Archbishop Apollinary (Koshevoy)

Archbishop Apollinary (Koshevoy) of Winnipeg (later San Francisco) (1874-1933)

Apollinary may be spelt Apollinarios or Apollinarius.

Early life of Andrei Vasilievich Koshevoy

On 16/28 October, 1874, Andrei Vasilievich Koshevoy was born in Valki village, in the Priluksky county of the Poltava province of the Russian Empire.

His father was a psalm-reader.

He was raised and formed as an Orthodox Christian by his family and parish within the Russian Orthodox Church.

Higher education

After he had completed his primary and secondary education, Andrei Vasilievich entered and then graduated from both the Romny Theological Seminary (1888) (in the Romny Diocese, near Sumy) and then from the Poltava Theological Seminary.

In 1894, he was a teacher of a folk school in the village of Valki.

In 1895 he was a psalm-reader and teacher at the parish school in the village of Perevolochna, Kobelyatsky district.

From 1896, he was the overseer of the church-teacher's school in Lubny, Poltava province.

After this, he studied at and graduated from the Kazan Theological Academy, where his studies concentrated on the missionary programme.

Monastic tonsure, 1898

In 1898, while studying, Andrei Vasilievich Koshevoy was tonsured to be a monk by the rector of the academy, Bishop Antony (Khrapovitsky) (newly ordained as a vicar-bishop of the Kazan Diocese). At this time, he was given the name Apollinary.

Ordinations

Soon afterwards, Monk Apollinary (Koshevoy) was ordained to the Holy Diaconate and then to the Holy Priesthood.

Pastoral service

Hieromonk Apollinary (Koshevoy) was assigned to serve as confessor in the Volyn Theological Seminary.

After completing the courses in 1900, he was a teacher in an exemplary school at the Lithuanian Theological Seminary.

Further study

In 1905, Hieromonk Apollinary graduated from the Kiev Theological Academy with a Ph.D. degree in theology.

He was then assigned to serve as a teacher of the Greek language at the Zhytomyr Theological School.

On 20 September, 1906, he was assigned to serve as a teacher of homiletics at the Kiev Theological Seminary.

From 9 November, 1910, he was assigned to serve as the inspector of the Kiev Theological Seminary.

On 15 May, 1911, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

Buildings of the Kiev Orthodox Theological Seminary and the Academy

Episcopal ordination, 1917

In 1917, Archimandrite Apollinary (Koshevoy) was ordained to the Holy Episcopate in the city of Kiev.

Episcopal service

Bishop Apollinary was assigned to be the Bishop of Rylsk, Vicar-Bishop of the Diocese of Kursk.

On 10 November, he was also assigned to serve as the rector of the Saint Nicolas Monastery in Rylsk.

Bishop Apollinary participated in the All-Russian Council of 1917-1918 in Moscow. He participated as a deputy of Bishop Theophan (Gavrilov) of Kursk.

Then, in 1919, he was assigned to be the diocesan bishop of the newly-established Diocese of Belgorod at Belgorod.

Exile in Serbia, 1920 ; Jerusalem, 1922

Bishop Apollinary was, as were others, forced to flee the Bolsheviks, after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

In February, 1920 (because of Soviet pressure), he emigrated through Constantinople and Thessaloniki to Serbia, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, along with Archbishop Evlogiy (Georgievsky) and Bishop Theophan (Gavrilov). There, he began his life in exile.

There, he was assigned to a monastery by Patriarch Dimitrije (Pavlović) of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

He was a participant in the Russian Church Council Abroad in 1921 in Sremski Karlovtsy, where he was amongst 31 deputies against the restoration of the Romanov dynasty.

On April 14/27, 1922, the Supreme Church Administration Abroad "in view of the extreme disruption of the economic affairs of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and the urgent need to take measures as soon as possible to manage these affairs, as well as in view of the need for an authoritative representative of the Supreme Russian Church Administration Abroad in Jerusalem", sent Vladyka Apollinary to Jerusalem. They gave him special powers in ecclesiastical, administrative and economic affairs.

In June, he was appointed to serve as the administrator of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. However, Patriarch Damian (Casatos) of Jerusalem would not recognise him as the head of the mission (under the pretext that this responsibility should be occupied by an archimandrite rather than a bishop).

Because of this situation, Vladyka Apollinary was eventually recalled and transferred.

Move to North America, 1923

In February, 1923, Bishop Apollinary (Koshevoy) arrived in the USA, and he was received by Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) into the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America (ROGCCNA).

Upon his arrival, he was sent to Canada, and he was assigned on 10 February, 1924, to be the Vicar-Bishop of Winnipeg, Manitoba. There, he served primarily at the Holy Trinity Sobor. He was there for about a year.

Then, in 1925, Vladyka Apollinary was transferred and assigned to serve as the Bishop of Detroit, Michigan. This assignment became difficult for him because of the turmoil that was still expressed everywhere in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution. This turmoil caused divisions along ideological and political lines.

In 1926, Vladyka Apollinary was assigned to be the Bishop of San Francisco in California, with his see at Holy Trinity Cathedral there.

Move to Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), 1927

Not long afterwards, the disputes that existed in Detroit appeared also in San Francisco.

In early 1927, after a dispute about relations between the “Metropolia” and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), Archbishop Apollinary (Koshevoy) moved under the jurisdiction of ROCOR. At that time, the division between the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia became a visible division.

With his departure from the “Metropolia” in 1927, he was not in charge of any parish : his first services were held in a private home. However, he was not bereft of support. Many others followed him, as he established the Diocese of San Francisco and Western America of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Later in 1927, a building was found to be for sale, which the parishioners who followed him purchased. This building served for several decades thereafter as the cathedral, until a newer cathedral was constructed. This cathedral became known informally as the Holy Virgin Cathedral (formally, the Cathedral of the Mother of God “Joy of All Who Sorrow”). When the new cathedral was constructed on Geary Boulevard by Saint John (Maximovitch) in 1965, this building continued to be used as a parish Temple of the same diocese.

First "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Cathedral (as it was in 2020)

Move to New York City, 1927

In December, 1927, Bishop Apollinary (Koshevoy), in consultation with the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR, moved his permanent residence to the city of New York, where he established a permanent residence.

On 14 May, 1929, Bishop Apollinary (Koshevoy) was elevated by he ROCOR to the dignity of archbishop.

Archbishop Apollinary (Koshevoy) was one of the founding fathers of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. It was he who gave Father Panteleimon (Nizhnik) and (later) Archimandrite Joseph (Kolos) the blessing to buy the land and to start the monastery.

Similarly, it was under his leadership that many parishes of the ROCOR were founded, including the parishes in Stratford, Connecticut ; New York City, New York ; Boston, Massachusetts ; Detroit, Michigan ; Chicago, Illinois.

Repose, 1933

Archbishop Apollinary served as the ROCOR Archbishop of San Francisco and all North America and Canada until his repose in the Lord on 19 June, 1933.

After the Funeral Services for the Burial of a Hierarch, his body was interred in the Orthodox Section of Mount Olivet Cemetery, Queens, New York.

Later, in 1965, his body was exhumed, and it was transferred to Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville. It rests in the monastic cemetery, behind the Temple, and directly behind the Altar.

— Bishop of Rylsk 1917-1919. Preceded by : ___. Succeeded by : ___.

— Vicar-Bishop of Kursk, Russia 1917-1919.

— Bishop of Belgorod 1919-1922. Preceded by : ___. Succeeded by : ___.

— Bishop in Jerusalem 1922-1924. Preceded by : ___. Succeeded by : ___.

— Bishop of Winnipeg 1924-1925. Preceded by : Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky). Succeeded by : Bishop Arseny (Chahovtsov).

— Bishop of Detroit 1925-1926. Preceded by : ___. Succeeded by : ___.

— Vicar-Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America.

— Bishop of San Francisco 1926-1927. See was renewed. Succeeded by : Archbishop Alexei (Panteleyev).

— Bishop of San Francisco (ROCOR) 1927-1929. See was created.

— Archbishop of San Francisco (ROCOR) 1929-1933. Succeeded by : Archbishop Tikhon (Troitsky).

Reflections

Writings

• ‘Tertullian's Doctrine of the Trinity’ in “IR NBUV”, F 304, D 1838.

