day after the death of Patriarch Alexy II, at a meeting of the Holy Synod chaired by Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Vladimir, a metropolitan was elected by secret ballot Kirill Patriarchal Locum Tenens.

March 8th, 2015

Actually, there are many links on the Internet on this topic, whoever has written about it, from Deacon Kuraev to Stas Sadalsky:
http://blagin-anton.livejournal.com/46223.html
http://wap.nazionalizm.forum24.ru/?1-8-0-00000049-000-0-0-1251218670
http://irizz.livejournal.com/117597.html
http://i-hate-the-snow.livejournal.com/46649.html
http://www.luchmir.com/Declarations/2Slovo09.htm
http://forum.dpni.org/archive/index.php/t-36574.html?s=
http://3rm.info/index.php?newsid=1294

This is almost a recognition for future generations, isn't it?

I was interested in the words of A. Nevzorov in his interview on Echo this week:

O. Bychkova - In history modern Russia all murders are mysterious. Because 20 years have passed since Listyev was killed and nothing is still clear.

A. Nevzorov – Yes, everything is clear there. There, simply no one will stir up that pile anymore, because in fact, both the customers and the performers have all been dead a long time ago. And there is, for example, the death of Ridiger, Alexy II, where not even a criminal case was initiated. Where was it released with such soft brakes, besides, I’ll tell you as an anatomist that in order to crush the posterior ear vein by hitting the toilet or some hard surface, in small room, you need to hit this hard surface 15 times, and each time do it with increasing force. Because it is very well protected, and it has, as anatomists know, such unpleasant slipperiness. And there wasn’t even a criminal case. And no investigative experiments or anything at all.

Here's more about it:

About how the High Priest of Putin’s Reich, Patriarch Kirill, amassed his billion-dollar capital on speculation in tobacco and alcohol and oil (exempt from taxes and excise taxes) in the dashing 90s, how he, the head of the gangster empire of the Russian Orthodox Church, eliminated and liquidated his competitors, many have already written. Yes, yes, in those same dashing 90s, about which he once put it this way:

"The fact that a huge role in correcting this the crookedness of our history(the dashing 90s) were played by you personally, Vladimir Vladimirovich. I would like to thank you. You once said that you work like a slave on the galleys, with the only difference being that the slave did not have such a return, but you have a very high return.”

All patriarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, including the current one, are KGB officers:

During the criminal tobacco war of the 90s, the winner of which was the future Patriarch, and then the head of the shadow business of the Russian Orthodox Church, Vladimir Gundyaev, many people were killed, including Zhirinovsky’s assistant Gennady Dzen, a bandit from Smolensk, the head of Roscontractpostavka, and another his assistant, Alexander Frantskevich. Zhirik himself also took part in this war. In those years, Gundyaev was assigned the thieves' pogonyalovo "Tabachny", but now he is more often called by another nickname - Lyzhneg, because he loves to go skiing in the soulless geyrop country of evergreen porters of Switzerland, where he has his own villa, to which he flies on his own plane .

Materials from the KGB archives, studied in 1992 by a parliamentary commission headed by dissident priest Fr. Gleb Yakunin, revealed that most of the church hierarchy had ties to the secret police.

62-year-old Kirill Gundyaev bore the code name "Mikhailov", and Filaret was identified as agent "Ostrovsky". It is suspected that Kliment worked for the KGB under the pseudonym "Topaz".

Metropolitan Filaret, appointed Metropolitan of Minsk in 1978, was the head of the Department for External Church Relations in the eighties. In 1989, this powerful structure was headed by Metropolitan Kirill.

At the beginning of 1992, a commission of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Russia officially drew the attention of the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church to the “deep infiltration of intelligence agencies” into the Church, which “represents a serious danger to society and the state.” That same year, meeting with Moscow State University students, Kirill asserted: “The fact of a meeting between the clergy and KGB representatives is morally indifferent.”

In addition to the villa in Switzerland, the Tobacco Ski-Patriarch has palaces in Peredelkino, in the Danilov Monastery, in Gelendzhik, next to Putin’s palace, and a penthouse with a terrace in the House on the Embankment - overlooking the Cathedral of Christ the Savior:

And the ex right hand His Eminence - Bishop Victor (in the world - Pyankov) now, having stolen, lives in the sinful States as a private person. Surely he indulges in fasting and prayers and, as Zhvanetsky said, “he’s terribly sorry.”

Read more in Novaya Gazeta, and also or see for yourself:

Since then, Gundyaev’s palace near Gelendzhik, for the sake of which a protected forest of red and other unique trees was cut down, has long been built. This is how the main priest of Russian morality lives:

Kirill’s residence, which occupied the entire territory from the sea to the highway, not only “gnawed off” half a kilometer of public coastline and road, but also blocked people’s last opportunity safe exit to the forest and cemetery. Now they need to make a detour not a kilometer long, but three kilometers (!), one of which is along the highway.

This road was called “The Road of Death” because people die on it.
And all so that someone could stick out their belly and no one could see it.

When the Rev. Comrade came from Gebnya. Gundyaev, who replaced Alexy II, who was killed by him, the area of ​​the residence increased 10 times (!), and 12.7 hectares of the State Forest Fund, covered with relict Pitsunda pine, were transferred for development, cutting down and complete fencing of the church, which were to be built up, cut down or fenced off THE LAW PROHIBITS IN PRINCIPLE.

About how community long years I tried to fight against all these lawlessness, read, there are a lot of details, links, photographs and documents there.

The Patriarch still loves not only to teach people about life (well, for example: “ It is very important to learn Christian asceticism... Asceticism is the ability to regulate one’s consumption... This is a person’s victory over lust, over passions, over instinct. And it is important that both rich and poor possess this quality"), but also to brag about corruption and brand corrupt officials:

Asceticism is a good thing, especially when your fortune is 4 times greater than that of Rottenberg Sr. and 8 times that of Rottenberg Jr., and this does not even take into account the cost of the almost billion-dollar palace in Gelendzhik.

Such an ascetic Caudla...

P.S. As he writes famous philosopher Boris Paramonov, what Patriarch Gundyaev has in common with the spiritless geyropa is not only that he skis there, like Pastor Shlak. As it turns out, the patriarch himself is:
“We could talk about similar scandals in the Russian Orthodox Church. But here Deacon Kuraev has already said a lot. Except to remember that Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad was a homosexual, which everyone knew about, even my church-going mother-in-law. The current patriarch was with him, as they say in church language, “a night cell attendant” or, as it is written in Wikipedia, “performed the obedience of a personal secretary.”

At the Local Council held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was elected 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. Here are a few touches to his portrait.

The future Patriarch spoke about his grandfather like this: “My grandfather was wonderful person. He went through 47 prisons and 7 exiles, lived in prison for almost 30 years and was one of the first Solovki residents. Worked as a machinist railway Kazan direction, and sat only because he fought against renovationism, which at one time was inspired by the Cheka, and then by the NKVD for the destruction of the Church.

He and his grandmother had a very interesting fate. After all, when my grandfather was imprisoned, my grandmother remained free. And when he was imprisoned for the second time, and this was in the 30s, when famine was raging in the country, she said: that’s it, now we will die. And they had eight children: seven natural and one adopted daughter. And the grandfather said: since I will, as it were, bear the cross for Christ, you will remain alive. Then my grandmother said that at some point she realized: that’s it, life is over, because there was only a small handful of flour left for everyone. She made some flat cakes from this flour, they ate them, and tomorrow there was nothing to eat. And then at night there was a knock on the window. The grandmother jumps up, and a voice comes from the street: mistress, take the load. I opened the door - there was a bag full of flour, and there was no one around. This bag of flour saved my father and gave me the opportunity to be born."

