Philaret Voznesensky
Philaret of New York | |
|---|---|
Photograph of Archimandrite Philaret (Voznesensky) serving in Harbin, China | |
| First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia | |
| Born | March 22, 1903 Kursk, Russian Empire |
| Died | November 21, 1985 (aged 82) Manhattan, New York, United States |
| Venerated in | HOCNA, ROAC, RTOC, ROCOR-V-V, ROCOR-A |
| Major shrine | Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, New York |
Metropolitan Philaret (Russian: Митрополит Филарет, secular name Georgy Nikolayevich Voznesensky, Russian: Георгий Николаевич Вознесенский; 22 March 1903 in Kursk, Russia – 21 November 1985 in New York City) was the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia from 1964 until his death on November 21, 1985.
He was ordained a deacon in 1930 and a priest in 1931. He served in Harbin (1930-1947), Three Rivers Region in Inner Mongolia (1947-1949), then again in Harbin (1949-1962). In 1945-1962 he was a cleric of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1962, he left China for Australia, joining the ROCOR. On May 26, 1963, he was ordained bishop of Brisbane, vicar of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand. On May 27, 1964, being a youngest bishop by ordination, he was elected the First Hierarch of the ROCOR. The years when Metropolitan Philaret headed the ROCOR became a period of making important decisions, including convergence to the Old Calendarists, anathematization of Lenin and the persecutors of the Orthodox Christianity (1970), the canonization of Nicholas II, his family and servants and the New Martyrs (1981), ordination of Lazarus Zhurbenko as a bishop for the "catacombs" (1982) and the condemnation of ecumenism (1983).