We offer unofficial biography His Beatitude, prepared for the official website of the UOC by the press secretary of the Primate, Archimandrite Paphnutius (Musienko).

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry was born on November 5, 1944 in the Bukovina village of Vilavche into the deeply religious Berezovsky family. The uncle of the future Metropolitan, priest Dionysius, served in his native village for many years. After the death of Father Dionysius, his house was rebuilt into a village club, which still functions today. Thank God, this was the end of the anti-religious propaganda of the new Soviet government in the then Vilavcha. True, the village was renamed Korytnoye because officials did not like that the old name had Romanian roots (according to one version, it comes from the phrase “valya lunche”, which means “long yar” in Romanian).

The northern part of Bukovina, where he was born and spent his childhood and teenage years His Beatitude was inhabited mainly by Ukrainians, but people traditionally spoke both Ukrainian and Romanian languages. In addition, the two peoples were united by the Orthodox faith, which significantly strengthened church unity in the region and made any interfaith confrontations impossible. At one time, in the turbulent 90s, having arrived in Chernivtsi in the rank of Bishop of Chernivtsi and Bukovina, Bishop Onuphry began strengthening church peace in his diocese, like any other business, with himself. It was then that he learned the Romanian language perfectly.

Orest's father (the bishop received this name at baptism), Archpriest Vladimir, also continued family tradition, performing divine services in the neighboring village of Berezhonka. Mother Julia led household and raised four children, teaching them prayer, piety and love for God. Later, His Beatitude will often remember how he sometimes wanted to kick a ball with other kids on Sunday, but his mother woke him up early in the morning and took him to church. Orestes was no different from his peers; he was always cheerful, inventive and sociable. But the love of solitude has always been characteristic of him. The Berezovsky family had a house far from the central road - on a mountain near a forest, which became a reliable friend and adviser for the future saint.

Upon graduation in 1961 high school Orest Berezovsky began his studies at the Chernivtsi Technical School, then worked in construction organizations in Chernivtsi, and in 1966 he entered the general technical faculty of Chernivtsi University. Fellow villagers were not surprised at how the guy’s fate turned out, since everyone knew him as an inquisitive person and respected him for his education.

They were not very surprised when in 1969, after the third year of university, Orest was enrolled in the second year of the Moscow Theological Seminary. Everyone understood that serving God was the Berezovsky family calling. And yet, one day a neighbor who came to visit the Berezovskys saw that the hostess was thoughtful and somewhat upset.

Are you all healthy, how is Orestes?
- Thank God, everyone is healthy, but Orestes is no longer Orestes, but Onuphrius, he is no longer ours...

This was the only sad moment in the future family connections monk Onufry with his parents, who blessed him for high service. Each time during the Liturgy, Father prayed to God with special trepidation for the entire “ monastic rank", and the mother is everything free time sat on the porch and read the Psalter, asking God for His mercy and support for her son.

The merciful Lord, through the prayers of pious parents and for the diligent labors of the young ascetic, did not leave him without His care. After Orestes took monastic vows at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra on March 18, 1971, on June 20 of the same year, Monk Onufry was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, on May 29, 1972 - to the rank of hieromonk, and in 1980 he was elevated to the rank of hegumen.

Whatever types of obedience Father Onuphry was blessed with, he diligently and humbly fulfilled each of them, finding time for the early midnight office, and for visiting the fraternal choir, and for prayer, which strengthened and inspired him. Father Onuphry was loved by both the brethren and the parishioners.

On August 28, 1984, Abbot Onufry was appointed rector of the Transfiguration Church of the Athos Representation in the village of Lukino, Moscow Region, and a year later, on June 28, 1985, dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. At Christmas 1986, Abbot Onuphry was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. In 1988 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy with an academic degree of candidate of theology, and in the same year he was appointed vicar of the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra, where he served until November 1990.

And here it is again in Ukraine, motherland. It fell to Vladyka Onuphry to return to difficult times formation of his native country, which was often accompanied, unfortunately, by public misunderstandings and interfaith confrontations, especially a lot of them happened in the West of Ukraine. The Pochaev brethren, under the wise leadership of their governor, courageously withstood public pressure and preserved the Orthodox faith.

It was not easy for Bishop Onuphry to serve in his native Bukovina. Although among the Bukovinian flock there were no such problems as in neighboring Galicia, the general church situation in Ukraine could not but affect the Bukovinian diocese.