His father worked as the chief mechanic of a defense enterprise in Leningrad; before the war he was repressed, sat in Kolyma, then built fortifications during the defense of Leningrad. During the war, he was a military representative at the Gorky plant and received T-34 tanks before they were sent to the front.

He received the church name Kirill in 1969, when he was tonsured a monk by Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad. Volodya began to “serve” at the age of three and by the age of six or seven he could recite a prayer service or a memorial service by heart. Once, as a child, he accidentally entered the royal gates of the temple, walked along the altar and came out. Mom took him by the hand and led him to the rector of the temple. The priest looked at the frightened mother, smiled and said: “Nothing, he will be a bishop.”

At school, Volodya was one of the best in his class. In the 60s they wrote about him in the newspapers: where should the school look when there is a boy in Leningrad who gets straight A's and believes in God? According to the future Patriarch, it was a difficult time: “I went to school as if I were going to Golgotha.”

He loves to read, he has gotten used to it since childhood. He recalls that it was easier for him, the son of a priest: in the house there was a large collection of works on theology and history, including works by Russian philosophers, most of which became available to a wide range of readers only in last years.

From an early age, the future Patriarch was fond of skiing. I learned to ride in Krasnoe Selo on Voronya Mountain, from which the Germans shelled Leningrad. Later I descended from Mont Blanc. He once explained to journalists who were wondering how church activities and sports could be connected: “Spiritual training, which is given to us by asceticism, fasting, prayer and physical training, which is impossible without volitional efforts, together provide very important result- education of the human personality."

And more about his hobby: “What does a person usually do when he sees an abyss in front of him? Natural reaction ordinary person- back. Self-preservation reaction. Instinct. And the skier is always forward. And the steeper, the more “forward”. This means going towards danger consciously, in defiance of instincts, in defiance of human weakness."

He also loves to hike and swim. On vacation, every day he swims several kilometers without stopping, and walks the same amount. Unlike the fashion for Labradors (it appeared in the VIP environment after Putin got a Labrador), it contains shepherd dogs. In the evening, having arrived home, he puts on a tracksuit and walks his dogs: “For the whole day, they sit at home and rush out on the street so much that I can barely keep up with them. I’ll run about five hundred meters after them, then I’ll pull them to me and walk the same distance. So, Every evening I walk and run five or six kilometers.”

Love for animals is selective. He is attached to dogs, but is completely indifferent to cats.

A Boeing 737-300 flies in Kaliningrad, named after his name: Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. The plane operates regular flights to Europe, and now it will have to be slightly renamed.

Being a metropolitan, he shocked many with his statement that he saw no reason to fight the desire of some rock musicians to use the theme of Orthodoxy in their work. And he even promised to support modern rock culture, making the reservation: “If we see that it contributes to the moral growth of the individual.” He believes that rock musicians at a concert often “say a few phrases about Orthodoxy, which make a greater impression on young people than a long sermon in church.”

At the same time, I myself never attended rock concerts: “I never heard Kinchev and Shevchuk do this, but I met with them, and the discussion was very interesting, communication with them made an impression on me good impression. Both of them are sincere people, Orthodox."

He advocates for the right to religious education in school. He calls opponents' objections about the multinationality and multireligiousness of Russia "horror stories" and believes that the absolute majority of the people cannot be prohibited from studying the foundations of their religious culture. At the same time, according to Kirill, the Fundamentals of Orthodox culture should not be imposed on everyone without options. There should be an alternative: “If there are Muslims in the class, Basics of Islamic Culture can be taught for them.”

Condemns civil marriages and opposes explicit TV shows. At the same time, he allows women to appear in the temple with their heads uncovered. When asked why women should wear a headscarf in church, he told a story from his life.

“Whether or not to wear a headdress is a matter of our national Orthodox culture and tradition. If you go to church every Sunday, you won’t even notice how you start putting on a headscarf. Like, say, Muslim women do. I remember when I served in Tehran , in our church. I looked, there were women standing in floor-length clothes, in headscarves, quiet, modest, like angels. I was serving, I was in such a blessed mood. It turned out that they were the wives of our diplomats. And in the evening I was invited to a reception. And there I saw the same women, but in a completely different form: so fashionable and elegant that it is impossible to imagine. And there were just such modest women in headscarves. Why is a headscarf needed in a church? Because the thoughts of people in a church should be focused on prayer. Appearance beautiful woman, naturally, attracts attention - and distracts from the service."

An incident from the life of the elected Patriarch

And after a short time, maybe two or three weeks passed, another embassy employee came to me, who also held a very high position, and asked me to do the same. And he also warned that he was taking a lot of risks. And then he asked me to make sure that the one I married before him never knew about it. Because, from his point of view, this was the most dangerous person who could harm him. And then I thought: Lord, we live in the Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors! Two Orthodox Christians who might have been close friends are separated by ideological fears and prejudices.

Hypocrisy is a sin. And the Lord will punish such people. But if this is some timid, still poorly understood, but still real movement towards God, then thank God! The Church should not condemn anyone. She should open the door to temples for everyone and help everyone stay in this temple.

church in the USSR and Russia

1988 2008

76 dioceses 157 dioceses

74 bishops 203 bishops

6893 parishes 29,263 parishes

6,674 priests 27,216 priests

723 deacons 3454 deacons

Date of Birth: November 20, 1946 A country: Russia Biography:

His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill (in the world Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev) was born on November 20, 1946 in Leningrad.

Father - Gundyaev Mikhail Vasilyevich, a priest, died in 1974. Mother - Gundyaeva Raisa Vladimirovna, a teacher of German at school, in recent years a housewife, died in 1984. Elder brother - Archpriest Nikolai Gundyaev, professor, rector of the Transfiguration Cathedral in the city. St. Petersburg. Grandfather - Priest Vasily Stepanovich Gundyaev, prisoner of Solovki, for church activities and the fight against renovationism in the 20s, 30s and 40s. XX century subjected to imprisonment and exile.

After graduating from the 8th grade of high school, Vladimir Gundyaev joined the Leningrad Complex Geological Expedition of the North-Western Geological Directorate, where he worked from 1962 to 1965 as a cartographic technician, combining work with studying at high school.

After graduating from high school in 1965, he entered the Leningrad Theological Seminary, and then the Leningrad Theological Academy, from which he graduated with honors in 1970.

As chairman of the DECR, as part of official delegations, he visited all Local Orthodox Churches, including accompanying them on their trips abroad.

As the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, he officially visited the Local Orthodox Churches: Constantinople (2009), Alexandria (2010), Antioch (2011), Jerusalem (2012), Bulgarian (2012), Cyprus (2012) g.), Polish (2012), Hellas (2013).

Inter-Christian relations and cooperation

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill took part in the work of inter-Christian organizations. As a delegate, he participated in the IV (Uppsala, Sweden, 1968), V (Nairobi, Kenya, 1975), VI (Vancouver, Canada, 1983) and VII (Canberra, Australia, 1991) General Assemblies of the WCC and as a guest of honor at the IX General Assembly of the WCC (Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2006); at the World Missionary Conference "Salvation Today" (Bangkok, 1973); was president of the World Conference on Faith, Science and the Future (Boston, 1979) and the World Convocation on Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation (Seoul, 1990); participated in the assemblies of the Commission “Faith and Order” of the WCC in Accra (Ghana, 1974), in Lima (Peru, 1982), in Budapest (Hungary, 1989). Was the keynote speaker at the World Missionary Conference in San Salvador, Brazil, November 1996.

