Arkady Viktorovich Shatov, in the future Bishop Orekhovo-Zuevsky Panteleimon, was born in 1950 in Moscow. He graduated from school there. From 1968 to 1970, he served in the army. In 1971 he married. He worked as a nurse in a clinic in Moscow. Human suffering and death led him to understand his own destiny in life.
Arkady Shatov becomes a hospital priest. The path to God was opened to him through caring for the needs of people.
He was baptized in 1974. He was greatly influenced by spiritual meetings, as well as correspondence. And, above all, with Archimandrite Tavrion. Archpriest Tikhon Pelikh, Archimandrite Pavel (Gruzdev) had no less influence. Arkady Shatov enters the second year of seminary in Moscow in 1977. And in 1978, his priestly ministry began.
Currently, Bishop Panteleimon widows, all four of his daughters are married, 22 grandchildren grow up.
Priestly ministry
1978 - ordination to the rank of deacon and transfer to the correspondence department of the seminary.
1979 - ordination to the priest and appointment to a rural temple in the Moscow region.
1984 - was transferred to the Tikhvin temple in Stupa, and in 1987 - to the Smolensky church with. Grebnevo.
The end of 1990 - rector of the temple of Tsarevich Dimitri.
1991 - Head and confessor of the Orthodox Relief Service “Mercy”.
1992 - confessor of the school of sisters of mercy, named St. Dmitrievsky.
2002 - the appointment of the chairman of the commission on the TSSD in the Diocesan Council of the capital.
Since 2005 - Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital of St. Alexei.
2009 - took the wife of US President Barack Obama at the School of Mercy.
2010 — met Patriarch Bartholomew (from Constantinople), who visited the Russian Orthodox Church, who called the activities of the school of mercy sisters a feat of love.
May 2010 - was elected Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky, named Panteleimon and elevated to the rank of Archimandrite.
March 2011 - membership in the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, chairman of the charity department, ruling bishop of the Smolensk diocese - performs services in Smolensk.
2011 - creates a sisterhood of mercy dedicated to the icon of Hodegetria Smolenskaya, creates a group of volunteers who help the homeless.
2012 - the organizer and participant of the consecration of the monument at the memorial complex "Katyn" near the city of Smolensk.
Since 2013 - Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky and Vicar of Patriarch Kirill.
2010 - organization of assistance to victims of fire, 2012 - assistance to flood victims in Krymsk, 2013 - assistance from floods in the Far East of the country, 2014-2015 - active and continued support for refugees from warring Ukraine.
God calls in every heart to do good
Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky defines and organizes almost all the work of the Mercy service. The care and effective help from the Russian Orthodox Church was felt by the fire victims of various regions of Russia in 2010. They received more than 100 million rubles for the purchase of housing. Also, hundreds of tons of food and other necessary assistance were sent to the affected areas.
One of the main directions in the work of his department in the Synod is the real necessary assistance to families and women in crisis situations: the organization of church shelters, centers for pregnant women, for mothers with children.
The charity department of the Russian Orthodox Church did not stand aside during the flood in the Krasnodar Territory, all donations, about 51 million rubles, were given to the victims.
The help of the Russian Orthodox Church was provided in the city of Krymsk. Bishop Panteleimon personally visited there and met with the leadership of the headquarters for emergency situations.
For the victims of flooding in the Far East, the ROC collected and donated more than 100 million rubles.
Bishop Panteleimon organized church support for those who suffered from military operations in Ukraine: coordinated assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons, created centers for assistance to these people.
The activity of the country's largest Orthodox church service “Mercy” is difficult to evaluate. It helps many categories of people in need: people with disabilities, children and adults, patients from various clinics, homeless people, lonely old people, families with many children and low-income families.
Socio-political activities of the bishop
Bishop Panteleimon Bishop of Orekhovo-Zuevsky sharply criticized the draft ban on the adoption of Russian children by Americans, opposed the refusal of the state to support socially oriented NGOs in 2015.
In July 2017, he demanded an investigation into the incident at a boarding school in Trubachev, supported a project on special custody of legally incapable members of the society and protection of their rights.
Church and secular awards
Bishop Panteleimon was awarded by the Russian Orthodox Church five orders of Orthodox saints of various degrees.
EMERCOM of Russia awarded him in 2015 the medal "For the Commonwealth in the Name of Salvation", and the leadership of the Kemerovo Region - the Order of Honor of Kuzbass.