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He was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] bishop of Volokolamsk, a [[vicar]] of the Moscow [[diocese]], in May 1963, and was raised to the dignity of [[archbishop]] in 1971. He was appointed Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and Yuryev in 1986.
Beginning with the position of editor of the ''Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate'' in 1962, Pitirim was made head of the publishing department of the patriarchate the following year. He also was chairman of the editorial board of the ''Bogoslovskiye Trudy'' ("The Theological Works") for several years. As the head of the only publishing house of the Church of Russia, he came under much criticism for only printing a few thousand bibles and few theological books in over thirty years. During the celebration of 1000 years of Christianity in 1988, when the Church could finally express its views in public, Metr. Pitirim came into open criticism for his lack of publishing activity at the Moscow sober sobor that marked the anniversary in June 1988. Thereafter his control over publishing for the Church began to fade although he continued to hold the position until December 1994.
Having been enlisted as a KGB agent with the code name "Abbot", Bp. Pitirim was known widely to be a reliable conformist of Soviet political aims promoting aboard the official line, such as denying that the 1980 arrest of the priest [[Dmitri Dudko]] and other activists was part of any "wave of arrests" of church members. He often criticized, on the record, church and human rights individuals. His criticism also included the [[martyr]]ed Patr. [[Tikhon of Moscow|Tikhon]] and Andrei Sakharov for their opposition to socialism and creating conflict with the Soviet state.
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{{succession|
before=?Basil (Krivoshein) |title=Bishop Metropolitan of Volokolamsk<br>Vicar of Moscow Diocese|years= 1963-19712003|after=—}}{{succession|before=?|title=Archbishop [[Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk|years= 1971-1986|after=—}}{{succession|before=?|title=Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and Yuryev|years=1986-2003|after=?Hilarion (Alfeyev)]]}}{{end box}}
==Sources==