He was a delegate to the XI General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (Stirling, Scotland, 1986) and the XII General Assembly of the CEC (Prague, 1992), as well as one of the main speakers at the European Assembly of the CEC “Peace and Justice” (Basel, 6- May 21, 1989).

He was a participant in the Second European Assembly of the CEC in Graz, Austria (23-29 June 1997) and the Third in Sibiu, Romania (5-9 September 2007).

He took part in four rounds of bilateral interviews between theologians of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches (Leningrad, 1967, Bari, Italy, 1969, Zagorsk, 1972, Trento, Italy, 1975).

Since 1977 - Secretary of the International Technical Commission for the Preparation of Dialogue between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. Since 1980 - member of the International Theological Commission for Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue. In this capacity, he took part in four plenary meetings of this commission: (Patmos-Rhodes, Greece, 1980; Munich, Germany, 1982; Crete, 1984; Valaam, Finland, 1988) and in the work of its Coordination Committee committee.

He was a co-chairman of the second round of the Orthodox-Reformed dialogue (Debrecen II) in 1976 in Leningrad and a participant in the Evangelical Kirchentags in Wittenberg (GDR, 1983) in Dortmund (1991) in Hamburg (1995).

Participant in dialogue with the delegation of the Old Catholic Church in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Rotterdam-Petersburg Commission, Moscow, 1996.

As Chairman of the DECR, on behalf of the Hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, he took part in contacts with the Churches of the USA, Japan, East Germany, Germany, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Great Britain, Belgium, Holland, France, Spain, Norway, Iceland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ethiopia, Australia, New Zealand, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Laos, Jamaica, Canada, Congo, Zaire, Argentina, Chile, Cyprus, China, South Africa, Greece.

As the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, he held a number of meetings with the heads and representatives of non-Orthodox Churches and Christian organizations.

In 2012, the signing took place by the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the chairman of the Polish Catholic Bishops' Conference.

Participation in Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church

He was a member of the Local Jubilee Council of the Russian Orthodox Church (June 1988, Zagorsk), chairman of its Editorial Commission and the author of the draft Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, adopted by the Jubilee Council.

He was a participant in the Council of Bishops dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the restoration of the Patriarchate (October 1989) and the extraordinary Council of Bishops on January 30-31, 1990, as well as the Local Council on June 6-10, 1990, and the Council of Bishops on October 25-26, 1991. ; March 31 - April 4, 1992; June 11, 1992; November 29 - December 2, 1994; February 18-23, 1997; August 13-16, 2000; October 3-6, 2004, June 24-29, 2008

He presided at the Bishops' Councils (2009, 2011, 2013) and Local Councils (2009), and at the other indicated Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church he was the chairman of the Editorial Commission.

As chairman of the DECR, he made reports on the work of the DECR. At the Jubilee Council in 2000, as chairman of the relevant Synodal Working Group and Synodal Commission, he presented the Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church.

At the Council of Bishops on October 3-6, 2004, he also made a report “On the relationship with the Russian Church Abroad and the Old Believers.”

Management of the Smolensk-Kaliningrad diocese (1984-2009)

During the stay of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the Smolensk-Kaliningrad See, 166 parishes were opened (94 in Smolensk and the region, 72 in Kaliningrad and the region). 52 Orthodox churches were restored and 71 were rebuilt.

Smolensk was opened in 1989 religious school, transformed in 1995 into the Smolensk Theological Seminary.

Since 1998, the Interdiocesan Theological School has been operating, training church choir directors, catechists, icon painters and sisters of mercy. Most parishes in the diocese operate Sunday schools. There are Orthodox gymnasiums and kindergartens.

Since 1992, the Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture have been taught in public schools in the Smolensk and Kaliningrad regions.

Serving as DECR Chairman (1989-2009)

Represented the Russian Orthodox Church in the commissions for the development of the USSR Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” dated October 1, 1990, the RSFSR Law “On Freedom of Religion” dated October 25, 1990 and Federal Law Russian Federation “On freedom of conscience and religious associations" dated September 26, 1997

As chairman of the DECR, he took part in many international public and peacekeeping initiatives.

He took part in developing the church position and peacekeeping actions during the events of August 1991 and October 1993.

He was one of the initiators of the creation of the World Russian People's Council in 1993. He took part and delivered keynote speeches at the Councils (1993-2008). Since his election to the Patriarchal Throne, he has been the Chairman of the VRNS (since 2009).

As chairman of the Holy Synod's Commission for the Revival of Religious and Moral Education and Charity, he initiated the creation of synodal departments for religious education, social service and charity, and interaction with the armed forces and law enforcement agencies. He was the author of the Concept for the revival of charity and religious education, adopted by the Holy Synod on January 30, 1991.

Developed and submitted for approval to the Holy Synod the “Concept of interaction of the Russian Orthodox Church with the armed forces” in 1994.

From 1996 to 2000 — led the development and presented to the Anniversary Council of Bishops in 2000 “Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church.”

Took Active participation in normalizing the church situation in Estonia. In this regard, he visited the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem (trips to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel in 1996), and also participated in negotiations with representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Zurich (Switzerland) in March and twice in April 1996. , in Thessaloniki, Tallinn and Athens (1996), in Odessa (1997), in Geneva (1998), in Moscow, Geneva and Zurich (2000), in Vienna, Berlin and Zurich (2001 .), in Moscow and Istanbul (2003); He also visited Estonia several times, where he negotiated with government representatives, members of parliament and the business community of this country.

He took an active part in peacekeeping actions in Yugoslavia. Repeatedly during the war he visited Belgrade, negotiated with the leadership of this country, initiated the creation of an informal international Christian peacekeeping group on Yugoslavia (Vienna, May 1999) and the convening of an international inter-Christian conference on the topic: “Europe after the Kosovo crisis: further actions Churches" in Oslo (Norway) in November 1999.

He was the main speaker at the Parliamentary hearings on the “Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church” (Moscow, 2001), and the topics “Religion and Health” (Moscow, 2003), “Improving legislation on freedom of conscience and on religious organizations: practice of application, problems and solutions" (Moscow, 2004).

He initiated a dialogue with European organizations in Brussels and the creation in 2002.

