Eulogius (Georgievsky) of Paris

Metropolitan Eulogius (Georgievsky) of Paris (also rendered Evlogy, Euloge, and Eulogios) was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox diaspora during the tragic transition brought upon by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

Life

Metr. Eulogius was born Vasily Semenovich Georgievsky on April 10, 1868. He was the Bishop of Kholm in 1907 when he tonsured Arkady Dimitrievich Korolev a monk with the name Sergius.

Under his leadership, the Russian Orthodox Exarchate in Western Europe was established. During most of his episcopate, he served under the omophorion of the Ecumenical Patriarch. However, because he decided, along with the Metropolia (subsequently the Orthodox Church in America), to pursue autonomy from Moscow independent of the Karlovtsy Synod (ROCOR), his legacy is viewed as good or bad depending upon which jurisdiction is speaking. He was influential in founding the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute (Paris, France), which in turn was formative in the life of the Orthodox Church in America and the founding of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (Crestwood, New York). Spiritually, one may count among his descendants Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, Protopresbyters Alexander Schmemann, Georges Florovsky and John Meyendorff, and Saint Mary Skobtsova.

Metropolitan Eulogius was appointed by Patriarch Tikhon in 1921 as the representative of the Patriarchate of Moscow in Western Europe. He sat in with the bishops of the Karlovtsy Synod at the time.

In 1927, Eulogius broke with the Karlovtsy Synod and was subsequently condemned by them, splitting the Russian emigrant community in Western Europe. But Metropolitan Eulogius’ feeling was that because he was appointed by the Moscow Patriarch to his position, he and his flock were not in the same situation as the refugees of the Karlovtsy Synod.

In 1930, after taking part in a prayer service in London in supplication for Christians suffering under the Soviets, Eulogius was removed from office by Metr. Sergius (Stragorodsky), then locum tenens of the Patriarchate of Moscow and replaced. Most of Eulogius’ parishes remained loyal to him, as they were generally against the Soviet government. Eulogius then petitioned Ecumenical Patriarch Photius II to be received under his canonical care. He and his community were received in 1931, as an exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

About a year before his death on August 8, 1946, Metropolitan Eulogius returned with all his parishes to the Russian Orthodox Church and again became an exarch of the Moscow patriarchate. However, after his death, Metropolitan Seraphim (Loukianov) was appointed the new exarch by the Moscow Patriarchate. A large number of parishes, contesting Archbishop Seraphim, again broke from the mother Church. These parishes have become the current exarchate of the Russian parishes in Western Europe of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Sources

• The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime, 1917-1982 - By Dimitry Pospielovsky (1984) SVP ISBN 0881410330
• Quelques mots sur le diocèse de Chersonèse - A few words about the Diocese of Chersonese (French)
• Answers: Archbishop Sergey (Arkadi Dimitrievich Korolev) of Kazan & Chistopol

External link

• Three Metropolitans - By Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann

Succession box: Eulogius (Georgievsky) of Paris
Preceded by: Dionysius (Balaban)	Bishop of Kholm and Lyublun 1905-1914	Succeeded by: Anastasius (Gribanovsky)
Preceded by: ?	Bishop of Vilnius (Moscow Exarchate of Western Europe) 1921-1930	Succeeded by: Eleutherius (Bogoyavlensky)
Preceded by: ?	Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Exarchate in Western Europe 1931-1945	Succeeded by: Vladimir (Tikhonitsky)
Preceded by: Eleutherius (Bogoyavlensky)	Metropolitan of Paris Exarch of Western Europe (Moscow) 1945-1946	Succeeded by: Seraphim (Lukyanov)

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