In 1992, Chernivtsi Bishop Onuphry spoke out against the uncanonical actions of the then Metropolitan Philaret (Denisenko), for which he fell out of favor and was transferred to the Ivano-Frankivsk See. However, his flock did not want to part with their bishop, whom they had come to love during the two years of his ministry. All access to the diocesan administration was blocked, thereby closing any possibility of forcibly transferring the archpastor to Ivano-Frankivsk. Vladyka Onuphry remained in forced seclusion for a long time, and perhaps it was his prayer at that time that inclined God’s mercy to Bukovina and the whole of Ukraine, since for the next two decades God’s peace and relative calm reigned throughout the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Last February, the Bukovinian flock did not very happily accept the news that their bishop had been appointed Locum Tenens of the Kyiv Metropolitan See, because they understood that Bishop Onuphry might not return to Chernivtsi. And so it happened. On August 13, 2014, by the decision of the Council of Bishops of the UOC, Metropolitan Onuphry of Chernivtsi and Bukovina was elected Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. But then Bukovina and all of Ukraine were already rejoicing, and sincerely hoped that the Metropolitan, having such extensive experience in peacemaking, would be able to strengthen the internal church peace and help restore peace in the state, since hostilities in the East had reached their peak.

Since the beginning of last year, thank God, there have been fewer shots fired, although final peace is still a long way off. However, all believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church felt and became convinced that the guarantee of the return of peace both in their souls and throughout Ukraine depends not on politicians, not on parties, but on how much each of us becomes closer to Christ, how much there is in each heart faith in the Lord's intercession burns and prayer burns. Because everyone is talking about love for Ukraine. Does everyone pray? The Primate prays.

Translation by the editors of the magazine “FOMA in Ukraine”.

“Today we are being drawn into the format political party. So that it is not Christ who leads us, but one of the politicians. If I wanted to be a politician, I would be one, I would not put on such clothes, but would immediately go into politics. Although I had such chances when I was young. I threw them away. Having put on spiritual clothes, I must think and care about spiritual things. And those people who put on robes and are engaged in effective politics, building all sorts of geopolitical plans are simply dishonest people who could not be real priests, who made some kind of werewolves out of themselves in order to attract people’s attention to themselves through their spiritual image. This is unfair. And these people will have to answer very hard to God.

We are an independent Church. And we have all the attributes of independence that we need today for normal service to God and the people.

We have our own Synod, independent of anyone. We have a Council of Bishops, independent of anyone, the decisions of our Council are independent - no one has the right to veto them. We have a church court, which is the final authority. We have everything of our own: we have economic, administrative independence...

Tomos will be a limitation of the freedom we have today. We don't need this. We have independence, autonomy, we have all the attributes free life, necessary for the church’s successful spiritual service to people.

What we have with the Moscow Patriarchate are spiritual, prayerful, canonical, cultural connections- This is fine. It should be. The Church is not a political organization that today loves one and hates another, and tomorrow it will be the other way around.

The Church loves everyone, we love everyone. We love Moscow, we love Russians, we love Americans, we love Africans, we love Asians - we love everyone. We have no enemies. We have enemies who oppose us, but they are not our enemies. We pray for them.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople sent two of its exarchs to Ukraine.

This is a non-canonical action of the Church of Constantinople. She has no right to send her legates, her exarchs, to our independent Church.

It was once a powerful Church that embraced the entire civilized world. She identified herself with the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantine Empire covered almost the entire world, and the Church was equivalent to it. But today there is no Byzantine Empire, they live in the past. And instead of the large state that Byzantium was, today there is Türkiye, in which there is not even an Orthodox faith. There you can count the Orthodox Christians on your fingers.

And they brought their homeland to such a state that it turned from an Orthodox powerful state into a Muslim state. And today they want to command us, teach us how we need to live?

Do they want to bring our Ukraine to the same state as they brought their homeland? They have neither the moral nor the canonical right to appoint exarchs here and interfere in our affairs. Interfering in the affairs of another Church is an anti-church, anti-canonical action, it is a sin. And sin leads to division of people. This sin of interference in the affairs of our Church can give rise to a schism on a global scale.

The Church cannot live by the standards of worldly life. Worldly life, especially political life, is mixed with intrigue, deception, betrayal... - a set of all kinds of evil. The Church cannot live by such standards; She lives by the commandments of Christ. We have our own methods of fighting evil. This is prayer, repentance, patience, humility before each other and before God. This is a powerful weapon that destroys evil.