As DECR Chairman, he visited Estonia (multiple), Switzerland (multiple), France (multiple), Spain (multiple), Italy (multiple), Belgium (multiple), Holland (multiple), Germany (multiple), Israel (multiple), Finland (multiple), Ukraine (multiple), Japan (multiple), Canada (multiple), China (multiple), Hungary (multiple), Moldova (multiple), Norway (multiple), Lebanon and Syria (multiple), Serbia (multiple) ), USA (multiple), Turkey (multiple), Brazil (multiple), Australia (1991), Austria (multiple), Latvia (1992), Chile (1992), Bulgaria (1994, 1998, 2005 gg.), Czech Republic (1996, 2004, 2007), Slovakia (1996), Iran (1996), Lithuania (1997), Denmark (1997), Morocco (1997), Argentina (1997, 2006), Mexico (1998), Panama (1998), Peru (1998), Cuba (1998, 2004, 2008), Luxembourg (1999), Nepal ( 2000), Slovenia (2001), Malta (2001), Tunisia (2001), Mongolia (2001), Croatia (2001), Vietnam (2001), Kampuchea (2001) ), Thailand (2001), Ireland (2001), Iraq (2002), Liechtenstein (2002), Philippines (2002), special areas of the PRC - Hong Kong (2001, 2002). ), Macau (2002), South Africa (2003, 2008), Malaysia (2003), Indonesia (2003), Singapore (2003), UAE (2004), Poland (2004 .), the Netherlands (2004), the Dominican Republic (2004), Yemen (2005), North Korea (2006), India (2006), Romania (2007), Turkmenistan (2008). ), Costa Rica (2008), Venezuela (2008), Colombia (2008), Ecuador (2008), Angola (2008), Namibia (2008). He made official visits to Hungary, Mongolia, Slovenia, Iran, Iraq and Yemen at the invitation of the governments of these countries.

Patriarchal service. Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church

In 2009, a reform of the central bodies of church government was undertaken. The activities of the Department for External Church Relations were fundamentally reorganized, the scope of activity of the Department for External Church Relations was clarified, new synodal departments were created, the functions of the Russian Orthodox Church were separated, and analytical work was carried out to formulate the necessary changes in the structure under Holy Synod and in general in the system of spiritual education. Activities have been intensified.

In 2012-2013 The formation of metropolises and the increase in the number of bishops and dioceses continue. The implementation of the instructions of the Bishops' Councils of 2011 and 2013 is monitored. On the basis of accepted documents on social, missionary, youth work, religious-educational and catechetical service in the Russian Orthodox Church, a detailed database of documents was developed, as well as partially provisions regulating the special training of ministers in these areas. Transformations are spreading from the central apparatus of the Church to the level of dioceses. The subject “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture” is included in the curriculum of secondary schools in all regions of Russia.

During the Patriarchal ministry the following were formed:

— Inter-conciliar presence of the Russian Orthodox Church (2009)

— Church executive authorities:

• Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church (2011)
• Synodal Department for Relations between Church and Society (2009)
• Synodal Information Department (2009)
• Financial and economic management (2009)
• Synodal Committee for Interaction with the Cossacks (2010)
• Synodal Department on Prison Ministry (2010)
• Patriarchal Council for Culture (2010)
• Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism (2012), transformed from the Synodal Commission for Monasteries (2010)

— Church-wide collegial bodies:

• Patriarchal Commission for Family Issues and Motherhood Protection (2012), former name - Patriarchal Council for Family Issues and Motherhood Protection (2011)

— Church-wide postgraduate and doctoral studies named after saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius (2009)

— Interdepartmental coordination group for teaching theology in universities (2012)

— Church and Public Council under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' for perpetuating the memory of new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church (2013), former name — Church and Public Council for perpetuating the memory of new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church (2012)

As the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, in 2009-2013. visited the countries: Azerbaijan (2009, 2010), Armenia (2010, 2011), Belarus (2009, 2012, 2013), Bulgaria (2012), Greece (2013 d.) Egypt (2010), Israel (2012), Jordan (2012), Kazakhstan (2010, 2012), Cyprus (2012), China (2013), Lebanon (2011), Moldova (2011, 2013), Palestinian Authority (2012), Poland (2012), Syria (2011), Serbia (2013), Turkey (2009 .), Ukraine (2009, 2010 - 3 times, 2011 - 5 times, 2012, 2013), Montenegro (2013), Estonia (2013), Japan (2012 .).

By February 2014, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill made 124 trips to 67 dioceses, 156 trips to 26 stauropegic monasteries, 21 of them more than once. Visited 7 farmsteads of stauropegial monasteries. Made 432 trips to 105 churches in Moscow (data as of January 31, 2014).

During the ministry of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill the following were formed:

• 46 metropolises of the Russian Orthodox Church;
• 113 dioceses, including 95 dioceses in Russia*;
• Central Asian Metropolitan District (2011);
• vicariate in the Moscow diocese (2011).

The number of dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church increased from 159 at the beginning of 2009 to 273 at the beginning of 2014 (in Russia - from 69 to 164).

At the beginning of 2009, there were 200 bishops in the Russian Orthodox Church, at the beginning of 2014 - 312*.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill led 109 episcopal consecrations, including: in 2009 - 5; in 2010 - 9; in 2011 - 31; in 2012 - 41; in 2013 - 22; in 2014 - 1*.

Also, during the 5 years of Patriarchal service, he performed 144 ordinations as deacon and presbyter (18 as deacon and 126 as presbyter)*.

Awards

Awards of the Russian Orthodox Church

Church-wide awards

• 1973 - Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir (II degree)
• 1986 - Order St. Sergius Radonezhsky (II degree)
• 1996 - Order of the Holy Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow (I degree)
• 2001 - Order of St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna (II degree)
• 2004 - Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh (I degree)
• 2006 - Order of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus' (II degree)

Orders of Self-Governing and Autonomous Churches of the Russian Orthodox Church

• 2006 - Order of Saints Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk (I degree) (Ukrainian Orthodox Church)
• 2006 - Order of “Blessed Governor Stephen the Great and Holy” (II degree) (Orthodox Church of Moldova)
• 2009 - Order of the Hieromartyr Isidore Yuryevsky (I degree) (Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate)
• 2009 - Order in honor of the 450th anniversary of the bringing of the Pochaev Icon to the Volyn land Mother of God(Ukrainian Orthodox Church)
• 2011 - Order of St. Theodosius of Chernigov (Ukrainian Orthodox Church)

Awards of Local Orthodox Churches

• 2007 - Order of St. Sava the Sanctified (II degree) (Alexandrian Orthodox Church)
• 2009 - St. Innocent Gold Medal (Orthodox Church in America)
• 2010 — Commemorative medal of St. Vladimir’s Theological Seminary (Orthodox Church in America)
• 2010 - Grand Cross Order of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark (Alexandrian Orthodox Church)
• 2011 - Order of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (I degree) (Antiochian Orthodox Church)
• 2012 - Order of the Holy Tsar Boris (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)
• 2012 - Golden Order of the Apostle Barnabas (Cypriot Orthodox Church)
• 2012 - Order of St. Mary Magdalene Equal-to-the-Apostles (I degree) (Polish Orthodox Church)
• 2012 - Order of the Life-Giving Sepulcher “Grand Cross of the Holy Sepulcher Brotherhood” (Jerusalem Orthodox Church)

Awards from other religious organizations and Christian denominations

• 2006 - Order of St. Gregory of Parumal (Malankara Church, India)
• 2010 - Order of St. Gregory the Illuminator (Armenian Apostolic Church)
• 2011 - Order of “Sheikh-ul-Islam” (Office of Caucasian Muslims)
• 2012 - Order for services to the Ummah, 1st degree (Coordination Center for Muslims of the North Caucasus)

State awards of the Russian Federation

• 1988 - Order of Friendship of Peoples
• 1995 - Order of Friendship
• 1996 — Jubilee medal “300 years of the Russian Navy”
• 1997 - Medal “In memory of the 850th anniversary of Moscow”
• 2001 - Order of Merit for the Fatherland (III degree)
• 2006 - Order of Merit for the Fatherland (II degree)
• 2011 - Order of Alexander Nevsky

State awards of foreign countries

• 2009 - Order of Friendship of Peoples (Republic of Belarus)
• 2010 — Medal “65 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War” Patriotic War 1941-1945." (Transnistrian Moldavian Republic)
• 2010 - Order of “Sharaf” (Republic of Azerbaijan)
• 2011 - Order of the Republic (“OrdinulRepublicii”) (Republic of Moldova)
• 2011 - Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots (Republic of Armenia)
• 2012 - Order of the Star of Bethlehem (Palestinian National Authority)

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was also awarded a number of other federal, departmental and regional state awards; has more than 120 awards from Russian and foreign public organizations; is an honorary citizen of the cities of Smolensk, Kaliningrad, Neman (Kaliningrad region), Murom (Vladimir region), Smolensk, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo regions, the Republic of Mordovia and other regions and settlements of the Russian Federation.

