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Alexei Illarionovich Kim was born on [[January 19]], 1976 in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk. He attended school in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, graduating from the Vostochny Lyceum in 1993. Alexei continued his education at the South Sakhalin branch of the Moscow Commercial University, graduating in 1997. After deciding on a religious education, Alexei entered the Smolensk [[Seminary]] from which he graduated in 2000. In 2010 and 2011, he continued his studies at the [[Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary|Moscow Theological Academy]].
He was, first, a member of the Church of St. Innocent of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk from 1995 where he sang in the choir before serving at the [[Resurrection]] [[Cathedral]] in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. On [[August 14]], 1997, Alexei was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] by Bishop Ionafan of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and the Kuril Islands with the name Feofan in honor of St. [[Theophanes the Confessor]], Bishop of [[Nicea]]. On [[August 17]], 1997, Mnk. Feofan was [[ordination|ordained]] a hierodeacon by Bishop Ionafan, who then,ordained Dcn. Feofan a [[hieropriesthieromonk]] on [[August 19]].
During 1997 and 1998, Fr. Feofan was a [[priest]] at the Resurrection Cathedral in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, while serving as director of the cathedral choir and editor of the diocesan newspaper. In 1998, Fr. Feofan returned to study at the Smolensk Seminary. During this period he was assigned to the Smolensk Cathedral. In 2000, Fr. Feofan was assigned as a priest to the Diocese of Abakan and Kyzyl in central Siberia.
