Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev)

Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) (1946-____)

Kirill may be spelt Kyril, Kyrillos, Cyril.

Gundyaev may be spelt Gundiayev.

Gundyaev family historical details

The son of Holy Priest Vasili Gundyaev was the future Archpriest Mikhail V Gundyaev. The grandson of Holy Priest Vasili Gundyaev was the future Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev).

Saint Vasiliy Gundyaev (1879-1969)

The recent Gundyaev family history involves the Holy Confessor, Holy Priest Vasiliy Stepanovich Gundyaev, who had been born in 1879 in Astrakhan (Volga River Delta, Astrakhan Province, Russian Empire), and then moved to Novgorod in Western Russia. He and his brother had secular professions. Being strongly faithful Orthodox Christians, both brothers studied theology on their own and they developed a good private library of theological works. The brothers were devoted lovers of God and of the Orthodox Church.

Exiles

After the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, Vasiliy Stepanovich was denounced by the Renovationists, he was imprisoned in the Solovki Prison Camp. He was, in fact, amongst the first prisoners to be sent there.

This prison camp was established on the facilities of the former Solovetsky Monastery which had been founded in 1436 on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea, and then closed by the communists in the early 1920s. Many of the monastery's buildings were incorporated into the "Solovki Special Prison Camp", one of the earliest forced-labour camps of the "gulag" during the 1920s and 1930s. The camp's main forced-labour activity was logging ; and when most of the surrounding area had been deforested, the camp was closed. In its early years, it held very many writers and political prisoners, besides clergy and monks.

Vasiliy Stepanovich was repeatedly repressed and exiled in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s because of his activities in the Church, and because of his participation in the struggle against Soviet “Renovationism”. He was, in fact, opposed to "Renovationism". In total, he spent 18 years in the camps, which, during his 7 exiles, he spent in 46 prisons and camps. During that time, Vasiliy did not abandon his Orthodox Christian Faith. He conducted secret reader's services, for which he spent a month in a penalty area.

Prison system photo

Ordinations

Later, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate and to the Holy Priesthood in the 1950s (just after his last repression), and he protected the flock he served (in a remote village) during the repressions of Mr. N S Krushchev until the end of his life.

Holy Priest Vasiliy Gundyaev

Archpriest Mikhail V Gundyaev (1907-1974)

Mikhail Vasilyevich Gundyaev was born in 1907 in Lukoyanov, Nizhny Novgorod Province, where his parents then lived. From childhood, he hoped to be able to serve the Church. As he grew up, he began to serve as subdeacon for Bishop Polikarp (Tikhonravov) of Lukoyanov.

Theological education

Then, in 1921, he began studying at the Leningrad Theological Seminary and Academy. Regularly, he attended all the lectures ; and he recorded these lectures by writing them down.

While studying at the higher theological courses, on Saturdays, Sundays and Feast-days, Mikhail Gundyaev simultaneously sang (tenor) in the choir of the Dormition Temple (former metochion of the Kiev-Caves Lavra, in Saint Petersburg), and he participated actively in the life of the parish.

It was there that he met Raisa Vladimirovna Kuchina, who sang in the church choir. They agreed that they wanted to be married, but the plans had to be delayed.

Raisa Vladimirovna Kuchina

Raisa Vladimirovna Kuchina was born in Saint Petersburg, within an Orthodox Christian family.

In 1926, she graduated from high school, but she could not go on immediately to study at the university. The delay was caused by her social and Christian background. Furthermore, in August, 1928, the atheist authorities closed the theological education programme.

In 1930, she did manage to enter the Leningrad Institute of Foreign Languages.

Continuing studies of Mikhail Vasilyevich

With the August, 1928, closure of the Leningrad Theological Seminary and Academy, Mikhail Vasilyevich was at least qualified to serve as a Psalmist ("Psalomshchik").

Therefore, simultaneously with singing in the choir of the Dormition Temple of the Kiev metochion in Leningrad, Mikhail Vasilyevich also worked as a Psalmist in a rural Temple, in the Kamenka village.

Military service ; labour camp

Then Mikhail Vaslyevich was taken into service in the Red Army. However, as an Orthodox Christian, he was expelled after a time.

In 1934 (just a few days before the planned marriage to Raisa Vladimirovna), he was arrested in connexion with the "Kirov assassination case" and for service in the Church, and for singing in the Church. He was accused also of involvement in making an attempt against the life of Mr. Joseph Stalin. He was condemned to 3 years in a labour-camp of the "gulag".

Prison photo

Marriage, 1937

Finally, in 1937, after having endured his compulsory service and the labour-camp that followed, Mikhail Vasilyevich Gundyaev was able at last to marry Raisa Vladimirovna Kuchina in 1937. They had had to wait for this opportunity for 4 years. From this marriage, Mikhail Vasilyevich and Raisa Vladimirovna received from the Lord 2 sons and 1 daughter.

Mikhail and Raisa Gundyaev

Like his father, Mikhail Vasilyevich qualified as a mechanic-machinist. He had studied at the Leningrad Mechanical College, and then the Leningrad Industrial Institute. Finally, he graduated from the Correspondence Engineering Institute. At first, he had about becoming a physician, but because of his open profession that he was an Orthodox Christian, he had been blocked from such a course of studies.

Great Patriotic War, 1941

World War II had begun with the invasion of Poland in 1939, but the war involved the Soviet Union (USSR) directly with the invasion in 1941 by the Nazi German Army.

On 8 September, 1941, the blockade of Leningrad by the Nazi army began. The Gundyaev family did not evacuate from the besieged city. Mikhail Vasilyevich, now chief mechanic at one of the military factories in Leningrad, worked in the factory of his employment throughout the blockade (8 September, 1941, to 27 January, 1944). In the first months of the blockade, Mikhail participated in the construction of defensive fortifications around the city. As a result of this extremely hard work, it was not long before he reached a state of complete exhaustion. He was picked up on the street as a supposedly dead man, and he was taken to the morgue.

Since the morgue was packed, he was placed in the hallway. Unintentionally, a passing nurse touched the sheet with which he was covered ; and, looking at the face of the deceased, she saw that the pupils of his eyes contracted when the sheet flew off. The woman raised a cry, and it saved the dying man. The publicity of sending a living person to the morgue could lead to disastrous consequences. The hospital management saw to it that Mikhail be fed intensively so that there would be no scandal.