Publications on the portal Patriarchia.ru

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill: It is impossible to stop wars in a world of unlove [Patriarch: Interview]

"Religious education in the postmodern era." Speech by the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad at the XV Christmas Readings [Documents]

Official biography

Born on November 20, 1946 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), in the family of a priest. Grandfather - Vasily Gundyaev - a railway mechanic by profession, one of the active fighters against renovationism in the Nizhny Novgorod region under the leadership of Metropolitan Sergius (Stargorodsky, later Patriarch), was arrested in 1922, served time in Solovki; Having returned from prison, he became a priest in the mid-50s. Father, Archpriest Mikhail Vasilyevich Gundyaev, was repressed in the 30s, in the 40s he was a leading engineer at one of the military factories of besieged Leningrad, ordained a priest in 1947, and served in the Leningrad diocese. Brother, Archpriest Nikolai Mikhailovich Gundyaev, since 1977, rector of the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg, professor of St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Sister - Elena, Orthodox teacher.

At school, due to religious convictions, he did not join the Pioneers or the Komsomol; became the hero of an anti-religious publication in a city newspaper.

In 1961, he left his parents’ home (the family had lived in Krasnoe Selo near Leningrad since 1959) and went to work at the cartographic bureau of the Leningrad Complex Geological Expedition. At the same time, he studied at evening school, graduating in 1964.

In 1965-67, with the blessing of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod, he studied at the Leningrad Theological Seminary (LDS).

In 1967-69 he studied at the Leningrad Theological Academy (LDA), which he graduated with honors. On June 1, 1970 he received the degree of candidate of theology for the essay “Formation and Development church hierarchy and the teaching of the Orthodox Church about its gracious character."
During his student years, in March-April 1968, he participated in the 3rd All-Christian Peace Congress (VMC) in Prague; in July 1968 - at the IV Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Uppsala. He participated in the annual meetings of the Central Committee of the WCC as a young adviser, and was vice-chairman of the youth commission of the Christian Peace Congress (CPC).

On April 3, 1969, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod was tonsured a monk, on April 7, 1969 he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on June 1, 1969 - a hieromonk.

After graduating from the academy, he remained at the LDA as a professorial fellow, a teacher of dogmatic theology and an assistant inspector of the LDAiS.

Since August 30, 1970 - personal secretary of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), ​​chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR).

On September 12, 1971, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite, then appointed representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to the WCC in Geneva, rector of the parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In 1971, he represented the theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church at the General Assembly of the world Orthodox youth organization SINDESMOS (at this assembly the theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church became members of SINDESMOS) and was elected a member of its executive committee.

In 1972, he accompanied Patriarch Pimen on his trip to the countries of the Middle East, as well as to Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece and Romania.

On December 26, 1974 he was appointed rector of the LDA and S with the dismissal of the representative of the MP at the WCC.

Since December 1975 - member of the Central Committee and the Executive Committee of the WCC. On September 9, 1976, he was appointed permanent representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in the plenary commission of the WCC.

In November 1975, at the ecumenical assembly in Nairobi, he condemned the letter of Fr. Gleb Yakunin about the persecution of believers in the USSR and denied the facts of violation of the rights of believers.

In December 1975 he was elected a member of the Central and Executive Committees of the WCC.

On March 3, 1976, at a meeting of the Holy Synod, he was determined to be Bishop of Vyborg, vicar of the Leningrad diocese. At the same time, he was introduced to the Commission of the Holy Synod on issues of Christian unity and inter-church relations. Hirotonisan March 14, 1976.

On April 27-28, 1976, as part of a delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate, he participated in negotiations and interviews with representatives of Pax Christi Internationalis.

From November 18, 1976 to October 12, 1978 - Deputy Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe (according to the report dated November 4, 1976, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), ​​Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe, on the need, in connection with the fifth heart attack, to appoint a deputy to him - with the proposal of the candidacy of Kirill).

On November 21-28, 1976, he participated in the First Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference in Geneva.

From January 22 to January 31, 1977, he headed the delegation from the Leningrad and Novgorod diocese at the anniversary of the Patriarchal communities in Finland.

From July 19 to July 26, 1977, at the head of a delegation from theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church, he attended the IX General Assembly of Syndesmos in Chambesy.

From October 12 to October 19, 1977, together with Patr. Pimen was on an official visit to Patras. Demetrius I (Patriarchate of Constantinople). From November 23 to December 4, 1977, at the head of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation, he visited Italy. On December 23-25, 1977, with a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church led by Patriarch Pimen, he participated in the enthronement of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II.

On June 22-27, 1978, he was present with the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Fifth All-Christian Peace Congress in Prague. October 6-20, 1978 participated in negotiations with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church.

On October 12, 1978, he was relieved of his post as Deputy Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe and appointed manager of the patriarchal parishes in Finland (he looked after them until 1984).

From March 27 to 29, 1979, he participated in the Consultation “Responsibility of the Churches of the USSR and the USA for Disarmament.”

From July 12 to July 24 of the same year, he headed the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church at the World Conference “Faith, Science and the Future” in Cambridge (USA).

From November 9 to November 24, 1979, as part of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, at the invitation of the French Bishops' Conference, he visited France.

From January 28 to 31, 1980, he was present in Budapest at a meeting of representatives of Churches from the socialist countries of Europe and leading figures of the WCC.

On May 29, 1980, he participated from the Russian Orthodox Church at the first meeting of the Mixed Orthodox-Roman Catholic Commission on the island. Patmos and Rhodes.

August 14-22, 1980 - participant in the 32nd meeting of the Center. committee of the WCC in Geneva. August 22-25 - member of the delegation of representatives of Churches in the USSR and the USA (Geneva).

On November 25-27, 1980, as part of a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, he participated in the celebration of the 1300th anniversary of the founding of the Bulgarian state in Bulgaria.

From November 30 to December 12 of the same year he led a pilgrimage group of representatives and students of the LDA on a trip to the Holy Land.

On December 23, 1980, he was appointed a member of the Commission for organizing the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' d 1988.

October 30-November 3, 1981 at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) took part in the meetings of the Committee for the preparation of the VI Assembly of the WCC.

On November 5-7, 1981, he took part in the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the National Council of Churches in the USA.

On November 23-27 in Amsterdam (Netherlands) from Christians of the USSR he was a member of the hearing group on nuclear disarmament.

On January 3-16, 1982 in Lima (Peru) he participated in a meeting of the WCC Commission “Faith and Church Order.”
In the same year (July 19-28) he took part in the 34th meeting of the Central Committee of the WCC in Geneva.