The priest is called to be a peacemaker, not a politician who divides people. And the ideology that is being propagated today is not God’s ideology, because the ideology that is being propagated in our society today is becoming anti-Christian. Legitimizing same-sex marriage, abortion, suicide, etc. is all contrary to Christ. God does not bless people to do this. The Church fulfills its mission - It leads people to God, reminds people that we are all God's creations and that God calls us all to love each other, tolerate each other and help each other.

I know that our Church will exist until the end of the world, because the Lord said that the gates of hell will not prevail against Her.

I would like to appeal to all believers of our Church. Don't be afraid of anything. Be strong in your love for God. Keep the purity holy Orthodox faith, she is the road that leads a person to God. Love each other, tolerate each other, help each other.

Evil will pass, but good will live forever. If we endure everything, live in love for everyone and each other, then no evil will defeat us. God is a God of power, but evil has no power. Let us live with God - and we will be joyful, happy and blessed.”

In April 2018, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko addressed To His Holiness the Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople with a request for the provision of a Tomos of autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The appeal of the head of state was supported by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as well as by the hierarchs of the unrecognized “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate” and the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church”. On April 22 the appeal was officially accepted for consideration Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

At the same time, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Onuphry didn't put forward no initiatives regarding the granting of autocephaly to it.

In an Address to the episcopate, clergy, monastics and laity, adopted on May 25, the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church emphasized that “the emergence of another parallel jurisdiction in Ukraine may give rise to new confrontations within our people, which will not only threaten the security of the state, but will also call into question the possibility of the future unity of the Church in Ukraine.

“Our people may be divided for a long time, if not forever,” they fear the consequences of granting autocephaly to the UOC.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople expressed its intention unilaterally grant autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The message of Patriarch Bartholomew on the occasion of the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', in particular, says that the Church of Constantinople “took upon itself the initiative to restore the unity of the Orthodox believers of Ukraine with ultimate goal to grant the Ukrainian Church autocephaly.”

On September 7, a communiqué of the General Secretariat of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was published, which reported two hierarchs of the Church of Constantinople- Archbishop Daniel of Pamphylia (USA) and Bishop Hilarion of Edmonton (Canada) - “exarchs” of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Kyiv.

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed against these actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, stating that “this decision was made without the consent of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill and Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine and is gross violation of church canons, prohibiting the bishops of one Local Church from interfering in inner life and the affairs of another Local Church."

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has everything necessary to serve God and the people. His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine spoke about this in exclusive interview TV program “Morning on Inter”, reports “FOMA in Ukraine”.

Today we are being drawn into the format of a political party. So that it is not Christ who leads us, but one of the politicians. If I wanted to be a politician, I would be one, I would not put on such clothes, but would immediately go into politics. Although I had such chances when I was young. I threw them away. Having put on spiritual clothes, I must think and care about spiritual things. And those people who put on robes and are engaged in effective politics, building all sorts of geopolitical plans are simply dishonest people who could not be real priests, who made some kind of werewolves out of themselves in order to attract people’s attention to themselves through their spiritual image. This is unfair. And these people will have to answer very hard to God.

We are an independent Church. And we have all the attributes of independence that we need today for normal service to God and the people.

We have our own Synod, independent of anyone. We have a Council of Bishops, independent of anyone, the decisions of our Council are independent - no one has the right to veto them. We have a church court, which is the final authority. We have everything of our own: we have economic, administrative independence... The Tomos will be a limitation of the freedom that we have today. We don't need this. We have independence, self-sufficiency, we have all the attributes of a free life necessary for successful church spiritual service to people.

The fact that we have spiritual, prayerful, canonical, cultural ties with the Moscow Patriarchate is normal. It should be. The Church is not a political organization that today loves one and hates another, and tomorrow it will be the other way around. The Church loves everyone, we love everyone. We love Moscow, we love Russians, we love Americans, we love Africans, we love Asians - we love everyone. We have no enemies. We have enemies who oppose us, but they are not our enemies. We pray for them.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople sent two of its exarchs to Ukraine. This is a non-canonical action of the Church of Constantinople. She has no right to send her legates, her exarchs, to our independent Church.

It was once a powerful Church that embraced the entire civilized world. She identified herself with the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantine Empire covered almost the entire world, and the Church was equivalent to it. But today there is no Byzantine Empire, they live in the past. And instead of the large state that Byzantium was, today there is Türkiye, in which there is not even an Orthodox faith. There you can count the Orthodox Christians on your fingers. And they brought their homeland to such a state that it turned from an Orthodox powerful state into a Muslim state. And today they want to command us, teach us how we need to live?

