Eletskaya and Lebedyan Diocese: History and Modernity

The policy of the Russian Orthodox Church after the enthronement of Metropolitan Kirill into patriarchal dignity was marked by a large-scale reform of the administrative administration. Large diocesan institutions began to split up into small independent episcopal centers with the subsequent unification of them in the metropolia. As a result of these actions, the number of episcopal departments in the Moscow Patriarchate increased significantly. One of these newly formed centers is the Eletskaya and Lebedyan diocese (photo below).

The emergence of the episcopal center in Yelets

For the first time the episcopal chair in Yelets was established in the early twentieth century by an imperial decree at the request of the Holy Synod. The episcopacy bore a vicar status, that is, it had an auxiliary and dependent position in relation to the main center, which for Elets then was the Oryol department. However, its ruling bishop ordered that the vicar instead of Yelets, where he was appointed by the Synod, lived in Orel himself, visiting the Elets as necessary. Therefore, in fact, the Vicariate did not function, and the vicar himself acted as an assistant to the Oryol Reverend on all diocesan questions. All this happened in August 1906, when the Vicariate was established. The Synod with this state of affairs was reconciled until 1918, when it was again determined that the vicar Eletskiy stayed in his cathedral city and engaged directly in the management of his subordinate parishes.

The position of the Yelets Department in the Soviet Union

The political events in Russia after 1917 and the consequent church troubles that followed them destroyed the established system of church administration. A single organism hitherto began to split into independent currents and factions. This is how the renovation structures, supported at first by the Soviet government, and the reactionary, extreme right-wing pro-monarchist associations, which were oppressed by the same power, appeared. In the middle was more or less moderate (especially after 1927, when the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius about loyalty to Soviet power was published), the patriarchal church, in opposition to which there were many clergy. Like one of these groups, Eletsk Vicariate in 1922 at a diocesan meeting of the clergy in the person of the clergy decided to establish an independent autocephalous church. Her prince was Bishop Nikolai (Nikolsky). The clergy decided to take this step, in order to avoid merging with the reformist structures of the Renovationists, whose church organization at that time was official and took a pro-Soviet position. However, the newly formed church faced a powerful opposition from the Soviet government, which, in response to the decision of the diocese to move to a self-governing position, responded by arrests of the activists of the clergy. Bishop Nicholas was exiled to Zadonsk, from where he continued to administer the remnants of the faithful priests and laymen who remained loyal to him. The final destruction of the diocesan structure in Yelets came in 1937 - the time of severe anti-religious persecution in the Soviet Union.

The acquisition of an independent diocesan status

After the changes in the religious policy of the USSR, and especially after perestroika, the church life in Yelets was revived as part of the Lipetsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The cathedral (this time not the vikarnoe, but independent) status of the region was restored by the Holy Synod in May 2013 with the name "Eletskaya and Lebedianska Diocese". According to the same decision, the revived episcopate was part of the newly formed Lipetsk metropolia. The diocesan ruling bishop was appointed bishop Maxim (Dmitriev).

Eletskaya and Lebedyan Diocese: deanery and parishes

To date, Eletskaya Department is a relatively large pool of parishes. According to official figures, for 2015, there are about sixty churches in the diocese of eight diocesan administrations, including the cathedral of the Ascension of the Lord, and five monasteries, one of them male and four female. In addition to religious buildings, the administrative building in Yelets is occupied by the Eletskaya and Lebedyan diocese. Address: Lipetsk Region, Yelets Town, Red Square, Building 1, Postal code 399770.

Spiritual education

Before the defeat of the church life in times of persecution, the need for spiritual education was satisfied by two schools. To date, Eletskaya and Lebedyansky diocese owns only an Orthodox gymnasium in the name of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Within the framework of this educational institution, a full program of secondary school education (eleven classes) is taught. Plus, in addition to the generally accepted disciplines, a number of electives are offered for choice: church singing, sewing, local studies and others. About the intention to revive the school or create a seminary on the basis of the chair Lipetsk and Lebedyanskaya diocese has not yet reported.

Interaction of Church and Society

Orthodox structures in the region interact with the community through five specialized departments, which include the Eletskaya and Lebedyan diocese. The news of church life is reported by the Orthodox website and the Diocesan Blagovest magazine. Also in the department there are seven commissions dealing with various issues of the life of the church and society. And among other things, there is the activity of the Metropolitan Center in Lipetsk, with which the Eletskaya and Lebedyan Diocese collaborates. The Society of Orthodox Physicians is a vivid example of this.