From September 28 to October 4, 1982 he was in Finland, and from October 25 to November 1 - in Japan.

From July 24 to August 10, 1983 - participant in the VI Assembly of the WCC in Vancouver (Canada), at which he was elected to new line-up Central Committee of the WCC.

On November 26-27 of the same year, as part of a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, he participated in the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia.

From February 20 to 29, 1984, he took part in a meeting of the Executive Committee of the WCC in Geneva.

From May 31 to June 7, from the Russian Orthodox Church, he participated in a meeting of the Mixed Theological Commission between the Roman Catholic Church and
Local Orthodox Churches, held on about. Crete.

As part of the Soviet public delegation, he participated in an international conference of scientists and religious figures from November 19 to 23, 1974 in Italy.

The transfer to Smolensk was a demotion for Archbishop Kirill and indicated disgrace on the part of the state supervisory authorities (“...There are various rumors about the reasons why he fell out of favor. Some associate this with his reform activity in the sphere of worship: he not only practiced the use of the Russian language in worship, but also served Vespers in the evening, and not in the morning, as is still customary in the Russian Orthodox Church. Another reason for the removal of Bishop Kirill from the “northern capital” of Russia is called his refusal to vote against the resolution of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, which condemned the introduction Soviet troops to Afghanistan. Meanwhile, he didn’t vote “for” either, he just “abstained,” which, however, at that time was also almost a feat." - Natalia Babasyan. Star of Metropolitan Kirill // "Russian Journal" , 04/01/1999).

Kirill himself believes that he fell victim to a closed resolution of the CPSU Central Committee on the fight against religiosity, adopted on the eve of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', for excessive activity as rector of the Theological Academy: during his rectorship, access to the LDA and C was opened for graduates of secular universities , and in 1978, a regency department was created, which women could also enroll in.

From June 2 to June 9, 1985, he was part of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation at the VI All-Christian Peace Congress in Prague.

On November 30, 1988, Archbishop Kirill was entrusted with the development of the Regulations on Theological Schools - a new type of Orthodox 2-year educational institutions, training clergy and designed to facilitate the solution to the personnel problem.

By the definition of the Holy Synod of April 10-11, 1989, Kirill’s archbishop’s title was changed: instead of “Smolensk and Vyazemsky” - “Smolensky and Kaliningrad”.

Since November 14, 1989 - Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) and permanent member of the Holy Synod. This appointment actually indicated the removal of “state disgrace” from him.

On February 20, 1990, after the liquidation of foreign Exarchates, Archbishop Kirill was entrusted with temporary management of the parishes of the Korsun (until 1993) and Hague-Netherlands (until 1991) dioceses.

In 1990, he was a member of the Holy Synod Commission for the preparation of the Local Council. On March 20, 1990, he was appointed chairman of the Holy Synod Commission for the revival of religious and moral education and charity. On May 8, 1990 he became a member of the Synodal Biblical Commission. On July 16, 1990, he was appointed a member of the Holy Synod Commission to promote efforts to overcome the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. On October 27, 1990, he was appointed chairman of the Synodal Commission for the preparation of changes to the Charter on the governance of the Russian Orthodox Church.

At the beginning of 1993, with the sanction of Patriarch Alexy II, he joined the International Preparatory Committee for the convening of the World Russian Council in Moscow (which was initiated by the “World Russian Congress” of Igor Kolchenko, the RAU-Corporation of Alexei Podberezkin, the “Roman-Gazeta” of Valery Ganichev, as well as magazines "Our Contemporary" and "Moscow"). Having become one of the five co-chairs of the preparatory committee, he held the First World Russian Council on May 26-28, 1993 at the St. Danilov Monastery.

In February 1995 he led the Second World Russian Council. Shortly before this, President Yeltsin, during an informal conversation with Kirill, promised him to return to the Church the lands confiscated from it after the revolution, and then (under pressure from Anatoly Chubais) took the promise back. At the Council, Kirill made thinly veiled criticism of the authorities for their immoral and anti-national policies. The establishment of the “World Russian Council” was declared as a “permanent supra-party forum” under the auspices of the Church, and four co-chairs of the Council were elected (Metropolitan Kirill, I. Kolchenko, V. Ganichev, Natalya Narochnitskaya). Under the influence of radicals (Mikhail Astafiev, Ksenia Myalo, N. Narochnitskaya, I. Kolchenko), the Council adopted a number of purely political rather radical anti-Western declarations, the adoption of which by the church hierarchy led by Kirill did not interfere.

Between February and December 1995, Kirill moderated the opposition of the “supra-party forum” he headed, and at the Third World Russian Council in early December 1995, he did not allow any harsh political statements to be made. The organization was renamed the World Russian People's Council, the Head of which was unanimously elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, and Metropolitan Kirill was one of his deputies.

Since August 2, 1995 - member of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation.

In 1996 - member of the Joint Commission of the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchates on the “Estonian issue”.

Since June 6, 1996 - Chairman of the working group of the Holy Synod to develop a draft concept reflecting a church-wide view on issues of church-state relations and problems of modern society as a whole.

In 1996, he joined the board of directors of Peresvet Bank.

In September 1996, the Moscow News newspaper (N34) published a report that the DECR, headed by Metropolitan Kirill, in 1994-96. organized in 1994-96 the import of excisable goods (primarily cigarettes) bypassing customs duties, under the guise of humanitarian aid, in amounts of tens of millions of dollars and in quantities of tens of thousands of tons. The accusations were supported by other popular secular newspapers (in particular, Moskovsky Komsomolets - journalist Sergei Bychkov). It is believed that the secret initiator of these accusations was the then manager of the affairs of the MP, Archbishop of Solnechnogorsk Sergius (Fomin). To investigate these messages, an internal church commission was created headed by Archbishop Sergius (Fomin).

However, the position of Metropolitan Kirill, who denied the deliberate importation of cigarettes into the country and said that the church could not refuse the gift imposed on it, was supported by the 1997 Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church.

He actively participated in the preparation of the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations,” approved by President Yeltsin on September 26, 1997.

In March 2001, he made a proposal to transfer part of the income tax of Russians to the budget of religious organizations, including the Russian Orthodox Church.

Hobby: alpine skiing.
Lives in the official residence of the DECR in Serebryany Bor (Moscow). In 2002, I bought a penthouse in a House on the embankment overlooking the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (the apartment was registered to Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev, “about which there is a corresponding entry in the cadastral register”).

Recruitment, “family life” and business of the new Patriarch
Material from 2008 with elements of an unofficial biography

1. Privacy. This side of the unofficial biography of Metropolitan Kirill is the least studied - fragmentary information about it
appeared mainly in the foreign press and were almost never published in Russian. The Metropolitan himself, when talking about his hobbies, prefers to limit himself to the above list of hobbies, most of which are quite aristocratic in nature and require high level income. It is known, in particular, that to satisfy his passion for skiing, the DECR MP chairman stays in his own house in Switzerland. There are suggestions that he has real estate in other countries, but in most cases it is not registered directly in the name of the metropolitan. In Moscow, by his own admission, the hierarch lives in a spacious apartment in one of the “Stalinist” high-rise buildings, but often stays at the DECR dacha in Serebryany Bor, a picturesque dacha village within the city.

