Archbishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich)

Archbishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) (1884-1968)

Feodosiy may be spelt Theodosius, Teodosiy.

Pavel may be spelt Paul.

Belarus may be spelt Byelorus.

Early life of Pavel Ivanovich Samoilovich

On 19 June, 1884, Pavel Ivanovich Samoilovich was born into the family of a priest in the village of Mokrany, in Kobrin County, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire. This governorate is now a part of the country Belarus (Byelorus), but part of its former territory is in Poland. Kobrin County is now within the Brest Province of Belarus.

Pavel Ivanovich completed his primary and secondary education in his home county, and he then began theological studies.

Higher education

In his youth, Pavel Ivanovich studied at the Zhirovits Theological School in the Grodno Governorate, which at that time was headed by Peter Polyansky.

In 1905, Pavel Ivanovich then graduated from the Orthodox Christian Theological Seminary in Vilna, Lithuania.

Orthodox Theological Seminary, Vilnius

After his graduation, Pavel Ivanovich served for a time as a village psalm-reader (“Psalomschik”).

Marriage

During this time, he was married.

Ordinations, 1907

In 1907, Pavel Ivanovich Samoilovich was ordained to the Holy Diaconate and then to the Holy Priesthood.

Bereavement, 1908

In 1908, the wife of Deacon Pavel Samoilovich fell asleep in the Lord.

It is not stated, but it is possible that her repose had something to do with childbirth. It was a too-common occurrence in previous times (although there are other reasons).

Further education, 1910

In 1910, Priest Pavel I Samoilovich entered the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy in Saint Petersburg.

Monastic tonsure, 1912

On 9 June, 1912, Priest Pavel Samoilovich was tonsured to be a monk, and he was given the name of Feodosiy (Theodosius) in honour of Saint Theodosius of the Kiev Caves.

One biography says that this occurred in 1915.

Further pastoral service

In 1914, Hieromonk Feodosiys (Samoilovich) graduated from the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy with the degree of Candidate of Theology (Ph.D.). His dissertation was the historical work "Orthodox Monasteries of the Grodno Diocese".

On 12 September, 1914, Hieromonk Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was assigned to serve as the assistant supervisor of the Tomsk Theological School in Siberia.

Tomsk Theological Seminary

On 30 June, 1915, he was assigned to serve as the assistant superintendent of the Oboyan Theological School of the Kursk Diocese.

In 1918, after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the school was closed, and it was relocated in the Oboyan Znamensky Monastery.

In 1919, Hieromonk Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was serving as a priest in the White Movement military units.

In 1919, he was transferred to Crimea, where he was assigned to be the Vicar-Abbot (“namestnik”) of the Kherson monastery in Sevastopol, and also to lead the Pastoral-Theological School.

Hieromonk Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite.

Exile, 1920

In 1920 Archimandrite Feodosiy emigrated from Crimea, as did many others during and after the post-revolution Russia Civil War (1918-1923).

He went first to Constantinople (Istanbul), where he served as a hospital priest at the Russian embassy.

Yugoslavia, 1921

In 1921, together with Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky), he moved to Yugoslavia.

There, he entered under the omophor of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and he served pastoral obediences in the Timocha, Shabatskoy, Bitolskaya and Pakrakskoy eparchies.

Entry to ROCOR, 1930

In 1930, Archimandrite Feodosiy was received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR).

Episcopal ordination, 1931

On 11 January, 1931, in Belgrade, Archimandrite Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was ordained to the Holy Episcopate by Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky) and Archbishop Feofan (Gavrilov) of Kursk and Oboyan.

Episcopal service

Bishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was assigned in 1931 to serve as the Bishop of Detroit, Michigan in the USA.

He served as Vicar-Bishop of Detroit, which was a dependency of the Diocese of New York and Eastern America.

Transfer to USA, 1931

In 1931, after the ordination, Bishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) emigrated to the USA in order to take up his responsibility.

