Some features of the episcopal ministry in the Novosibirsk and Barnaul diocese in the 1920s–1960s

Abstract

During the first 40 years of the existence of the Novosibirsk and Barnaul dioceses, seven bishops were replaced at the see. In the 1920s – 1930s, the diocese was governed by Metropolitan Nikifor (Astashevsky) and Archbishop Sergiy (Vasilkov). From 1937 up to mid- 1943, there was practically no church administration in Siberia and the Far East. The revival of the diocesan administration in Novosibirsk takes place with the appointment to the episcopal see of Metr. Bartholomew (Gorodtsov), who ruled the diocese from 1943 to 1956. For a short period from 1956 to 1958, The Novosibirsk see was occupied by the famous missionary Metr. Nestor (Anisimov). During the Khrushchev campaign to discredit the Russian Church, three bishops were replaced in Novosibirsk in six years: Bishops Donat (Shchegolev), Leonty (Bondar) and Archbishop Kassian (Yaroslavsky). Throughout the entire period under review, the Novosibirsk hierarchs faced a large number of problems in establishing and improving church life beyond the Urals. First of all, it was necessary to solve the issue of increasing the number of Orthodox churches; the personnel shortage of clergy in the territory of the Novosibirsk and Barnaul dioceses was also among the priority problems.