Do they want to bring our Ukraine to the same state as they brought their homeland? They have neither the moral nor the canonical right to appoint exarchs here and interfere in our affairs.

Interfering in the affairs of another Church is an anti-church, anti-canonical action, it is a sin. And sin leads to division of people. This sin of interference in the affairs of our Church can give rise to a schism on a global scale.

The Church cannot live by the standards of worldly life. Worldly life, especially political life, is mixed with intrigue, deception, betrayal... - a collection of all kinds of evil. The Church cannot live by such standards; She lives by the commandments of Christ. We have our own methods of fighting evil. This is prayer, repentance, patience, humility before each other and before God. This is a powerful weapon that destroys evil.

The priest is called to be a peacemaker, not a politician who divides people. And the ideology that is being propagated today is not God’s ideology, because the ideology that is being propagated in our society today is becoming anti-Christian. Legitimizing same-sex marriage, abortion, suicide, etc. is all contrary to Christ. God does not bless people to do this. The Church fulfills its mission - It leads people to God, reminds people that we are all God's creations and that God calls us all to love each other, tolerate each other and help each other.

I know that our Church will exist until the end of the world, because the Lord said that the gates of hell will not prevail against Her.

I would like to appeal to all believers of our Church. Don't be afraid of anything. Be strong in your love for God. Keep the purity of the holy Orthodox faith, it is the road that leads a person to God. Love each other, tolerate each other, help each other.

Evil will pass, but good will live forever. If we endure everything, live in love for everyone and each other, then no evil will defeat us. God is a God of power, but evil has no power. Let us live with God - and we will be joyful, happy and blessed.

And also Archbishop Joachim of Berounsky and Abbot Athos monastery Dochiar of Archimandrite Gregory.

“His Beatitude is an example of courage, steadfastness, and depth of faith.”

— Each generation of Christians is convinced that it is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who governs His Church. While sending certain trials, He always sends consolations. And, of course, during periods of special trials, the Lord sends those shepherds who are needed precisely at this difficult moment for earthly Church.

We thank God that during this difficult period church history, the history of our Fatherland, the Lord gave us such a Primate - His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine. With his simplicity in faith, but very bold, Vladyka Onuphry is a guide for all of us: from the episcopate to ordinary believers. His Beatitude is an example of courage, perseverance, and depth of faith. And it is these qualities that determine our actions in life.

The times we are going through today show how much a person believes. Not by formal characteristics, but by his inner fullness: what he breathes, what he talks about, how he acts.

And His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, speaking about how one should live, by example shows in practice this path - the path of perseverance and internal struggle. After all, this is precisely the strength of the Church, the true Church, which the Lord created with His Blood.

“With him is the triumph of faith!”

— Thank God that our Church has such a Primate in difficult times. This is great happiness and mercy of God! God grant that through His Beatitude Onuphry we begin our saving work. And we need to help him with this through prayer! There is time for repentance. The Lord sees our weakness and gives us the opportunity not to perish. No matter what, His Beatitude, through his ministry, accomplishes the triumph of Orthodoxy. With him comes the triumph of faith! This is such a joy!

“We have known each other since I studied at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra”

“I have known Vladyka Onuphry for many years. When I studied at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra,... We've known each other since then. Then we met at his place in Chernivtsi. There is such a beautiful monastery there! Bishop Longin, with whom I am also friends, and the brethren of the monastery take care of 550 children who have no parents, who are hopelessly ill, and whom no one wants to take into the family. And so I was invited to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the memory Prince Equal to the Apostles Vladimir. It was a wonderful holiday! I told Bishop Onuphry that, on the one hand, it was very modest, and on the other, very solemn! And luxury is absolutely not needed here! They wanted to send me to Russia, but before that I had already promised Vladyka Onufry to come. And I’m glad I came: I really liked everything.

“Vladyka Onuphry is a man of holy life”

“There are clergy who think about the Church and are capable of sacrificing themselves for the Church, for conciliarity. And there are those who think only about themselves and sacrifice the Church. This is a split.

And, of course, there is no grace in the schism - only politics and pride. This is very noticeable in Ukraine. And we in the Czech Republic are very glad that Ukrainian Church headed by such a person as Bishop Onuphry.