From 1933, Bishop Feodosiy was assigned also to serve as the temporary administrator of the See of San Francisco, at that time a dependency of the Diocese of New York and Eastern America.

In early 1934, Vladyka Feodosiy was assigned to serve as the diocesan bishop of San Francisco, now a distinct diocese.

Vladyka Feodosiy succeeded Archbishop Apollinary (Koshevoy) in this responsibility.

Transfer to Brazil, 1934

Then, on 4 September, 1934, Bishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was transferred to the newly-established Brazilian Diocese, and he was given the title "Bishop of São Paulo and all Brazil".

When he was given this assignment by the Holy Synod of the ROCOR, he was also given jurisdiction over most of the Russian parishes in South America, with the exception of the parishes in Argentina. These remained under the pastoral supervision of Protopresbyter Constantine Izraztsov (a native of the Tver Province of the Russian Empire), who was nevertheless directly subordinate to Bishop Feodosiy. Father Constantine had been in South America since his assignment there in 1891. In 1926, he had been named the administrator of all parishes in South America. It was from about that time that large groups of émigrés began to arrive in South America.

On 5 January, 1935, Bishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) arrived in Brazil, accompanied by the Hieromonk Parmen (Ostrankov), a former monk of the Optina Monastery.

From that moment on, Vladyka Feodosiy's activity concerning the organisation of the new Russian Orthodox diocese began in earnest.

Bishop Feodosiy in Brazil, 1930s

Legal recognition of the diocese, 1939

In 1939, the Government of Brazil officially and legally recognised the Brazilian Diocese of the ROCOR. Immediately, the Diocesan Council of the Brazilian Diocese was established under the chairmanship of Bishop Feodosiy.

The bishop performed strictly the authorised services on Sundays and on public holidays. The services were accompanied by the singing of the church choir, which for many years was led by "Psalomshchik" (psalmist) D A Sukhanov.

As the Bishop of São Paulo, he was responsible for all the parishes of South America. As previously mentioned, the exception was the communities in Argentina which were overseen by the Protopresbyter Constantine Izraztsov.

Construction of Saint Nicholas Cathedral, São-Paulo, 1939

In addition to his concerns about meeting the religious needs of Orthodox Russian people scattered throughout South America, Vladyka Feodosiy was busy with the concern of building Temples. The Russian Orthodox had begun to immigrate to Brazil already in 1921, and they had become quite numerous. The parish of Saint Nicholas in São-Paulo had already been founded in 1927, and services had been held in an Antiochian Temple. In that year, Father Michael Klyarovsky had begun to serve the Russian-speaking community.

After a relatively short period of time (8 months), from donations given by parishioners and from money allocated from the diocese by Protopresbyter Father Konstantin Izraztsov for the project, Saint Nicholas Cathedral was erected in São Paulo. It was constructed in accordance with the plans of the architect Konstantin Trofimov, who later was ordained to the Holy Priesthood. The new cathedral was sanctified on 6/19 August, 1939, by Bishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich).

Saint Nicholas Cathedral, São-Paulo, 6 August, 1939

Later, the diocesan cathedral was transformed from a parish church into one of the major centres of Orthodox Christianity in South America, and the newly-established diocese was designed to serve all Orthodox parishes on the continent (except Argentina).

In the meantime, in 1943, Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov), of the Moscow Patriarchate's Exarchate of North and South America, ordained Archimandrite Feodor (Tecuchev) to the Holy Episcopate, and assigned him to serve in Buenos Aires as Bishop of Buenos Aires and South America.

Post World War II immigration, 1945

After World War II, when many new Russian refugees began to arrive in South America, Vladyka Feodosiy diligently nourished them.

In 1947, after the division between the ROCOR and the North American "Metropolia" (Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in North America), Protopresbyter Constantine Izraztsov decided to leave the ROCOR and to join the "Metropolia" (ROGCCNA). At this time, the ROCOR Holy Synod created its own diocese of Buenos Aires and Argentina, and Archbishop Panteleimon (Rudyk) was assigned to serve as the bishop.