A couple of times, vague hints about the “family” life of the DECR head were leaked to the press. First, one German magazine called him “an exemplary family man,” then one Russian publication tried to suggest what was behind such rumors circulating in the church environment, including within the Department headed by Metropolitan Kirill. According to Ogonyok's version, we may be talking about Metropolitan Kirill's long-standing acquaintance with Lydia Mikhailovna Leonova, the daughter of the cook of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU. “For 30 years now they have had the warmest relationship,” the magazine article said. Currently, Lidia Mikhailovna lives in Smolensk and a number of commercial enterprises are registered at her home address.

At the same time, among Metropolitan Kirill’s ill-wishers in the Russian Orthodox Church MP and beyond, mainly representing radical conservative church movements, there is a widespread opinion that the head of the DECR MP is no coincidence patronizing church activists of “non-traditional orientation”, including former employees DECR, currently occupying various episcopal sees. But, despite the abundance of rumors about the “blue lobby” in the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church MP, practically not a single accusation of this kind was supported by documents and recorded in a court verdict. Many experts also find indirect signs of the existence of this phenomenon quite convincing - for example, the story of the recall from Paris of Bishop Gury (Shalimov), who was accused of “sexual harassment” by his own subdeacons (one of them now heads the unrecognized Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the rank of metropolitan) and parishioners. Having listened to these accusations and punished the bishop, the DECR and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church MP gave grounds to speak about their justice and validity.

2. commercial activity . Metropolitan Kirill's first attempts to do business through cooperatives subordinate to the Smolensk diocese took place back in the late 1980s, but they did not bring any significant income. The business of the DECR MP, which is not always possible to separate from the private business of Metropolitan Kirill, reached serious growth by 1994. Taking advantage of the tax benefits provided for business structures established by religious organizations or devoting part of their profits to the activities of religious organizations, DECR MP became the founder of the commercial bank "Peresvet", charitable foundation"Nika", JSC "International Economic Cooperation" (IEC), JSC "Free People's Television" (SNT) and a number of other structures. The Nika Foundation turned out to be a key link in the famous “tobacco scandal”, which the Metropolitan is still reminded of by his most irreconcilable opponents, who are trying to secure the nickname “Tabachny” for the chairman of the DECR MP. "Nika" carried out the main part wholesale sales cigarettes imported into Russia by the DECR MP under the guise of humanitarian aid and therefore exempt from customs duties. The amount of tobacco products imported by Metropolitan Kirill’s structures amounted to billions of cigarettes, and net profit- hundreds of millions of US dollars. Having captured a significant part of the market, Metropolitan Kirill’s structures caused serious damage to the business of other tobacco importers, who were forced to pay customs duties and therefore could not compete on equal terms with church cigarette sellers. Most likely, it was the competitors who leaked information to the press about Metropolitan Kirill’s tobacco business, which became the subject of journalistic investigations in dozens of Russian and foreign publications, significantly damaging the reputation of the DECR MP chairman. However, despite the scandal, the turnover of the DECR MP tobacco business continued to grow: in just 8 months of 1996, the DECR MP imported approximately 8 billion duty-free cigarettes into Russia (these data were published by the Russian Government Commission on International Humanitarian and technical assistance), which amounted to 10% of the domestic tobacco market. The piquancy of this scandal was given by the fact that traditionally in the church environment, especially in Russia, smoking is condemned as a sin, and hundreds of thousands of people die in Russia every year from diseases caused by this bad habit. At the same time, every tenth smoked by Russians in 1994-96. the cigarette was brought into the country through the “humanitarian” corridor of the DECR MP. Directly “customs clearance” and the implementation of “humanitarian aid” were supervised by the deputy chairman of the DECR MP, Archbishop Kliment (Kapalin) (now the manager of the affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church MP, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation) and Archpriest Vladimir Veriga, a kind of commercial director in the team of Metropolitan Kirill.

When the “tobacco scandal” burst into full force, Metropolitan Kirill tried to shift responsibility to the Russian government. In one of his interviews, he stated: “The people who were involved in this (that is, Metropolitan Kirill himself, Archbishop Clement and Archpriest Vladimir Veriga) did not know what to do: burn these cigarettes or send them back? We turned to the government, and they made a decision: to recognize this as a humanitarian cargo and provide the opportunity to implement it." Sources in the Russian government categorically denied this information, which is why Patriarch Alexy II had some difficulties in relations with the authorities. As a result, a Commission on Humanitarian Assistance was created under the Holy Synod, headed by the vicar of the Patriarch, Bishop Alexy (Frolov), and which was granted the exclusive right to contact the government on the subject of humanitarian assistance.

To others, even more profitable business, with which Metropolitan Kirill was associated, became the export of oil. The Metropolitan’s business partner, Bishop Victor (Pyankov), now living as a private individual in the United States, was on the Board of Directors of JSC MES, which in the mid-90s exported several million tons of oil per year from Russia. The company's annual turnover was about $2 billion. MES petitions to the Russian government for exemption from duties on the next hundreds of thousands of tons of exported oil were often signed by the Patriarch himself, who thus took part in this business. The volume and extent of Metropolitan Kirill’s participation in the oil business is currently unknown, because such information in “Putin’s” Russia has ceased to be available to journalists. However, the voyages of Metropolitan Kirill’s business partners (for example, Bishop Feofan (Ashurkov)) to Iraq on the eve of the operation of the United States and its allies against the Hussein regime give some grounds for assumptions that this business has reached a broader international level than in the mid-90s .

In 2000, information appeared in the press about Metropolitan Kirill’s attempts to penetrate the market of marine biological resources (caviar, crabs, seafood) - the relevant government structures allocated quotas for catching Kamchatka crab and shrimp to the company established by the hierarch (JSC Region) (total volume - more than 4 thousand tons). The profit from this enterprise is estimated at 17 million dollars. Crab meat went mainly to the USA, since half of the company's shares belonged to American partners. Several years ago, in his interviews, Metropolitan Kirill spoke with an ironic grin about how his ill-wishers were so distraught that they even tried to accuse him of trying to destroy several valuable species of crab. It is difficult to disagree with the fact that, compared with financial income from other sources, profits from the crab trade look ridiculously low.

Journalists also found out that the metropolitan, as the ruling bishop of the diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church MP in the Kaliningrad region, participated in an automobile joint venture in Kaliningrad. In addition to the already mentioned Archbishop Clement and Archpriest Vladimir, the Metropolitan’s business team also includes other people: for example, former general The KGB, which personally heads a number of affiliated commercial structures.

DECR MP is the founder of a number of media outlets, but these are predominantly small-circulation church publications. In the mid-90s, Metropolitan Kirill established Free People's Television, which laid claim to the 11th decimeter channel in Moscow, but never appeared on the air. With the participation of the head of the DECR MP, the “Orthodox Information Television Agency” was created, later transformed into the Russian Orthodox Church News Agency, which produces the “Word of the Shepherd” program on Channel One. The department of Metropolitan Kirill controls the main part official information The ROC MP through the DECR MP Communications Service, which regularly issues press releases and bulletins, accredits journalists for church events, arranges press conferences and interviews with Metropolitan Kirill, and maintains the most active of the official Internet sites of the ROC MP. The DECR MP chairman willingly participates in high-rated talk shows on popular TV channels and gives interviews to major Russian and foreign media.

3. Political activity Metropolitan Kirill can be conditionally divided into two parts: church-political (relations with other Churches and personnel policy within the Russian Orthodox Church MP) and secular political (contacts with senior Russian officials, influence on the country's political leaders). In both directions, both successes and failures can be identified.

