Metropolitan Anastasia of Kazan (in the world Alexander Mikhailovich Metkin). Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church

Metropolitan Anastassy lived a bright and eventful life, for more than a quarter of a century continuously being in the service of God and the Orthodox Church. Despite a number of scandals and incidents that have shaken his position among the clergy and the Orthodox laity, one should not forget about the large number of good deeds that he did to strengthen the Christian faith and the church during his life.

Biography

The future metropolitan Anastasia Kazansky was born on August 27, 1944. Since his parents were extremely devout people, the fate of the boy was predetermined from birth.

Immediately after graduation, he makes his first attempt to enter the Moscow Theological Seminary, but does not enter and instead decides to get an education in a construction college.

Despite this, he did not refuse from his dream and combined the main work at the factory with the service in the Assumption Church in the rank of a sexton.

In 1967, he came to Kazan, where the then Archbishop of Kazan and Mari Mikhail appointed him to the post of a psalmist in the St. Nicholas Cathedral. Seeing that the young man is working hard, the Archbishop promotes his career, and in 1968 he knocks him in the rank of deacon, and a few years later, in 1972, he consecrated him as a presbyter.

As he had planned in his youth, he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary and finished it without difficulty.

Start active promotion

In September 1976, under the leadership of the Bishop of Kazan and Mari, Panteleimon took monastic vows and was named Anastasy, having received the hegumen's rank.

In the same year he was appointed to the same Nikolsky Cathedral, where he served as a psalmist, secretary of the diocesan administration.

In 1983, Anastasius completed his studies at the Moscow Theological Academy, after which he was promoted to the rank of archimandrite.
From 6 to 9 June 1988, Anastassy was an active participant of the Assumption Cathedral, held in connection with the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus.

Hierarchy

At the end of 1988 a decree was issued at the meeting of the Holy Synod, from which it follows that he is appointed bishop of Kazan and Mari, in exchange for the retired Bishop Panteleimon, who had previously been the main promoter of Anastasia's promotion.

In 1990, Anastassy took part in the Local Council, and three years later, in connection with the fact that some territories were allocated from the Kazan diocese, he was named as Bishop of Kazan and Tatarstan.

However, he did not stay long in this rank and on February 25, 1996 he became an archbishop, having occupied a post of rector of the Kazan Theological School a year later. Surprisingly, exactly one year later the school receives the status of a seminary, and the influence of the metropolitan continues to grow.

The Holy Synod, following the achievements of the newly elected rector, on July 16, 2005, decided to include him in the group that is developing the document on strengthening the position of the Orthodox Church.

In the spring of 2012, in connection with the next decision of the Holy Synod, he receives the post of sacred archimandrite in several monasteries.

In 2012, Anastassy becomes head of the newly formed Tatarstan Metropolis and temporarily assumes the duties of the Chistopol diocese administrator.

Despite the far from small dignity, the top of his Orthodox career was the elevation to the rank of Metropolitan on July 18, 2012. Despite the fact that after the scandal that broke out in the walls of his subordinate seminary, among the believers there were the first rumors that Metropolitan Anastas Kazansky was retiring, they were not confirmed, as July 13, 2015, he was appointed to the post of Metropolitan of Simbirsk and Novospassky and, Accordingly, he becomes the head of the Simbirsk Metropolis.

The beginning of failure

Public attention to Metropolitan Anastasia has appeared since the moment when the first scandal thundered. It all started with the fact that a series of arson attacks on Orthodox churches took place in Tatarstan. Despite the fact that they suspected a group of radical Islamists, the perpetrators were never found.

Orthodox people were stunned by the fact that Metropolitan Anastassy of Kazan and Tatarstan did not take any decisive action to identify the perpetrators. Even despite the actions to identify the arsonists, which still carried out Metropolitan Anastassy, the Kazan diocese still decided to come out with cautious criticism in his address.
And against the backdrop of these events, a new scandal erupted in the Tatarstan Metropolis. This time, he directly touched on internal problems in the leadership of the metropolitanate itself.