A third diocese existed, in Paraguay : the Diocese of Asuncion and Paraguay, with Bishop Leontiy (Philippovich) as the ruling bishop. This diocese existed only between 1947 and 1953 (mostly because Russian-speakers in the country were few, and often transient).

For more than 20 years, Vladyka Feodosiy was the permanent editor and publisher of the only diocesan journal in South America : "Sim Pobedish".

Bishop Vitaly (Ustinov), the Vicar-Bishop of the same ROCOR diocese (who founded the New Pochaev Monastery in Vila-Alpina), organised a printing house that published the "Orthodox Review" magazine and published church books, theological works, and Russian Orthodox calendars.

Vladyka Feodosiy was responsible for missionary activities elsewhere in the vast Brazilian diocese. After the end of the World War II, with the beginning of the so-called "second wave" of emigration, displaced persons began to arrive in Brazil (in 1947-1951, 6,400 Russians and Ukrainians moved there). Amongst them, there were especially many children and women from the Far East and from China, who had lost their husbands. The Russian Church provided these people with all possible assistance in getting settled and (to the extent possible) facilitated the adaptation process. The girls were sent to schools without cost ; the boys lived at the Saint Vladimir’s boarding school in Itu (100 km/62 mi from São Paulo), where local Jesuit fathers provided accommodation. Industrialists and entrepreneurs donated equipment and money.

In order to draw people into the bosom of the Church and to help the growth of the Word of God in the newly-converted, specially-issued prayer-books were offered. In these, along with Church Slavonic texts, were placed translations into Russian of all prayers, along with explanations.

With the arrival in Latin America of new refugees, the activities of the Brazilian Diocese expanded, and the number of parishes and priests increased. At the request of Vladyka Feodosiy, the Diocesan Synod sent from Europe new priests : members of the Brotherhood of Saint Job of Pochaev : Archimandrite Agapit (Kryjanovski) (who in 1956 became the Bishop of Goiania (in the Goias State), Vicar-Bishop of the Brazilian Diocese), Igumen Valentin, and others.

During these years, Bishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was elevated to the dignity of archbishop.

In 1950, Archbishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was awarded the right to wear a diamond (usually glass) Cross on the klobuk.

The parishes became another aspect of Vladyka Feodosiy's work : in them, he often performed requested services of need. The worship aspect of church life occupied an important place in his life. Being in a Roman Catholic country, the Russian Orthodox Mission managed to live in harmony with representatives of this denomination. Thus, in 1952, the Roman Catholic First Vicar-Bishop of Brazil presented a gift to the parish of the Holy Martyr Zinaida : a statue of the Saviour (bearing a Cross), which bore the inscription "The Revival of Russia will be the result of her suffering". In turn, representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church presented the Roman Catholic Vicar-Bishop with an icon of the Mother of God.

Holy Martyr Zinaida Temple, Rio de Janeiro (est. 1921)

New parishes, 1950s

As a consequence of the immigration, and of the labours of Vladyka Feodosiy and the clergy, by the beginning of the 1950s, the Brazilian Diocese included the following parishes :

 Saint Nicholas Cathedral in São Paulo (rector – Vladyka Feodosiy) ; 
 the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Vila-Alpina (rector – Hieromonk Paul) ; 
 Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in Vila-Selina (rector – Mitred Archpriest Father Nikolai Predovich) ; 
 Saint Sergius of Radonezh in the city of Indianopolis (pastors – Archpriest Alexander Samoilovich 
 and Hieromonk Seraphim) ; 
 Resurrection of Christ in the city of Vila Anastasio (rector – Archpriest George Trunov) ; 
 Seraphim of Sarov in the town of Karapikuiva (rector – Igumen Innokenty) ; 
 Holy Martyr Zinaida in the city of Rio de Janeiro (rector – Mitred Archpriest John Nagovsky) ; 
 The Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in the city of Niteroi (rector – Archimandrite Agapit) ; 
 All Saints in the city of Niteroi (served by the Mitred Archpriest John Nagovsky) ; 
 Saint Sergius of Radonezh in Porto Alegre (rector – Igumen Valentin).