The main achievements of Metropolitan Kirill in the field of church politics can be considered the “reunification” with the ROCOR(L) on the terms formulated by the DECR MP, the rapid growth in the number of parishes of the ROC MP in foreign countries, including the exotic DPRK, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates , South Africa, Iceland, etc., preventing the transfer of most parishes of the Diocese of Sourozh (Great Britain) to the Patriarchate of Constantinople and curbing the growth of the Russian Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the relative stabilization of relations of the Russian Orthodox Church MP with the Vatican after the death of Pope John Paul II. A definite success for Metropolitan Kirill is the preservation of the membership of the ROC MP in the World Council of Churches, from which the ROCOR(L) and some conservative bishops in the ROC MP itself insisted on leaving three or four years ago. This membership is important both in terms of maintaining the general geopolitical positions of the ROC MP, and from a purely practical point of view - the main part of humanitarian programs to support the ROC MP from abroad is carried out through the WCC. Of course, the main direction foreign policy The ROC MP under Metropolitan Kirill is the struggle with the “pro-American” Patriarchate of Constantinople for leadership in the Orthodox world, where Moscow’s position began to weaken after the collapse of the socialist bloc (within the boundaries of which 8 local Orthodox Churches operated) and after a large-scale church schism in Ukraine. It can be admitted that the Russian Orthodox Church MP still has a tactical advantage in this competition, but the strategic positions look more preferable to Constantinople. The latter won a number of small but symbolically important victories during Metropolitan Kirill’s leadership of external relations of the Moscow Patriarchate: recognition of two “parallel” jurisdictions in Estonia (due to a dispute over jurisdiction over parishes in this country, Moscow and Constantinople even broke canonical communion in 1996) , the acceptance into the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the “fugitive” bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church MP Vasily (Osborne) together with a group of parishes in Great Britain, the beginning of recognition of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church through the acceptance of the hierarchy of this Church in the diaspora into the jurisdiction of Constantinople. Obviously, Ukraine will become the main field for the struggle between the two patriarchates in the coming years, since jurisdiction over this country provides one or the other patriarchate with numerical leadership in the Orthodox world.

Within the ROC MP, Metropolitan Kirill has significantly strengthened his position over the past four years. Firstly, the role played in church life by its Department, the most organized and professional division of the Russian Orthodox Church MP, continues to grow. The department oversees all contacts of the Russian Orthodox Church MP with the outside (for the Church) world: political, economic, cultural. Secondly, in the top leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church MP, a “personnel revolution” occurred in 2003, against the backdrop of the Patriarch’s long-term serious illness, which significantly strengthened the position of Metropolitan Kirill. The influential metropolitans Sergius and Methodius, who were considered fairly equal competitors of Metropolitan Kirill in the struggle for the patriarchal throne, were removed from their posts. The manager of the affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church MP was the former first deputy of Metropolitan Kirill, Metropolitan Kliment (Kapalin), who, however, took a relatively independent position in his new position. Along with improving the image of Metropolitan Kirill within the Russian Orthodox Church MP due to the radicalization of his conservative rhetoric, these factors make him the most likely candidate for Patriarchate if the need arises to elect a new Primate of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Contacts of the head of the DECR MP with higher authorities The authorities in Russia are of a dual nature: on the one hand, they support the business of the “church oligarch”, and on the other, they ideologically support officials, supply them with concepts that serve the policy of “conservative synthesis” and imperial revenge in modern Russia. A striking example of the latter function of these contacts is the popularization among senior officials of the “Fundamentals of the Social Concept” of the Russian Orthodox Church MP, developed under the leadership of the Metropolitan. As the Russian Constitution turns into a decorative declaration, clearly unconstitutional statements by the DECR MP chairman, such as this, become increasingly popular: “We must completely forget this common term: “multi-confessional country.” Russia is an Orthodox country with national and religious minorities.” Although, when excessive interfaith and interethnic tension arises in Russia, Metropolitan Kirill willingly softens such formulations. Supporting radical church-social movements (such as the Union of Orthodox Citizens or the Eurasian Movement), the head of the DECR MP often makes very radical calls: to restitute church property, to introduce the study of Orthodoxy into secular schools, institute of military clergy, church tax, etc. Often, Metropolitan Kirill’s ideas are formulated or voiced by his deputy in charge of public relations, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin.

The Chairman of the DECR MP has considerable political ambitions - at his insistence, a provision on the possibility of civil disobedience of Orthodox Christians to the authorities was included in the “Fundamentals of the Social Concept”, Orthodox concepts of human rights and economic activity, and recently the Metropolitan admitted that he was thinking about nominating his candidacy for the presidential elections in the Russian Federation in 1996. However, in the fall of 2005, observers noted some cooling in relations between Metropolitan Kirill and the Kremlin, which was most clearly expressed in the refusal to include him in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. However, in recent months these relations normalized and even intensified.

Owns a villa in Switzerland
Material from 2009

[...] A man who was friends with Father Kirill for more than twenty years, Vadim Melnikov was once the consul of the USSR mission in Geneva:
...
-You didn’t ask him why he became a monk?

Kirill said that Metropolitan Nikodim, his teacher and mentor, pushed him to take this step. Since childhood, Kirill grew up as a believing boy. At school he refused to join the pioneers, and did not become a Komsomol member. Then fate brought him together with Nicodemus. He, in turn, advised him to enter the seminary. And then the mentor said: “If you want to achieve a high position, then you have to be a monk.”

Have you managed to meet Metropolitan Nikodim?

Yes, we met in Geneva. He came there as part of a delegation. Kirill warned him that I was a consul, but I was related to the special services. I was afraid of this meeting; I knew that Nicodemus hated organs. But, oddly enough, the first thing the Metropolitan said when they met was: “That’s it, Vadim Alekseevich, you are with us, with us!”
...
- Did Father Kirill always strive for power?

Yes, and I didn’t hide it. But it's natural! If you are an officer, why not be a general!
...
Melnikov's wife Tamara Konstantinovna.

He was actually kind, Kirill. When my husband crashed his car, he gave him a thousand francs to repair it. [mid 1970s. K.Ru]. Moreover, when we tried to repay the debt, Kirill flatly refused! [...]

Asceticism of Patriarch Kirill. He wears a watch worth 30 thousand euros. Photo
The watch strap is made of crocodile leather (2009 material)

We provide the photo as proof that the Breguet watch really belongs to Patriarch Kirill. The shots were taken at the moment when His Holiness leaned towards the icon.

Breguet watches

This detail makes us perceive Kirill’s words about the need to limit the needs of our flesh and remember about asceticism, which he said on the air of the Inter TV channel, in a completely different way. Let us remind them: “It is very important to learn Christian asceticism. Asceticism is not life in a cave. Asceticism is not a permanent fast. Asceticism is the ability to regulate your consumption, including ideas and the state of your heart. This is a person’s victory over lust, over passions, over instinct. And it is important that both rich and poor possess this quality. Here is the church's answer. We must learn to control our instincts, we must learn to control our passions. And then the civilization that we will build will not be a civilization of consumption.”

Against the backdrop of the wiretapping scandal, Patriarch Kirill officially blessed General Shamanov
“Your authority will help strengthen the military spirit and defense capability of our Fatherland” (from 2009)

The story of the “leaks” to the press of scandalous negotiations between the Airborne Forces Commander-in-Chief, General Shamanov, and his subordinates received an unexpected development. While the "democratic public"

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