After the blockade was broken, Mikhail, as a military specialist, was sent to Nizhny Novgorod (at that time called Gorky), where he was a military representative at the Gorky plant, and where he was engaged in the acceptance of T-34 tanks before they were sent to the battle-front. Until the very day of the victory, Mikhail Gundyaev worked in this post in Gorky. After the end of the war, Mikhail Vasilyevich returned to Leningrad ; and there, he continued to work in his civilian speciality.

In 1947, Mikhail Vasilyevich made a decision to devote his life to serving the Church. He was aware that to do so would affect negatively his status in Soviet society. Regardless, he submitted a petition for ordination to Metropolitan Grigoriy (Chukov) of Leningrad and Novgorod, his former rector at the Saint Petersburg Academy. Metropolitan Grigoriy was surprised at the petition, since Mikhail Vasilyevich had a rather visible official position (and the consequences of ordination would be drastic). He tested his former student's resolve. He said : "If you truly want to exchange your Leningrad apartment for living in the most remote parish of the Leningrad diocese, in the village of Petrova Gorka on the border with the Pskov Oblast, then I will ordain you. But don't count on serving in the city of Leningrad ; so go and consult with your wife". At the family council, it was agreed that they would accept to go to a remote parish.

Ordinations, 1947

On 3 September, 1947, Metropolitan Grigory (Chukov) ordained Mikhail Vasilyevich Gundayev to the Holy Diaconate in Leningrad, and then to the Holy Priesthood. However, he was not sent subsequently to the edge of the Leningrad diocese, but rather to the newly re-opened Temple in the Smolensk Cemetery on Vasilyevsky Island. The Temple had been re-sanctified, and the Icon of the Theotokos, "Merciful" had been returned. In the post-war years, this and the few other open Temples in Leningrad were filled with suffering people seeking consolation.

By 1949, Matushka Raisa was expecting their third child. The medical authorities advised her to abort the baby, since she was in a fragile condition. However, the family went to Vyritsa, where they sought spiritual advice and prayerful support from Starets Seraphim of Vyritsa (who reposed in Christ not long afterwards). He received the young family, and he strengthened them. They visited the Holy Icon of the Theotokos, and their daughter Elena was safely born that year.

More Soviet pressure against Priest Mikhail Gundyaev

At that very time, the authorities adopted a fresh course of struggle against the Church. They applied financial pressure by imposing unbearable taxes on the clergy. Father Mikhail's son (Patriarch Kirill) later wrote :

 My father was summoned to Raifo and was told that he had earned some fantastic amount of money, and 
 that therefore he had to pay about 120,000 rubles of tax.  At that time, it was an unthinkable amount. 
 It was not real.  My father was not able to pay this amount.  There were trials, and my father was 
 sentenced to pay off a debt ; all our property was confiscated, and we practically lived on what
 people brought us : someone, bread ; someone, flour ; someone, herring ; someone, sugar.  Father could 
 have done very badly, and could have been just finished off, if he hadn't paid the money.  And then his 
 friends and acquaintances (including Leningrad intelligentsia, some professors, academicians, scientists, 
 some from the clergy) began to raise funds to pay this tax.  And they were collected.  But for the rest 
 of his life, his father paid his debts, and then I paid my father's debts.  We just finished paying
 when (already in the rank of archimandrite) I went to Geneva as a representative of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Father Mikhail's daughter Elena later wrote :

 There was absolutely nothing more to take away.  Books, thank God, were not taken.  All we had left 
 was the library. [...] But with all the poverty, mom always gave us tea from cups and saucers. 
 No matter what ! She raised us like this that even in difficult years a person should not lose the 
 appearance and likeness of God. [...] How we lived, I do not understand.  As a child, I went out to 
 the front door, and on the handle always hung a net string bag with some products.  They were brought 
 by ordinary parishioners, people of very modest means.  Most often it contained a herring and a loaf 
 of bread.

In about 1951, Father Mikhail Gundyaev was transferred to the Transfiguration of the Saviour Sobor in Leningrad. The responsibility of Father Michael, in addition to the statutory services, included the reading on Thursdays of the Akathist to Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. It was read in front of the revered Holy Icon of Saint Nicholas. Traditionally, it was sung by the people together. After each akathist, Father made sure to deliver a homily. Many people gathered for these weekly services, and the Transfiguration Sobor could not accommodate all the worshippers. Such popularity regarding Father Michael as a pastor and preacher evoked the approval of the diocesan authorities, but it irritated the secular authorities.

In 1957, Metropolitan Elevtheriy (Vorontsov) of Leningrad and Novgorod elevated Priest Mikhail Gundyaev to the dignity of archpriest.

Father Michael and Matushka Raisa raised their children in faith and piety. From the memoirs of their daughter, Elena Mikhailovna (later vice-rector for culture of the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy) :

 From early childhood, Papa told us : 'If you are believers, stay that way in everything ; and if you 
 retreat even a little in something, then that’s it, and in the rest of your life you will seek compromises 
 with conscience and circumstances'.  And we, looking at our father, never hid our faith.  We were not 
 'Octobrists', nor were we 'Pioneers'.  Moreover, we were very respected by our peers.  But the 
 teachers put pressure accordingly, especially on brother.  He studied brilliantly, but he was regularly called to the 
 director's office [i.e. the local head of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults of the USSR.

In 1960, by decree of Metropolitan Pitirim (Sviridov) of Leningrad and Novgorod, Archpriest Mikhail Gundyaev was transferred without warning from the Sobor of the Transfiguration of the Saviour to the Leningrad Region as rector of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Temple in Krasnoye Selo. At the last Divine Liturgy served by Father Michael in the Transfiguration Sobor, more than 3,000 people gathered who wanted to receive the blessing of their beloved pastor. The authorities of the city were frightened and alarmed by such a demonstration of popular recognition.

Vladimir, Elena, Nikolai Gundyaev

The Saint Alexander Temple, originally built in 1890 from private funds, had been closed by the communists in 1932. Then, during the Nazi occupation, it was opened briefly in 1942. After the war, it was once again opened at the request of many people. Father Michael was the third priest to serve since then. On the south side of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Temple, an extension was made in the form of a closed gallery, where memorial services were performed later. Father Mikhail served in the Saint Alexander Nevsky Temple for 10 years.

Saint Alexander Nevsky Temple, Krasnoe Selo

The formation of Vladimir Mikhailovich was influenced greatly by his grandfather (Holy Priest Visiliy Gundyaev), who had returned home in the mid-50s. He told his grandson that even during the most severe camp tests that carried away the lives of most people, he had never experienced fear. He told his grandson, “For me, it was a living experience and a living image of a person who knew what God's love is”.

Every school day was a test for Vladimir Mikhailovich. Opposing the communist regime, he became neither a Pioneer nor a Komsomol member. When the school principal convinced Vladimir Mikhailovich to put on a pioneer tie, he replied : “Good -- if you do not mind that I will go to church in a red tie, because I will”. Permanent paedagogical councils and detentions from the director did not prevent Vladimir from studying well. His interior interest and focus lay in physics and other exact disciplines.

In 1970, Archpriest Mikhail Gundyaev, by decree of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod, was assigned to serve as rector of the Temple of Saint Seraphim of Sarov in the Saint Seraphim Cemetery in Leningrad. It was one of the few churches that escaped the fate of closure and desecration after 1917. The most prominent Holy Icon of the Temple was the Holy Icon of the Mother of God, "Tenderness", which is a copy of the cell icon before which Saint Seraphim of Sarov prayed. Another important Holy Icon in the Temple was the Holy Icon of the Mother of God, "Smolensk" (17th century). In front of these much-venerated Holy Icons, Archpriest Mikhail served prayers and read akathists day after day. Over 100,000 people who died during the Blockade of Leningrad were buried in the cemetery where this Temple is located ; and there also, Father Michael performed funeral services and requiems invariably.

Cemetery Temple of Saint Seraphim of Sarov

"Tenderness" Icon of the Theotokos (left) ; "Smolensk" Icon of the Theotokos (right)

Then, in 1972, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) assigned Archpriest Mikhail to serve as rector of the Saint Nicholas Temple on "Bolshaya Okhta". He also served as a member of the diocesan council. The Nikolsky Temple on Bolshaya Okhta is also one of the few that was not subjected to closure and desecration. About Father Mikhail, it is written in his diocesan personal file :

 A convinced, disciplined and deeply respected shepherd and man.  Differs in modesty of character.  A 
 wonderful and responsive companion.  Good preacher.  Performs divine services and rites earnestly and 
 penetratingly, with excellent diction.  Fulfils all the spiritual requests of believers without fail
 outside the territory of the sobor, without any selfish motives, proceeding solely for pastoral 
 reasons.

Saint Nicholas Naval Sobor, Saint Petersburg

Archpriest Mikhail V Gundyaev (left) ; Matushka Raisa V Gundyaeva (right)

Early life of Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev

On 20 November, 1946, Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev was born to the Priest Mikhail Vasilievich Gundyaev (+1974) and Raisa Vladimirovna Gundyaeva (born Kuchina) (+1984) (a teacher of the German language) in the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), in the Soviet Union (USSR). Vladimir Mikhailovich had an older brother, Nikolay Mikhailovich, and a younger sister, Elena Mikhailovna.

Despite the difficult environment of that time, the whole family lived and was formed in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Child Vladimir M Gundyaev

Both his sister Elena Mikhailovna and his brother Nikolay Mikhailovich (who later became the Archpriest Nikolay Gundyaev) later became professors at the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy. In addition, Father Nikolay served as the rector of Holy Transfiguration Sobor in Saint Petersburg.

Gundyaev family

After completing primary school and the secondary school eighth grade in Leningrad, Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev found employment in the Leningrad Geological Expedition. He worked there from 1962 to 1965 as cartographer, during which years he combined work with studies while he completed secondary school.

Document photo

Higher education, 1965-1970

After graduation from school, he entered the Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) Orthodox Theological Seminary. Afterwards, he enrolled in the Leningrad Orthodox Theological Academy, from which he graduated “cum laude” in 1970.

Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Theological Seminary and Academy

From the time he was a student, Vladimir Mikhailovich took part in the work of inter-Christian organisations. As a delegate, he participated as a layman in General Assemblies of the World Council of Churches (WCC) : the 4th (Uppsala, Sweden, 1968) ; as an archimandrite in the 5th (Nairobi, Kenya, 1975) ; as an archbishop in the 6th (Vancouver, Canada, 1983) ; and as a metropolitan in the 7th (Canberra, Australia, 1991). He participated in the World Missionary Conference “Salvation Today” (Bangkok, Thailand, 1973). He was president of the World Conference “Faith, Science and the Future” (Boston, USA, 1979) ; and he took part in the World Convocation “Peace, Justice and Integrity of the Creation” (Seoul, South Korea, 1979) ; and in the assemblies of the WCC Faith and Order Commission in Accra, Ghana, 1974), Lima, Peru, 1982, and Budapest, Hungary, 1989.

Monastic tonsure, 1969

On 3 April, 1969, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod tonsured Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyaev to be a monk. He was given the name Kirill.

Diaconal ordination, 1969

On 7 April, 1969, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod ordained Monk Kirill (Gundyaev) to the Holy Diaconate.

Presbyteral ordination, 1969

On 1 June, 1969, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod ordained Hierodeacon Kirill (Gundyaev) to the Holy Priesthood.

Hieromonk Kirill (Gundyaev)

Bereavement, 1969

On 31 October, 1969, Priest Vasiliy S Gundyaev fell asleep in the Lord in Obrochnik, Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (south of Nizhny Novgorod).

His grandsons, Archpriest Nikolay M Gundyaev and Hieromonk Kirill (Gundyaev) led the Funeral Services for the Burial of a Presbyter, and also the service for the interment which followed.

Pastoral service

From 1970 to 1971, the Hieromonk (Priestmonk) Kirill (Gundyaev) taught Dogmatic Theology, and he acted as the rector’s assistant for students’ affairs at the Leningrad Theological Schools. At the same time, he worked as the personal secretary to Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), and as the supervising instructor of the first-year seminarians.

Secretary to Metropolitan Nikodim

On 12 September, 1971, the Hieromonk Kirill (Gundyaev) was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite.

Archimandrite Kirill was the first representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in “SYNDESMOS, the World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth”. From 1971 to 1977, he was a member of the SYNDESMOS executive committee, and he was also a delegate to its 8th (Boston, 1971), 9th (Geneva, 1977), 10th (Finland, 1980), and 14th (Moscow, 1992) general assemblies (after 1976, he participated as bishop, archbishop and metropolitan).

As a member of various official delegations, he visited all the Local (autocephalous and autonomous) Orthodox Churches, and he accompanied Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov) and Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger) on their trips abroad.

Commissioned by the Holy Synod of Bishops (the supreme authority) of the Russian Orthodox Church, he took part in maintaining good relations with churches in :

 Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Congo, Czechia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, 
 Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Laos, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, 
 Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, the USA, and Zaire.

From 1971 to 1974, Archimandrite Kirill (Gundyaev) served as the Moscow Patriarchate’s representative at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland.

Bereavement, 1974

On 13 October, 1974, Archpriest Mikhail V Gundyaev fell asleep in the Lord in Leningrad, USSR.

Archpriest Nikolay M Gundyaev and Archimandrite Kirill (Gundyaev) led the Funeral Service for the Burial of a Presbyter, and the service of interment which followed.

Further pastoral service

From 26 December, 1974, to 26 December, 1984, Archimandrite Kirill (Gundyaev) served as the rector of the Leningrad Seminary and Theological Academy.

From 1975 to 1982, Archimandrite (and later Bishop) Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as the chairman of the Leningrad Diocesan Council.

From 1975 to 1998, Archimandrite (and later Bishop) Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve (after he was elected) as a member of the Central and Executive Committees of the World Council of Churches.

In 1976, Archimandrite Kirill (Gundyaev) was elected by the Holy Synod of Bishops to become a bishop.

Episcopal ordination, 1976

On 14 March, 1976, Archimandrite Kirill (Gundyaev) was ordained to the Holy Episcopate in Leningrad. The ordination took place in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. The ordaining bishops were : Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad ; Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) of Kiev ; Metropolitan Juvenaly (Poyarkov) of Tula ; Archbishop Vladimir (Sabodan) of Dmitrov ; Bishop Melchizedek (Lebedev) of Penza ; Bishop Meliton (Solovyov) of Tikhvin ; Bishop Chrysostom (Martishkin) of Kursk.

Bishop Kirill (Gundyaev)

Episcopal service

Bishop of Vyborg, 1976

Bishop Kirill (Gundyaev was assigned to serve as the Bishop of Vyborg (Viipuri), and as Vicar-Bishop of the Leningrad diocese. This city is on the north coast of the Gulf of Finland, between Saint Petersburg and Helsinki, Finland.

From 1976 to 1978, Bishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as the Deputy Patriarchal Exarch for the Russian Orthodox parishes in Western Europe.

From 1976 to 1984, Bishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as a member of the Holy Synod commission for Christian unity.

He also participated in the first Pre-Council Pan-Orthodox Conference (Chambésy, 1976) and he was a member of the Inter-Orthodox Commission for the Preparation of a Holy and Great Council of the canonical autocephalous Churches of the Eastern Orthodox Church (Chambésy, 1993, 1999).

On 2 September, 1977, Bishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was elevated to the dignity of archbishop.

Archbishop of Vyborg, 1977

From 1978 to 1984, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as the administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Finland.

From 1978 to 1988, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as a member of the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus’ Preparatory Commission.

Bereavement, 1984

On 2 November, 1984, Matushka Raisa Vladimirovna Gundayeva (born Kuchina) fell asleep in the Lord in Saint Petersburg.

Her sons, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) of Vyborg, and Archpriest Nikolay M Gundyaev led the Funeral Services for the Burial of a Lay-person. They also led the service of interment which followed the funeral obsequies.

Archbishop of Smolensk and Vyazma, 1984

On 26 December, 1984, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was transferred, and he was assigned to serve as the Archbishop of Smolensk and Vyazma.

In June, 1985, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) visited the parish of the Sign of the Theotokos, a parish in Montréal, Québec, Canada (Archdiocese of Canada, The Orthodox Church in America). He has also visited other parishes across Canada.

From 1986 to 1988, he was assigned to serve also as the administrator of the parishes in the Kaliningrad Region.

Archbishop of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, 1988

In 1988, the title of Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was changed to be Archbishop of Smolensk and Kaliningrad.

Archbishop Kirill was a member of the Local Jubilee Council of the Russian Orthodox Church (June, 1988, in Zagorsk), chairman of its drafting committee, and author of the draft Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church adopted by that council. He participated in the Bishops’ Council devoted to the 400th anniversary of the restoration of the patriarchal office (October, 1989) ; the extraordinary Bishops’ Council on 30-31 January, 1990 ; as well as the Local Councils in June, 1990, and the Bishops’ Councils in October, 1991 ; March-April, 1992 ; June, 1992 ; November-December, 1994 ; February, 1997 ; August, 2000 ; October, 2004 ; and June, 2008.

Greeting Archbishop Kirill

Reporting to the Bishops' Sobor

Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, 1989

On 13 November, 1989, Archbishop Kirill was assigned to serve as the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (the 5th to serve in this capacity), and as a permanent member of the Holy Synod of Bishops.

Metropolitan Kirill, interview after his assignment, 1989

From 1989 to 1996, Archbishop Kirill was assigned to serve as the administrator of the Hungarian Orthodox Deanery.

In 1990, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as a member of the preparatory commission for the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1990, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as a member of the Commission for Assistance in Overcoming the Consequences of the Chernobyl accident.

From 1990 to 1991, Archbishop Kirill was assigned to serve as the temporary administrator of the Diocese of The Hague and The Netherlands.

From 1990 to 1993, Archbishop Kirill was assigned to serve as the temporary administrator of the Diocese of Korsun.

From 1990 to 1993, Archbishop Kirill was assigned to serve as the chairman of the Holy Synod Commission for Reviving Religious and Moral Education and Charity.

As chairman of the Holy Synod’s Commission for Reviving Religious and Moral Education and Charity, he initiated the establishment of Synodal departments for religious education, social service and charity, and for co-operation with the Army and law-enforcement agencies. He was the author of the “Plan for Reviving Charity and Religious Education”, which was adopted by the Holy Synod on 30 January, 1991. He also developed and presented to the Holy Synod the “Plan of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Co-operation with the Armed Forces”, in 1994.

Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) represented the Russian Orthodox Church in the commission for drafting the 1990 Law on Freedom of Religions, and the 1997 Federal Law on Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations. He also took part in developing the Church’s position and peacemaking actions during the events of August, 1991, and October, 1993.

From 1990 to 2000, Archbishop Kirill was assigned to serve as the chairman of the Holy Synod Commission for Amendments to the Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Statute was adopted by the Jubilee Bishops’ Council in 2000.

Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, 1991

On 25 February, 1991, Archbishop Kirill (Gundyaev) was elevated to the dignity of metropolitan.

Metropolitan Kirill visiting

Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) was the initiator of the World Russian People’s Council in 1993.

From 1994 to 2000, Metropolitan Kirill directed the drafting of the Basic Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church and its presentation to the Jubilee Bishops’ Council in 2000.

From 1994 to 2002, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as a member of the Public Board for Restoration of the Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

From 1994 to 1996, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as a member of the Russian Foreign Ministry Council for Foreign Policy.

From 1995 to 1999, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as a member of the "Russian Organising Committee for Events Commemorating the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War" (World War II).

From 1995 to 2000, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) was assigned to serve as the chairman of the "Synodal Working-group for Elaborating a Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church on Church-state Relations and Problems of Modern Society as a Whole".

From 1996 to 2000, Metropolitan Kirill was assigned to serve as a member of the supervisory board of the 50th Anniversary of the Victory Foundation.

Metropolitan Kirill was involved actively in peacemaking activities for Yugoslavia. He travelled many times to Belgrade in order to hold negotiations with the country’s leaders. IN addition, he initiated the establishment of a non-official international Christian peace group for Yugoslavia (Vienna, May, 1999), and the convocation of an international inter-Christian conference to consider the theme “Europe after the Kosovo Crisis : Further Actions by Churches” (Oslo, Norway, November, 1999).

Metropolitan Kirill took an active part in normalising the ecclesiastical situation in Estonia. In doing so, he visited the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem during his trip to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel in 1996. He also participated in negotiations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Zurich, Switzerland :

 in March, and twice in April, 1996 ; in Thessaloniki ; Tallinn, and Athens in 1996 ; in Odessa in 
 1997 ; in Geneva in 1996 ; in Moscow, Geneva, and Zurich in 2000 ; in Vienna, Berlin, and Zurich in 
 2001 ; and in Moscow and Istanbul in 2003.  He also made repeated visits to Estonia in order 
 to conduct negotiations with government officials, parliament members, and the business community
 in that country.

In July, 2002, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) was present for the last part of the Thirteenth All-American Council of The Orthodox Church in America in Orlando, Florida. He witnessed the election of Metropolitan Herman (Swaiko) to become the Metropolitan of All America and Canada. During the proceedings, he addressed the assembly twice.

In April, 2005, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) led a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome.

In November, 2005, Metropolitan Kirill led a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the enthronement of Patriarch Theophilos III (Giannopoulos) of the Church of Jerusalem.

From 2006 to 2008, Metropolitan Kirill was assigned to serve as the leader of the working-group for elaborating a “Basic Teaching of the Russian Orthodox Church on Human Dignity, Freedom, and Rights”.

In 2008, Metropolitan Kirill was assigned to serve as the chairman of the "Council of Economy and Ethics Experts" under the Department for External Church Relations (now the "Council of Economy and Ethics" under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia).

On 6 December, 2008, after the repose of Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger) on 5 December, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) of Smolensk was chosen by the Holy Synod to be the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, 2009

On 27 January, 2009, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church elected Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) to become the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

In Moscow on 1 February, 2009, Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) was enthroned to be the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

At the enthronement

Patriarchal service

After his installation, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) began to make the customary series of fraternal visits to the heads of the other Autocephalous Orthodox Churches throughout the world. It began with the fraternal visit in July, 2009, to Patriarch Bartholomew I (Archontonis) of Constantinople.

In late July, 2009, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) made a visit to Ukraine, where he presided at services with Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). Despite the suspicions of some, he has insisted that he has been concerned with promoting a unified and canonical independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev)

Patriarch at work with documents while flying

On 20 May, 2015, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) of Moscow and All Russia blessed a stele in Ulyanovsk in memory of Patriarch Sergiy. It was installed at the place where the wooden church was located, at the place where the evacuated Moscow Patriarchate Locum Tenens who was transferred at the end of 1941 had a residence. This Temple had been dedicated as the temporary Patriarchal Kazan Cathedral (demolished in 1959).

In February, 2016, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) of Moscow and Pope Francis (Bergoglio) of Rome met in Havana, Cuba. At that time, they issued a document known as the “Havana Declaration”.

In March, 2016, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) visited Antarctica (and the Temple of the Holy Trinity that was constructed there). At that time, he also spoke about the benefit of dialogue with Evangelical Christians.

On 19 October, 2016, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) “urged all countries to unite in what he called a holy war on terrorism”.

On 13 August, 2017, in Arzamas, during the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Patriarch Sergiy (Stragorodsky), Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) served a Divine Liturgy and unveiled a monument to Patriarch Sergiy.

Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) of Moscow and All Russia said about Patriarch Sergiy :

It is impossible to measure the whole scale of the personality of His Holiness Patriarch Sergiy. He
did not give the godless authorities an excuse to destroy the Church and wipe them off the face of
the earth, citing political reasons. Although in the 30s, terrible persecutions began, associated
with the closure of most of the Temples remaining at that time, with the destruction of almost the
entire episcopate and clergy, nevertheless, the core of the Church was preserved [...]. We reached
the 90s, when the position of the Church in our country changed [for the good]. We remained very
hard-pressed. We were all criticised - both by our own and by those outside. No-one considered it
possible to revive the Russian Church, especially those who entered our country as some crusaders
in the early 90s, who wanted to eradicate the remains of the Orthodox Faith and to convert our people
to a different faith. But they were mistaken, because the humble service of the Church, which was
made possible thanks to the feat of life of His Holiness Sergiy, led to the emergence of a new
generation of the episcopate, the clergy, capable of protecting the Church and strengthening the
Faith of Christ. There would have been nothing of this, there would have been no ministers of my
next generation, if Patriarch Sergiy, having given up his authority, had not done what he had done,
stopping the hand of the persecutors.

Around such personalities as Patriarch Sergiy, they will never stop arguing and trying to prove
something, because always, such disputes have ideological connotations. The humble Patriarch Sergiy
could not reveal the full historical truth, as it were, but he offered his example as an influence
on his followers, on the whole Russian Orthodox Church. All those who defended Patriarch Sergiy in
the most difficult years have witnessed with their lives loyalty to Christ and the Russian
Orthodox Church.

On 29 April, 2018, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) made a fraternal visit to Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos) and the Church of Albania.

Increasing difficulties faced in 2018 and afterwards

A meeting between Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) and Patriarch Bartholomew I (Archontonis) was arranged for 31 August, 2018, in order to discuss various matters, including those regarding the whole of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Despite all the efforts undertaken by Patriarch Kirill to resume fraternal dialogue, an appointment to Kiev followed already in September of 2 "exarchs" of the Throne of Constantinople, which was a gross violation of church canons. Moreover, the "exarchs" did not present themselves to Metropolitan Onufry (Berezovskiy) (the custom in practice everywhere). This behaviour is a wordless declaration of a rupture of communion. It received a proper assessment from the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church : prayerful commemoration of the name of the Patriarch of Constantinople at Patriarchal services in the Russian Orthodox Church was stopped ; concelebrations with the hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople were suspended. The Holy Synod gave its blessing to offer up in all Temples of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Liturgy special fervent prayers for the unity of the Holy Orthodox Church.

On 11 October, 2018, the Patriarchate of Constantinople announced the following decisions taken by its Synod : “to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church” (the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church did not request this) ; to “restore” in holy rank the leaders of the Ukrainian schism, “cancelling” all the canonical bans imposed on them and indiscriminately accepting all of them and their followers into “church communion” ; to “cancel” the action of the conciliar charter signed 332 years before on the transfer of the Kyiv Metropolis to the Moscow Patriarchate ; to open their "stavropegia" (representation Temple) in Kyiv (they were given the Sobor of Saint Andrew in Kyiv for the purpose). Despite the hypocritical call of Constantinople to “refrain” from the seizure of churches and violence “for the sake of peace and love”, in reality the pressure exerted on the bishops, clergy, monastics and laity of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (who do not want to participate in anti-canonical deeds) continued and increased.

Under these conditions, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, chaired by Patriarch Kirill, at a meeting in Minsk, Belarus, on 15 October, 2018, considered that they were forced to make the only possible decision : “In view of the ongoing anti-canonical actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, it is impossible to continue to stay in Eucharistic communion with them”.

On 15 December, 2018, the so-called “unification council” was held in Kyiv, on the presidium of which sat, in particular, the hierarch of the Church of Constantinople, and the then President of Ukraine P Poroshenko. The result of this meeting was the creation of a new structure from several schismatic organisations which was called the "Orthodox Church of Ukraine", which on 6 January, 2019, was given a “tomos of autocephaly” by Patriarch Bartholomew.

The decisions taken by Constantinople were not supported by many other Local Orthodox Churches. However, some time later, under pressure from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the primates of 3 of them - Hellas/Greece (October, 2019), Alexandria (November, 2019), and then Cyprus (October, 2020) expressed their readiness to commemorate the leader of the Ukrainian schismatics Epiphany Dumenko as the head of the "Church in Ukraine". In connexion with these events, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to exclude Patriarch Theodore II (Choreftakis) of Alexandria, Archbishop Chrysostom II (Demetriou) of Cyprus, and Archbishop Jerome (Kotsonis) of Athens and All Hellas from the diptychs for commemoration at Divine Liturgy ; and to stop Eucharistic communion with them, as well as with those hierarchs of these Churches who will pray together with representatives of the schism.

In communion with the Primates and representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches and in public speeches, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' tirelessly continued to call for the preservation of the canonical structure of Church life, and he stressed the need for a conciliar discussion and solution to the existing problems.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' and the Holy Synod supported the initiative of the Patriarch of Jerusalem to hold a fraternal meeting of the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches in Amman (Jordan) in order to discuss the situation in the Orthodox world. The meeting (which took place on 26 February, 2020) was attended by representatives of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church headed by Patriarch Theophilos III (Giannopoulos) of Jerusalem ; the Russian Orthodox Church headed by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' ; the Serbian Orthodox Church headed by Patriarch Irinej (Gavrilović) of Serbia ; the Romanian Orthodox Church, headed by Metropolitan Nifon (Miheytse) of Targoviste ; the Polish Orthodox Church, headed by Archbishop Abel (Poplavsky) of Lublin and Kholm ; and the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia, headed by Metropolitan Rostislav (Gont) of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. It is assumed that the "Amman format" could become a platform for further consultations on this matter.

In bilateral contacts with the Local Orthodox Churches, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' followed the desire to develop inter-church relations ; to work together for the sake of preserving Orthodox unity to witness to the truth of Orthodoxy in the world, and to provide fraternal assistance if necessary. Thus, with the assistance of the Russian Orthodox Church (at the expense of Russian philanthropists) the buildings of Monastery of Saint Thekla of the Patriarchate of Antioch, captured by militants during the Syrian war, were restored in Maaloula ; and the hospital of the Antiochian Orthodox Church "Al-Hosn" was refurbished. In addition, with the financial support of the Russian state and the assistance of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Church of Saint Sava, built in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, was decorated with unique mosaics.

Bereavement, 2021

On 30 December, 2021, Mitred Archpriest Nikolay M Gundyaev fell asleep in the Lord in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He had been ill for a long time.

On 2 January, 2022, the Funeral Service of the Burial of a Presbyter was served at the Transfiguration Sobor in Saint Petersburg by his younger brother, Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev).

After the funeral obsequies, the interment of Mitred Archpriest Nikolay Gundyaev took place at the Nikolsky Cemetery of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

— Bishop of Vyborg (Viipuri) 1976-1977. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Deputy Patriarchal Exarch for Western Europe 1976-1978.

— Archbishop of Vyborg (Viipuri) 1977-1984.

— Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Finland 1978-1984.

— Archbishop of Smolensk and Vyazma 1984-1988. Preceded by : ____.

— Administrator of the parishes in the Kaliningrad Region 1986-1988.

— Archbishop of Smolensk and Kaliningrad 1988-1991. The diocese title was changed.

— 5th Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate 1989-2009. Preceded by : Metropolitan Philaret (Vakhromeyev). Succeeded by : Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev).

— Temporary administrator of the Diocese of The Hague and The Netherlands 1990-1991.

— Temporary administrator of the Diocese of Korsun 1990-1993.

— Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad 1991-2009. Succeeded by : Metropolitan Isidor (Tupikin).

— Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia 2009-____. Preceded by : Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger). Succeeded by : ____.