In addition, the congregation of the Holy Martyr Panteleimon was active in the town of Pratos, and other parishes in the cities of Goiania, Ponta Grossa and Londrina (the state of Paraná).

First diocesan assembly, 1953

In May, 1953, the First Assembly of the Brazilian Diocese was held under the chairmanship of the Archbishop Feodosiy, with the participation of laity. Also present were Archbishop Joasaph (Skorodumov) of Buenos Aires and Argentina, Archbishop Anthony (Sinkevich) of Los Angeles, and Bishop Vitaly (Ustinov) of Montevideo.

The assembly presented reports on a wide range of issues, in particular : “Relationship between Shepherds and Laity” (Father Sergiy Borodin), “On the Participation of Laymen in Church Management” (V D Merzheevsky), “On Materialism from a Christian Point-of-view” (Protopresbyter A Shabashev), "Unity and Church" (Bishop Vitaly (Ustinov)), "On Worship and Missionary Activity in Brazil" (Archimandrite Agapit (Kryjanovski)).

First Diocese of Brazil Assembly, 1953

At the prayer service (moleben) at the opening of the Diocesan Assembly, 3 bishops and 13 priests served.

In December, 1954, the second assembly of the Brazilian Diocese was held.

The long time of serving the Church in Brazil by Archbishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) largely determined the spiritual state of the Russian emigration in that country. Thanks to pastors like Vladyka Feodosiy, the Church managed to occupy a worthy place in the intellectual life of emigration. These pastors also helped to preserve the cultural and national traditions of the Russian emigration in Latin America. With the opening of new parishes, the construction of Temples, the Orthodox Christian Church helped the Russian diaspora abroad to pass through a difficult path of adaptation and introduction into the foreign cultural environment.

Archbishop Feodosiy and some São Paulo clergy

By the end of the 1950s, there were more than 10 Russian Orthodox parishes in Brazil.

Vladyka Feodosiy, Igumen Valentin, Sisterhood of Protection Parish

Sometime between 1956 and 1961, Archbishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) was formally introduced to President J Kubitschek of Brazil.

Meeting President J Kubitschek

Nevertheless, in 1962, Archbishop Vitaly (Ustinov) stated in a perhaps unfair assessment :

 The decline of the situation in Brazil is beyond doubt. [...] There are a lot of Russians in
 Brazil.  We lost tens of thousands of people there. There is a huge field of activity [...] 
 Archbishop Feodosiy is a kind and good old man, but he lacks the strength and this plunges 
 him into pessimism.  If there had been a free-running full-time bishop, then in São Paulo there 
 could have been a second San Francisco”.

Repose, 1968

On 1 March, 1968, Bishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich) fell asleep in the Lord in São Paulo.

After the Services for the Burial of a Hierarch, his body was interred in a São Paulo cemetery.

— Bishop of Detroit 1931-1933. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Vicar-Bishop of the Diocese of New York and Eastern America.

— Temporary administrator of the San Francisco Vicariate 1933.

— Bishop of San Francisco 1934. Preceded by : Archbishop Apollinary (Koshevoy). Succeeded by : ____.

— Bishop of São Paulo and all Brazil 1934-194?. Preceded by : See was created. Succeeded by : ____.

— Archbishop of São Paulo and all Brazil 194?-1968. Preceded by : Title was created. Succeeded by : Bishop Leontiy (Philippovich).

Archbishop Feodosiy (Samoilovich)

Reflections

Of course, Vladyka Vitaly may have had a point in his aforementioned 1962 criticism. However, the ROCOR herself did not necessarily at that time have available the sort of younger bishop that he envisaged, and she probably lacked the necessary priests and finances as well. Moreover, he does not seem to have taken into account the very substantial growth in numbers of parishes and clergy during the service of Vladyka Feodosiy.