In our difficult times, it is very important that the head of the Church is a holy man, an ascetic. And we all know that Bishop Onuphry is a man of holy life. And it is a great mercy for Ukraine that he led the Church. This is evidence that this Church is grace-filled.

I also ask that you pray for us, for the Czech Republic, so that the Church can resist temptations and temptations. The worst thing is the internal split. Worst of all. Because if there are enemies outside, it is not difficult to fight them. And if the Church is destroyed by enemies from within, it is very difficult and difficult.

All of them destroy not only the Church, but also the people. And this can be seen in Ukraine.

“We would like such a Primate in Greece”

— I really love and honor His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry. We have known each other for many years. We would like such a Primate in Greece.

Some people, no matter how hard they try to hide it, attract bees to themselves like honey. Vladyka Onuphry is just that attractive. A gentle, kind man. Calm but decisive.

Outwardly, it may seem that the Lord is a naive, good-natured person. But in reality he is very tough. He competently does everything that the Church needs, he does everything right.

I don’t believe that he likes “showcase”, window dressing. He always comes to us on Athos in the same cassock. Never agrees to take the rod. I even once thought of making him a staff from reeds, but we simply don’t have one on Mount Athos. And in my village, grandfathers and grandmothers always walked with such staves.

Permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Born on November 5, 1944 in the village. Korytnoye, Vashkovsky district, Chernivtsi region. Ukraine in the family of a priest.

In 1964 he graduated from the Chernivtsi Technical School, worked in a construction organization, and in 1966 he entered the general technical faculty of the Chernivtsi State University. In 1969 he left the university and entered.

In 1970 he was admitted to the brethren.

On March 18, 1971, he was tonsured a monk, on June 20, he was ordained a hierodeacon, and on May 29, 1972, he was ordained a hieromonk.

In 1980 he was elevated to the rank of abbot.

On August 28, 1984, he was appointed rector of the Transfiguration Church of the Athos Compound in the village. Lukin, Moscow region.

In 1988 he graduated from the MDA with a candidate's degree in theology.

On December 9, 1990, in the Vladimir Cathedral of Kyiv, he was consecrated Bishop of Chernivtsi and Bukovina.

On January 22, 1992, he refused to sign the appeal of the bishops' conference to grant autocephaly to the Church in Ukraine; on January 23, Metropolitan. Filaret (Denisenko, later anathematized) was transferred to the Ivano-Frankivsk department.

On July 28, 1994, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop and appointed a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church from February 2-5, 2013, he was elected deputy chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of March 19, 2014 () he was included in the Synod as a permanent member for the duration of his occupation of the position of Locum Tenens of the Kiev Metropolitan See with the determination by protocol seniority of the place occupied by His Beatitude the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine - the first among the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Churches.

At the Council of Bishops of the UOC, August 13, 2014, by the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Enthronement on August 17, 2014 in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

By the decision of the Synod of the UOC dated September 16, 2014 (journal No. 39) in connection with the election of the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine from the post of Chairman of the Church Court of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; appointed (magazine No. 56) chairman of the newly formed Metropolitan Council for Cultural Affairs.

By the decision of the Holy Synod of October 23, 2014 () from the post of deputy chairman of the Pan-Church Court of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Moscow Theological Seminary.

1988 - Moscow Theological Academy (PhD in Theology).

Word of Archimandrite Onuphry (Berezovsky) upon his naming as Bishop of Chernivtsi and Bukovina.

Church:

• 2014 - Rev. Sergius of Radonezh, 1st class;
• Order of St. Innocent of Moscow II Art.

Secular:

• 2013 - Friendship (RF).

Publications on the portal Patriarchia.ru

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev - about the fate of canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine [Interview]

Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev: Using the Church to satisfy one’s own selfish goals is real cynicism [Interview]

Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev: Our Church has all the attributes of independence [Interview]

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine: To receive healing, you need to make a correct diagnosis [Interview]

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev: It will not be easy on this path [Interview]

Address of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine [Greetings and messages]

Easter interview with His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kyiv and All Ukraine [Interview]

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry: “Father Kirill had the great gift of Christ’s love” [Interview]

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry: The fate of the Church and the country depends on each of us [Interview]

Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev: The meeting of individual Orthodox Churches will not become a Great and Holy Pan-Orthodox Council - its decisions will not have pan-Orthodox significance [Interview]

Report of Metropolitan Onufry of Kyiv and All Ukraine at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on February 2-3, 2016 [Documents]