Reflections

As is usually the case with patriarchs and other heads of local Churches, there is criticism (often politicised) of their behaviours and decisions by those within the Church who disagree with them about one or another matter, and by those outside the Church who have a different perception of the world and of situations. An assessment of such a person cannot be limited to one or even several matters. Rather, it must consider the whole of the person's life and service. For an Orthodox Christian, a main criterion in discernment (or “litmus test”) is the Dominical saying, “By their fruits you will know them” :

 ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  
 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  Even 
 so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad 
 fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and 
 thrown into the fire.  Therefore by their fruits you will know them’ (Matthew 7:15-20).

Summary :

By the time of Metropolitan Kirill’s election to the Patriarchal See, he had been :

• Permanent member of the Holy Synod, from 1989

• Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, from 1989

• Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Finland, from 1990

• Member of the Synodal Theological Commission, from February, 1994

• Member of the Patriarchal and Synodal Bible Commission, from 1990

• Co-chairman (from 1993) and deputy head (from 1995) of the World Russian People’s Council and chairman of the Smolensk and Kaliningrad branches of the WRPC (from 1997)

• Member of the Provincial Movement Council, from 1993

• Member of the Russian Palestinian Society

• Anchorman of the 'Word of a Pastor' television programme on the national First Channel, from 1994

• Honourary President of the Religion and Peace World Conference, from 1994

• Member of the Presidential Council for Co-operation with Religious Organisations, from 1995

• Member of the Presidential Commission for State Prizes in Literature and Art, from 1995

• Honourary member of the Moscow Intellectuals and Businessmen Club, from 1995

• Co-chairman of the Christian Inter-confessional Advisory Committee from 1996

• Member of the Interreligious Council in Russia presidium, from 1998

• Editor-in-chief of the 'Tserkov i vremya' magazine from 1991, of the 'Smolenskie eparhialnye vedomosti' from 1993, and of the 'Pravoslavny palomnik' from 2001

• Member of the supervisory board of the Church of Christ the Saviour, from 2002

• Co-chair of the Council of European Religious Leaders, from 2002

• Chairman of the organising committee for the Orthodox Russia Exhibition, from 2003

• Co-chair of the working group for co-operation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Foreign Ministry, from 2003

• Chairman of the CIS Interreligious Council executive committee, from 2004

• Member of the CIS Interreligious Council presidium, from 2004

• Chairman for the commission for Old-Believers’ parishes and co-operation with the Old-Believers community, from 2005

• Russian Orthodox Church on interreligious relations, from 2005

• Chairman of the working group for drafting a document stating the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on globalisation, from 2005

• Member of the Joint Commission for the Nationalities Policy and Relations between the State and Religious Organisations, from 2006

• Co-chair of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, from 2006

• Patriarchal Locum Tenens, from 6 December, 2008, until 1 February, 2009

Degrees, and academic experience :

• Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) holds the degree of Candidate (Doctor) of Theology from the Leningrad Theological Academy (1970), and the degree of Doctor of Theology 'honoris causa' from the Theological Academy in Budapest (1987).

• From 1974 to 1984 : associate professor of Patrology at the Leningrad Theological Academy.

• From 1986 : an honourary member of the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy.

• From 1992 : a member of the Academy of Creativity.

• From 1994 : an honourary member of the Eurasia International Academy.

• From 1996 : an honourary professor at the Military Academy (now University) of the Land Forces’ Anti-missile Defence.

• From 1997 : a full member of the Academy of Russian Language and Literature.

• From 2002 : a full member of the Academy of Social and Humanitarian Sciences.

• From 2003 : a member of the Russian Public Academy of Social Sciences.

• In 2002 : received the degree Doctor of Political Sciences 'honoris causa' from the State University of Perugia, Italy.

• In 2004 : named an honourary professor of the Smolensk Humanitarian University.

• In 2005 : named an honourary professor of the Astrakhan University.

• In 2005 : received a Doctoral Degree 'honoris causa' from the Russian National Social University.

• In 2006 : named an honourary professor of the Ushakov Baltic Naval Institute.

• In 2007 : named an honourary president of the Academy of Russian Literature and Language.

• In 2007 : received a Doctoral Degree 'honoris causa' from the Saint Petersburg State Polytechnic University.

Awards :

Awards of the Russian Orthodox Church

• Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, 2nd degree, 1973

• Order of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, 2nd degree, 1986

• Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 1st degree, 1996

• Order of Saint Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, 2nd degree, 2001

• Order of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, 1st degree, 2004

• Order of Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, 2nd degree, 2006

Orders of the Self-governing and Autonomous Churches of the Russian Orthodox Church

• Order of Saints Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves, 1st degree (Ukrainian Orthodox Church), 2006

• Order ‘Blessed Voivod Holy Stephen the Great’, 2nd degree (Orthodox Church of Moldova), 2006

• Order of the Holy Martyr Isidore Yurievsky, 1st degree (Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate), 2009

• Order in Honour of the 450th Anniversary of bringing the Pochayev Icon of the Mother of God to the Land of Volyn (Ukrainian Orthodox Church), 2009

• Order of Saint Theodosius of Chernigov (Ukrainian Orthodox Church), 2011

Awards of the Local Orthodox Churches

• Order of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified, 2nd degree (Orthodox Church of Alexandria), 2007

• Gold Medal of Saint Innocent (Orthodox Church in America), 2010

• Memorial Medal of Saint Vladimir's Theological Seminary (Orthodox Church in America), 2010

• Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark (Orthodox Church of Alexandria), 2010

• Order of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, 1st degree (Orthodox Church of Antioch), 2011

• Gold Medal of the Holy Apostle Barnabas (Cypriot Orthodox Church), 2012

• Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, 1st degree) (Polish Orthodox Church), 2012

• Order of the Life-bearing Holy Sepulchre ‘Grand Cross of the Holy Sepulchre Brotherhood’ (Jerusalem Orthodox Church), 2012

Awards from other religious organisations and Christian denominations

• Order of Saint Gregory of Parumala (Malankara Church, India), 2006

• Order of Saint Gregory the Illuminator (Armenian Apostolic Church), 2010

• Order ‘Sheikh-ul-Islam’ (Caucasian Muslims Office), 2011

• Order for Services before the Ummah, 1st degree (Co-ordination Centre of Muslims of the North Caucasus), 2012

State awards of the Russian Federation

• Order of the Friendship of the Peoples, 1988

• Order of Friendship, 1995

• Jubilee Medal ‘300th Anniversary of the Russian Fleet’, 1996

• Medal ‘In Memory of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow’, 1997

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd degree, 2001

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd degree, 2006

• Order of Alexander Nevsky, 2011

State awards of foreign countries

• Order of Friendship of Peoples (Republic of Belarus), 2009

• Medal of 65 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (Transnistrian Moldavian Republic), 2010

• Order ‘Sharaf’ (Republic of Azerbaijan), 2010

• Order of the Republic (‘Ordinul Republic’) (Republic of Moldova), 2011

• Order of Saint Mesrop/Mashtots (Republic of Armenia), 2011

• Order of the Star of Bethlehem (Palestinian National Authority), 2012

Patriarch Kirill was also awarded a number of other federal, departmental, and regional state awards ; he has received more than 120 awards of Russian and foreign public organisations ; he is an honourary citizen of Smolensk, Kaliningrad, Neman (Kaliningrad region), Murom (Vladimir region), Smolensk, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo regions, the Republic of Mordovia, and other regions and settlements of the Russian Federation.