After the repose of Bishop Feodosiy, the Diocese of São Paulo was temporarily ruled by Archbishop Seraphim (Svezhevsky) of Caracas, Venezuela. Then, on 5 September, 1969, Bishop Leontiy (Philippovich) was assigned to serve as the Bishop of São Paulo and Brazil. He was at the same time assigned to serve the Diocese of Santiago and Chile (a very small diocese).

In September, 1976, Bishop Seraphim described the state of the diocese as follows:

 There are 18 parishes in Brazil, of which 7 are without priests. [...] 8000 people 
 live in São Paulo and a priest is badly needed.  A temple was built in Pedreiro, 
 in which it is planned to make a diocesan centre.  Another piece of land was bought 
 there.  The cathedral, although in the centre of the city, has the disadvantage that 
 it does not have a parking lot.  Young people were lost in previous years and no 
 contact with them can be established.  The cathedral is being denationalised.  There 
 are no parallel jurisdictions, but there are Uniates who have a school for children.

In 1976, Bishop Nicandro (Paderin) was assigned to serve as Bishop of São Paulo. He led the diocese until his repose in the Lord on 2 December, 1987.

Because of the assimilation and lack of clergy mentioned by Bishop Seraphim, the population of the Diocese of São Paulo gradually decreased. After the repose of Bishop Nicandro, no new bishop was assigned to the Diocese of São Paulo.

In 1994, the diocese was administered Archpriest Gregory Petrenko, who was respected by parishioners at that time.

Gradually, the number of Brazilian parishes in the ROCOR decreased – from 12 Temples to 11, and then to 7. Then 4 parishes moved to the Argentine Diocese of the Patriarchate of Moscow (centred at Annunciation Cathedral in Buenos Aires, Argentina) because of the lack of clergy and the lack of funds to support travel expenses for clergy to these places.

In the 1990s, it was decided by the ROCOR Holy Synod to join the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia into one, based on the ROCOR Diocese of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Awards

Blessed Gramotas (certificates)

Diamond Cross on the Klobuk (1950)

References

Russian Wikipedia biography

Drevo Encyclopaedia biography

Academic Dictionary biography

Archbishop Feodosiy biography by Marina Nikolaevna Moseikina

ROCOR list of bishops with short biographies

Additional information :

Makovetsky, Archpriest Arkady, “Belaya Tserkov : Far from Atheistic Terror”. (in Russian)

Moseykina, Marina Nikolaevna, “Samoilovich, Pavel Ivanovich (Feodosiy) (1884–1968)”, 2000. (in Russian)

Moseykina, Marina Nikolaevna, “Father Theodosiy - Archbishop of São Paulo and All Brazil”, 2001. (in Russian)

Seide, Gernot, "History of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia from its Beginnings to the Present : Part IV, Chapter 1.6 – The Diocese in South America" (rocorstudies.org)

Seide, Gernot : “History of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia from its Beginnings to the Present (1983)”

"On the day of the 25th Anniversary of the Ministry of His Eminence Feodosiy, Archbishop of São Paulo and All Brazil (1930-1955)" [Jubilee collection], (São Paulo : Izd. Iubileinago komiteta pri Brazilskoi Eparkhii, 1956).

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia web-site

Orthodoxwiki article about the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Commemorative Jubilee on the Day of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary in the Rank of Bishop of the Most Reverend Theodosius, São Paulo, 1956. (in Russian)

Drevo : Русская Зарубежная Церковь и династия Романовых (Drevo-info.ru article : "Russian Church Abroad and Romanov Dynasty" (in Russian)

Sao Paulo, Brazil

History of the Diocese of São Paulo and Brazil

Wikipedia history of the Diocese of São Paulo and Brazil of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Drevo Encyclopaedia article about the Diocese of São Paulo and Brazil

Holy Martyr Zinaida Orthodox Church in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, São Paulo, Brazil

Antiochian Archdiocese of Sao Paulo and All Brazil

Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky)