Cyril I, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

Patriarch Cyril (Vladimir Gundyaev) was born on 20 November 1946 in Leningrad (now Petersburg) in a family of a priest. He graduated from the Leningrad Theological Seminary and Academy. When still a student, he entered the local monastery and was tonsured (received the so-called little schema) on 3 April 1964, assuming the name of Cyril.

That same year he was ordained hieromonk. In 1970 he obtained a doctoral degree after defending a dissertation The Establishment and Development of the Hierarchy of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Teaching of the Eastern Orthodox Church on Its Salvific Nature. The following year he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and became a member of the executive committee of the Syndesmos World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth. Between 1974–1976 he was Rector of the Leningrad Theological Academy. The Episcopal consecration (chirotonia) of Archimandrite Cyril took place on 14 March 1976. He was made Bishop of Vyborg, an auxiliary bishop of the Leningrad Diocese.

At that time he often took part in international theological conferences, on behalf of the Orthodox Church in Russia engaged in a dialogue with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, and was a member of international delegations of the Russian Orthodox Church; in October 1977, together with the then Patriarch Pimen, he paid a visit to the then Patriarch of Constantinople Dimitry I.

Between 1979–1988 he was a member of two commissions during the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church: for Christian unity and for the millennium celebrations of the baptism of Russia. In 1984 he was elevated to the rank of an archbishop and transferred to the Archdiocese of Smolensk. In 1989 he was appointed Archbishop of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. He was also appointed Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1991 Archbishop Cyril was elevated to the rank of metropolitan archbishop, and on 6 December 2008 he was elected the custodian of the patriarch’s throne following the death of Patriarch Alexy II. Metropolitan Archbishop Cyril was involved in the work of Orthodox media in Russia. Since 1994 he has led the program Shepherd’s Word (TV ORT; now TV 1) and was editor-in-chief of the following periodicals: Church and Time (since 1991), Smolensk Diocese News, Orthodox Pilgrim. He was an active member of the commission of ecclesial and lay scholars for the publication of the Orthodox Encyclopaedia.

In March 2004 Cyril visited Poland as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Smolensk. On 29 March 2004 he received the honorary degree of the Christian Academy of Theology in Warsaw from the Metropolitan Archbishop of Warsaw and All Poland Sawa.

After the death of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, in December 2008 Metropolitan Cyril was the custodian of the patriarch’s throne, i.e. the acting head of the Moscow Patriarchate.
He was elected the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia by the Local Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on 27 January 2009, and solemnly installed on 1 February 2009.

Activity

Following Cyril’s elections as the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, significant structural changed occurred in the Russian Orthodox Church. New institutions of the Church were set up in 2009 and 2010: departments for social relations, for the Cossacks and for pastoral ministry in prisons, the Patriarchal Council for Culture and the Economic and Financial Board. Detailed competences of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church and of the Charity Projects Department were adopted. The Supreme Council of the Russian Orthodox Church was established in 2011; it is the managing body of the Church between the sessions of the Holy Synod. During the meetings of the Holy Synod presided over by Patriarch Cyril eight new eparchies were set up and fifteen new bishops ordained.

He runs a weekly program Shepherd’s Word. He has paid pastoral visits to most of the Church’s eparchies, including those located outside of European Russia (Siberia, Sakhalin). He considers the continuation of the activity of his predecessor Alexy II as his priority, especially the rebuilding of the churches and re-installation of the parishes destroyed during the communist rule. Among others, he received the permission of the municipality of Moscow for the construction of 200 new churches in Russia’s capital. In 2010 the Russian Biographical Institute announced the Patriarch the Man of the Year in Russian in the ‘religion’ category, justifying the choice by his ‘outstanding contribution to the spiritual rebirth of Russia’.

An author of books, papers and press articles on theological issues, he speaks fluent English, French and German.

ed. Tomasz Tarasiuk, cerkiew.pl