From Diocese of Sourozh
Diocesan Organisation and Administration
The Diocese of Sourozh is headed by its diocesan bishop and guided by its Diocesan Assembly and Council.
Hierarchy
The diocesan bishop is Bishop Elisey (Ganaba) of Sourozh.
An assistant bishop of the Diocese is Archbishop Anatoly (Kuznetsov) of Kerch.
The hierarchs are assisted by the diocesan clergy, who together oversee the broad collection of parishes and Eucharistic communities that form the diocese as a whole. In addition, there are a number of stavropegic parishes (i.e. those that are directly under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia) which are also associated with the life and work of the Diocese.
Diocesan Assembly & Council
Business relating to the life of the Diocese is advanced by the Diocesan Assembly, which meets twice per year, and the Diocesan Council which meets in advance of each Assembly session. The Assembly is an elected body from the Diocese together with the diocesan clergy, and the Council is elected from the Assembly. Together these bodies look after the mission of the Diocese, as well as its practical organisation and administration.
For information on the work of these bodies, please contact the secretary to the Diocesan Assembly.
Diocesan Office
The diocesan office is located in the Cathedral of the Dormition and All Saints. For details on contacting the diocesan office, please see our contacts page.
A Brief Historical Overview
The Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh is the diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate, in Great Britain and Ireland. Its name is taken from an ancient see in the Crimea that no longer has a bishop, and it has as its patron St Stephen of Sourozh, an eighth-century archbishop of Sourozh (modern-day Sudak) and confessor of the faith during the Iconoclastic Controversy.
The Diocese was founded in October 1962 by Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom), who was also its first head. It is currently headed by Bishop Elisey (Ganaba) of Sourozh. Archbishop Anatoly (Kuznetsov) of Kerch is an assistant bishop of the Diocese.
In the course of its history, and under the guidance of its hierarch, the Diocese of Sourozh developed its own distinctive ethos and character. This ethos reflects both the Franco-Russian emigre Orthodoxy in which Metropolitan Anthony had spent many of his formative years, as well as characteristics native to the Diocese that have emerged throughout its over-forty-year history.
Whilst distinctly grounded in its locality and culture and its mission in Great Britain and Ireland, the Diocese has always maintained its connection with and loyalty to the Moscow Patriarchate. In this way it has always aimed to be authentically the Russian Orthodox Church in Britain and Ireland, open to all—Metropolitan Anthony always insisted that the Diocese was open to all and not only to those of a particular ethnic background, as it continues to be today.