• ‘Letters to Archbishop Theophilus (Pashkovsky)’ in “Archives of the Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville”, F16, K 36.

• ‘On the State of Affairs of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem’ in “Church News”, no. 2 (1922).

• ‘Let Truth Triumph’ in “Church Gazette”, 1928.

Writings about Archbishop Apollinary by various authors

• ‘His Eminence Apollinarius Archbishop of North America and Canada of San Francisco : Fifteen years of Service in the episcopal Dignity’ in “Faith and Truth Magazine”, 1932.

• (Khrapovitsky), Metropolitan Anthony, ‘His Grace Apollinaris Archbishop of North America and Canada (October 16, 1874 - June 6, 1933 Old Style)’ in “Church Life”, no. 7 (1933), pp. 133-144.

• ‘Transfer of the Remains of the ever-memorable Archbishop Apollinarius to the Holy Trinity Monastery’ in “Orthodox Russia”, no. 16 (1964), p. 10.

• ‘Transfer of the Remains of the ever-memorable Archbishop Apollinarius to the Holy Trinity Monastery’ in “Orthodox Russia”, no. 8 (1965), p. 11.

• ‘Eminence Apollinaris’ in “Russian Life” (25 June, 1983).

• Kostryukov A A, “Russian Church Abroad in the first Half of the 1920s : Organization of Church Administration in Exile and its Relationship with the Moscow Patriarchate during the Life of Patriarch Tikhon” (Moscow : Publishing House PSTGU, 2007). ISBN 978-5-7429-0262-1.

• …… “The Russian Church Abroad in 1925-1938 : Jurisdictional Conflicts and Relations with the Moscow Church Authorities” (Moscow : Publishing House PSTGU, 2011). ISBN : 978-5-7429-0639-1.

• …… ‘Circumstances of the Division between the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR and the North American Metropolitanate’ in “XXI Annual Theological Conference of the Orthodox St Tikhon University for the Humanities”, vol. 1 (Moscow : Publishing House PSTGU, 2011), pp. 286-293.

• ‘Documents of the Holy Council of the Orthodox Russian Church of 1917-1918’ vol. 27 in “Biobibliographic Dictionary of the Members and Clerks of the Cathedral”, otv. ed., S V Chertkov (Moscow Publishing House of the Novospassky Monastery, 2020). ISBN : 978-5-87389-097-2.

• (Rklitsky), Archbishop Nikon, “Biography of Metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky”, references throughout vol. 7 which is entitled ‘Russian Church Distemper Abroad’ (1961).

References

Orthodoxwiki biography

Russian Wikipedia biography

Drevo Encyclopaedia biography (in Russian)

Russian Orthodox Biographical dictionary

Russian Academic Dictionary

Orthodox Encyclopedia biography

Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary (Jordanville, New York) biography

Wikiorg.ru biography

Additional information :

(Afonsky), Bishop Gregory, “A History of the Orthodox Church in America, 1917-1934” (Kodiak : St Herman’s Theological Seminary Press, 1994).

Archdiocese of Canada — Orthodox Church in America, “The Orthodox Church in Canada : A Chronology” (Ottawa : Archdiocese of Canada, 1988).

(Lemeshevsky), Metropolitan Manuel, “Russian Orthodox Hierarchs from the Period from 1893 to 1965” (inclusive) (Erlangen, 1987)

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

Tarasar, Constance J, ed., "Orthodox America 1794-1976 : Development of The Orthodox Church in America" (Syosset, NY : The Orthodox Church in America Department of History and Archives, 1975). ASIN : B000ZLZAUE.

Tyspin, Archpriest Vladislav, “History of the Russian Church : 1917-1997” (Moscow : Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery Publishing House, 1997), p. 724. ISBN : 5-7302-0815-4.

Russian wikipedia article about the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky)

Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky)

Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky)

Wikipedia article about the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco, California

Holy Trinity Orthodox Cemetery in Jordanville, New York

Listing in Holy Trinity Cemetery for Archbishop Apollinary (Koshevoy)

Members of the 1917-1918 General Sobor of the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Religious Leaders Abroad summary biography

San Francisco History

Russian Orthodox Church in North America

Orthodoxwiki article about The Orthodox Church in America (see early history)