Archbishop of Kazaň and Tchistopolsk, Sergij (Koroljov)- The outstanding personality of Prague Church Life in the 1st half of 20th Century

Abstract

Arkadij Dimitrijevič Koroljov was born in Moscow in 1881. After attending seminary, he studied from 1902-1906 at the Moscow Theological Academy, the most outstanding theological school in the Russian Empire.

In 1907 he become a monk in the Jablotsinsk monastery in the Cholm eparchy, obtaining the name Sergij. He was ordained as a priest and in 1914 he became Abbot (Archimandrite) of this monastery.

In 1921 he was consecrated as a Bishop and appointed the Eparchy of Vilno as an administrator. The Polish government expelled him as a 'persona non grata', and he went to Prague, where he organised the religious life of Russian immigrants.

This life flourished and produced rich fruits. After 1945, as Prague was under the influence of Soviet policy, Sergij was required to come back to the Patricharche of Moscow, and in 1946 was appointed Archbishop of Vienna, later of Berlin (1948) and in 1950, he was sent back to Russia, as Archbishop of Kazaň, where he died two years later (1952).