His Eminence Methodius, who now heads the Perm and Solikamsk departments in the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, is one of the most controversial hierarchs of Russian Orthodoxy. In the recent past, he claimed the patriarchal throne, competing with Metropolitan Kirill of Kaliningrad. This person’s life and ministry will be discussed in this article.
The Becoming of Metropolitan Methodius
The future Metropolitan Methodius (Nemtsov) was born, whose photo can be viewed below, February 16, 1949 in Ukraine, in the territory of modern Lugansk region. After school, he received a secular education in a college of railway transport, after which he entered the Odessa Theological Seminary, which he graduated in 1972. It was an atypical choice made by the future Metropolitan Methodius (Nemtsov). His family was from servants, but something influenced the young man, who linked his life with the service in the church. Following the seminary, he entered the Theological Academy in Leningrad, and then graduate school at the Moscow Theological Academy. At this time, as part of the youth delegation of representatives of theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church, he traveled abroad, visiting Greece, Bulgaria and Finland.
Holy Order
In 1974, the future Metropolitan Methodius took monastic tonsure at the hands of His Eminence Nicodemus, Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod. At this time, he takes the name Methodius in honor of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Enlightener of the Slavs. The civil name given to him in baptism is Nikolai. Two days after the tonsure, the monk Methodius takes the priesthood of the deacon, and a few months later he becomes a priest.
Serving in the Russian Orthodox Church as a priest
In the first years after his ordination, Metropolitan Methodius served in Moscow, in the Novodevichy Convent. At the same time, he began his church career in the Department of External Church Relations, literally in a few months having gone from an ordinary assistant to the deputy chairman of the department. This is a rather dark page in the biography of Lord Methodius. After the collapse of the USSR, many facts of cooperation between clergy and the KGB were revealed. Among other things, it turned out that the DECR was an intelligence agency center inside the Russian Orthodox Church, and Metropolitan Methodius made a dizzying fast career there only with the submission of the state security leadership. Subsequently, these same forces influenced his election to the bishops. Of course, after perestroika, the fact that Metropolitan Methodius was recruited by the KGB and had an officer rank in this structure was hushed up. The same policy of silence was carried out in relation to all other recruited clergymen, of whom there were a lot. Often, hierarchs decided on such a step, since this was the only opportunity to receive the holy dignity or to keep it with them.
Subsequently, Metropolitan Methodius (Nemtsov) served in the rank of archimandrite in various churches of Moscow, until in 1980 he was elevated to the rank of bishop.
Bishop's ministry
The appointment and ordination of the bishops of Archimandrite Methodius took place in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The Irkutsk pulpit became the place of ministry of the new bishop, also uniting parishes in Chita and other cities. Moreover, together with the Irkutsk diocese, he was entrusted with the temporary management of the Khabarovsk church structures.
But Metropolitan Methodius did not serve in Siberia for long - in two years he was transferred to Voronezh. In 1985-1989, in parallel with the hierarchal ministry, he served as financial and economic administrator of the Patriarchate.
In 1985, Bishop Methodius became Archbishop. In 1988 - Metropolitan, as a reward for his work on the preparation and holding of celebrations in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Russia.
In 1997, Metropolitan Methodius was appointed by His Holiness Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, to the post of member of the commission for the preparation and conduct of the celebration of the 2000th anniversary of Christianity. Along with this, he also takes the chair of the historical and legal commission of the Russian Orthodox Church.
As part of various commissions, Metropolitan Methodius is quite active in dialogue with various religious organizations. He is on the list of trustees of the Orthodox Encyclopedia project and the editorial board of the publication Religions of the World, published annually by the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as the quarterly quarterly Historical Bulletin.
In 2003, His Eminence Methodius became the head of the metropolitan district in the Republic of Kazakhstan, serving there until 2010, when he was transferred to the Perm Metropolis by decree of the Holy Synod. He holds this position to this day.