Writings

• ‘The Formation and Development of the Church Hierarchy and the Teaching of the Orthodox Church on her gracious Character’ (St Petersburg, 1971).

• ‘Challenges of modern Civilization : How the Orthodox Church responds to them’ (Moscow : 2002).

• ‘Word of the Shepherd, God and Man, the Story of Salvation’ (Moscow, 2004).

• ‘L'Evangile et la liberté : Les valeurs de la Tradition dans la societé laique’ (Paris : Cerf, 2006).

• ‘About the Skills of Prayer, Fasting, Repentance and Mercy’, March, 2008

• ‘Freedom and Responsibility : in Search of Harmony’ (London : Darton Longman & Todd, 2011). ISBN 10 : 0232528705 ; ISBN 13 : 978-0232528701.

• ‘The Patriarch and the Youth : Conversation without Diplomacy’ (Moscow, 2009).

• ‘Holy Russia – together or apart ? Patriarch in Ukraine’ (Moscow : Danilovsky, 2009). ISBN : 978-5-89101-276-9.

• ‘The Vanguard of the Church’ (Tver : 2009).

• ‘Words, Sermons, Speeches’ (Kiev : 2009).

• ‘Be Faithful to God : Book of Conversations with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill’ (Minsk : 2009).

• ‘Tell God's Truth : Patriarch Kirill about the Media’ (Moscow : Moscow Patriarchate Publishing House, 2016) ISBN : 978-5-88017-610-6.

• ‘The Strength of a Nation is in the Power of the Spirit’ (Minsk : 2009).

• ‘The Church calls for Unity’ (Minsk : 2010).

• ‘Keep Faith in the Heart’ (Minsk : 2011).

• ‘Sermons (2010-2011)’ (Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2012).

• ‘About the Skills of Prayer, Fasting, Repentance and Mercy’ (March, 2008).

• ‘The Word of the Shepherd : Collected Works’ (1991-2011), series 2, vol. 1 (Moscow, 2013).

• ‘Overcoming Distemper’ in “The Word of His Holiness Patriarch”, series 2, vol. 1 (Moscow, 2013).

• ‘The Word of the Shepherd : Collected Works (1991-2011)’, series 2, vol. 2 (Moscow, 2014).

• ‘The Holy Land’ in “The Word of the Shepherd : Collected Works (1991-2011)”, series 2, vol. 2 (Moscow, 2014).

• ‘Patriarch Kirill in his own Words’ (Crestwood, NY : SVS Press, 2016).

• ‘Word of the Primate : Collected Works (2009-2010)’, series 1, vol. 1 (Moscow : Moscow Patriarchate, 2018). ISBN : 5457650480, 9785457650480.

• ‘Words in Honour of the Icon of the Mother of God “Fadeless Colour”’ on 9 June, 2019.

• ‘Words at the Meeting of the Supreme Church Council on 13 June, 2019.

• Sermon on the Feast of Pentecost on 16 June, 2019.

• ‘Cossacks : Fatherland, Faith, Service’ (Moscow : Moscow Patriarchate Publishing House, 2019).

In addition, there are about 2340 publications, including those in domestic and foreign periodicals.

• A series of Lenten sermons has come out in audio-format.

• ‘The Word of a Pastor’ television series has been published which includes talks on :

 	  • ‘An introduction to Orthodox doctrine’ 
 	  • ‘Word-Sacrament-Church’
 	  • ‘History of the early Christian Church and the teaching on the Church’
  	  • ‘Jubilee Bishops’ Council’
 	  • ‘Basic Social Concept’
 	  • ‘Statute of the Russian Orthodox Church’
 	  • ‘Actions on canonization’
 	  • ‘Attitude to non-Orthodoxy’
 	  • ‘Church, state, politics’
 	  • ‘Church, individual, society’
 	  • ‘Faith and salvation’

Talks :

Metropolitan Kirill was invited to give lectures in :

• Rome (1972) ;

• Helsinki University ;

• Åbo Academy in Turku (Åbo) ;

• Switzerland Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland (1972, 1973) ;

• Orthodox Seminary in Kuopio, Finland (1975) ;

• University of Muenster, Germany (1988) ;

• University of Udine, Italy (1988) ;

• State University of Perugia, Italy (2002) ;

• Christian Academy in Warsaw, Poland (2004).

• Metropolitan Kirill was the key speaker at the Orthodox consultation on ‘The Common Understanding and Vision of the WCC’ (Chambesy, 1995).

• Metropolitan Kirill was also a participant in the Pan-Orthodox Consultation on the Issues of Ecumenism (Salonika, 1998).

• Metropolitan Kirill spoke at the meeting of heads of the Local Orthodox Churches for healing the Bulgarian Church schism (Sofia, 1998).

• Metropolitan Kirill spoke at the Pan-Orthodox celebrations on the occasion of the 2,000th anniversary of Christianity in Bethlehem (7 January, 2000).

• Metropolitan Kirill spoke at the negotiations between the Patriarchate of Moscow and Constantinople (in Istanbul, 1977, Geneva, 1978, Istanbul, 1990, Moscow, 1991, Istanbul, 1993) ; and at regular consultations on current problems between the 2 Churches.

• Metropolitan Kirill conducted negotiations with the Orthodox Church of Constantinople concerning Estonia, and with the Romanian Orthodox Church concerning the problem of the Metropolia of Bessarabia in Moldova (twice : in 1997 in Geneva, and in 1999 in Kishinev).

Portrait