Archbishop SERGEY (Arkadi Dimitrievich Korolev) of Kazan &
Chistopol 18 Jan 1881-18 Dec 1952 Born into a religious family in
the Moscow region; attended Bethany Theological Seminary at the
Troitse-Sergiev Lavra; after finishing, attended the Moscow
Theological Academy, graduating in 1905. On 7 Jun 1907, he was
tonsured a monk by Bishop Evlogy of Kholm (Vasily Semenovich
Georgievsky, 10 Apr 1868-8 Aug 1946, later Metropolitan of Western
Europe for both the Constantinople and Moscow Patriarchates), and
given the name Sergey. He entered the Yablochinsky Monastery in the
Kholm Diocese. 1908 he was ordained a hieromonk. Yablochinsky
Monastery had a missionary program, especially for the Uniates in
this area, and Father Sergey labored as a missionary. In 1914 he
was elevated to Archimandrite, and named assistant Abbot of the
Monastery. The same year, the Monastery was evacuated because it
was near the front of the fighting between the Russian Empire and
the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1920 he was consecrated to the
Episcopate as Bishop of Belsk, which as a result of the outcome of
WWI, was within the borders of the new state of Poland. In 1922
Bishop Sergey was arrested for his opposition to the planned
Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Poland. He finally was
deported from Poland, and went to Czechoslovakia, where he was
assigned Bishop of Prague by Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgievsky) of
Western Europe of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. As
a Vicar of Metropolitan Evlogy, Bishop Sergey followed him into
schism from the ROCOR in 1927. Following WWII, Bishop Sergey
followed Met. Evlogy into the Moscow Patriarchate (Evlogy had
submitted to the Patriarchate of Constantinople after leaving
ROCOR). After Evlogy's death in 1946, his successor, Metropolitan
Vladimir (Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Tikhonitsky, 22 Mar/4 Apr
1873-5/18 Dec 1959) took the Diocese back into the Patriarchate of
Constantinople, a decision that Bishop Sergey disagreed with.
Bishop Sergey stayed under the jurisdiction of the Moscow
Patriarchate, which was easy to do in Prague, since the Moscow
Patriarchate was the only jurisdiction that could be legally
adhered to. 17 Apr 1946, the MP elevated Bishop Sergey to
Archbishop, and 7 Jun 1946 assigned him as Archbishop of Vienna of
the Western European Diocese. In October of 1946, he was named
Exarch of the Central European District of the MP. From 8 to 18 Jul
1948, he participated in the celebrations for the 500th Anniversary
of the Autocephaly of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow. On 16
Nov 1948 he was named Archbishop of Berlin and Germany, and on 20
Sep 1950, Archbishop of Kazan and Chistopol. In Kazan, he always
walked to the Cathedral, taking different ways, He would engage
obviously poor people in conversation, enter into their houses,
and, learning of their situations, would leave sums of money in
their house when he left. He left over 20 written works on various
aspects of Holy Orthodoxy. Vladika Sergey reposed in the Lord on 18
Dec 1952 in Kazan.