The scandal

The scandal that struck Orthodox laymen as well as the clergy broke out in 2013, when several students of the seminary filed a complaint against the depraved acts of the hegumen Kirill Yukhin, who occupies the post of pro-rector for educational work under Anastasia. A special commission from Moscow was urgently sent to Kazan to check how the situation is in fact. Arriving at the seminary, the inspectors faced with the fact that the victims were much more, and about the peculiar procedures adopted within its walls, was aware of most of the students who were silent because of fear of being expelled in the last years of training.

After a number of scandalous publications, a wave of media riots, and the decision made by the commission, hegumen Kirill Ilyukhin was removed from his post and dismissed from his post as press secretary. At the same time, Metropolitan Anastas Kazansky was dismissed from the post of rector of the seminary. The Metropolitan considered it proper to hold a conversation with the students, complaining that they had slandered the abbot in vain. However, the scandal erupted in full force only after it received a lot of publicity because the recording of this speech was published in the blog of Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev.

The fate of seminarians

In turn, the fate of the seminarians, who decided to openly sign a complaint against the hegumen Ilyukhin, was a foregone conclusion. For example, from the seminary, Stepanov Roman, who was the initiator of writing a complaint to Moscow and who was not fully educated, was expelled.

Despite such a serious accusation, Ilyukhin himself practically did not suffer from it. Now he serves in the Tver diocese, being an adviser to the local bishop, Metropolitan Victor.

However, it is necessary to pay tribute to the local law enforcement bodies, which started checking on the fact of the crimes committed. Strangely enough, there was no suspect in Tver, he hastily left for Kazakhstan and even decided to accept Kazakhstan citizenship.

Translation into Ulyanovsk

Despite the good deeds done by Metropolitan Anastassy of Kazan, the scandal significantly spoiled his impeccable reputation. Despite his translation (with a decrease) to Ulyanovsk, the head of Tatarstan awarded him with the highest order of the republic for his services to people and the church during his departure from Kazan.

However, the metropolitan did not stop this series of failures. Already on July 20, when Metropolitan Anastassy of Kazan (Simbirsk) arrived in Ulyanovsk, he was greeted by two priests, surrounded by laymen, chanting: "Anaxios!" ("I'm not!") Anastasia's proponents of innocence immediately announced that the rally was organized by the enemies of the metropolitan. At the same time, even Patriarch Kirill condemned such a manifestation of discontent.

Despite the fact that the meeting was very decent, one incident strengthened the people's hostile attitude towards the metropolitan. Upon entering the temple, they repeated their Anaxios for several minutes. Having failed to reassure them with words, one respectable archpriest slapped an Orthodox lay woman in the face. This was the last straw for the protesters, who had already left the temple in a few minutes, in order not to return to it again, while Metropolitan Anastassy of Kazan (Simbirsk) would occupy this post. After these events, the Metropolitan delivered his sermon almost in an empty church, which could not but affect his already shaky reputation.

Good deeds

Despite the scandals in which the then metropolitan of Kazan Anastassy was involved, the reviews of his Orthodox affairs will remain in the memory of believers for a long time. His church activities in Kazan lasted for about 25 years, during which time he managed to do many good deeds.
With him, the revival of many monasteries began, including the Raifa monastery, where the Kazan miraculous icon of the Mother of God is now kept. In addition, it was the Metropolitan Anastasia of Kazan (Simbirsk) who was the founder of the wind seminary, which can not be left without attention.

Conclusion

It is noteworthy that the First Temple, which was then returned by the metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan Anastasy - the cathedral of Peter and Paul, - celebrates the patronal day on July 12, and it was on this holiday that the news of the resignation of the Metropolitan came.

To date, he turned 71 years old, and among the Orthodox believers began to actively spread rumors that tired of the worldly bustle, Metropolitan Anastasia of Kazan goes to rest, but this is not entirely true. The head of the Simbirsk diocese can not leave his post until he finds a worthy successor who will continue to strengthen the position of the Orthodox Church in Russia.