Berdyansk Diocese of the UOC

Currently, the diocese, which will be discussed in the article, is one of the leading church and administrative structures that make up the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. It covers the territories of such regions as Chernigov, Priazovsky, Primorsky, Pologovsky, Vasilievsky, Akimovsky, Gulyaypol, Tokmak, Bilmak and Berdyansk.

Creation of a new diocese

The Berdyansk diocese, which also included the Primorsky district of the Zaporozhye region, was formed as a result of a decision adopted in the spring of 2007 at a special meeting of the Synodal Committee of the UOC. According to the document approved on it, a new church-administrative structure was separated from the Zaporozhye diocese. It became known as the Berdyansk and Maritime Diocese.

The newly-formed structure received its name thanks to the fact that Berdyansk is the city where the residence of the diocesan head and one of the two cathedrals (Khristorozhdestvensky) is located. The second cathedral ─ Nikolsky ─ is located in the city of Primorsk.

Deanery of the Berdyansk and Zaporozhye dioceses

After the separation of the Berdyansk diocese from Zaporizhzhya, the following deaneries remained in the latter (districts including nearby parish churches): Vodnianskoe, Orekhovskoye, Veselovskoye, Vasilievskoe, Volnyanskoye, Novonikolaevskoye, Dniproudnenskoye and Melitopolskoye. The office of the diocesan administrator was retained by her former leader, His Eminence Basil (Zlatolinsky).

Such deaneries were included in the Berdyansk Diocese: Berdyansk, Chernigov, Novovasilievsk, Primorsko, Kuibyshev, Gulyaypol, Tokmak and Pologovskoye. At the same time, the former head of the Makeevka Diocese, Bishop Barnabas (Filatov), was placed at the head of the newly formed structure, which was succeeded by His Grace, Elisha (Ivanov). At the Berdyansk cathedra, he came from the Donetsk diocese, where he served as vicar. In turn, Bishop Barnabas (Filatov) was appointed head of the Makeevka diocese.

Expansion of the diocese and appointment of its new leader

In 2009, the territory of the Diocese of Berdyansk was somewhat enlarged due to the inclusion of the Vasilievsky district of the Zaporozhye region in it. It was formerly part of the Zaporizhzhya diocese, it was withdrawn from its composition, and departed to the church-administrative structure formed two years earlier.

In May 2012, Bishop Elisey was transferred to the recently established Kupyanskaya and Izyumskaya diocese, and his duties were temporarily performed by the Archbishop of Zaporozhye and Meliopolsky Luka (Kovalenko), who in July of that year gave way to Archimandrite Ephraim (Yarinoko). Soon after the appointment of the head of the Diocese of Berdyansk, Bishop Ephraim was elevated to the rank of bishop.

On the path of spiritual growth

The future archpastor began his way to the ministry of the Church in 1995 within the walls of the Khust spiritual school of the village of Velikye Komyaty of the Transcarpathian region, where he entered after leaving school-nine. Having studied for two years and felt a call to monasticism in the soul, he went through the rite of monastic vows, receiving the name of Ephraim and asking for the heavenly protection of the Monk Ephraim the Syrian, whose memory he revered from his early years.

Being a resident of the Holy Trinity Monastery in the town of Khust Gorodilov, a young monk soon became a priesthood, becoming first a neurodiakon, and a short time a hieromonk, after which in 2001 he was appointed governor of the Savior Transfiguration Monastery of the Carpathian village of Tereblya. His zeal was repeatedly noted by church awards, so in November 1999, then still hieromonk Ephraim was handed the pectoral cross, and later one more was added to it, but this time with ornaments.

At the head of the diocese

Without interrupting his pastoral activity, Hieromonk Ephraim entered the correspondence department of the Theological Academy, which he graduated with success in 2011. After serving for some time as secretary of the Husky diocese and having been elevated to the rank of archimandrite by that time, the lord, as mentioned above, was appointed to the post of head of the Diocese of Berdyansk, after which he was ordained bishop.

In addition to the above-mentioned position, His Eminence Ephraim, according to the resolution of the Synod of the UOC, is the rector (sacred archimandrite) of the "Reverend Ambrose Optina" ─ a monastery in the city of Tokmak, Zaporozhye region.

Religious enlightener

Under the leadership of the bishop of Berdyansk and Primorye Ephraim, many worthy pastors who work in the numerous parishes of the Berdyansk diocese are working on God's Niva. Priest Sergius Medvedev is one of their most prominent representatives. His fame he deserved by creating a wide network of religious and educational Sunday schools, open on his initiative in most parishes of the diocese.

Having a wide outlook and extensive knowledge of the Orthodox faith, he makes every effort to transfer them to the younger generation, and to older people who want to fully integrate into the spiritual heritage of their homeland.