Quick Facts
Biography
Patriarch Pimen (Russian: Патриарх Пимен, born Sergey Mikhailovich Izvekov, Сергей Михайлович Извеков; July 23 [O.S. July 10] 1910 – May 3, 1990), was the 14th Patriarch of Moscow and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1970 to 1990.
Biography
He was born 1910 in village Kobylino, Kaluga Governorate in pius family; raised in the town of Bogorodsk near Moscow.
On December 5, 1925, he became a monk at Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. He also spent years in various Russian monasteries and cathedrals in Murom, Odessa and Pskov. In 1954 Pimen became namestnik (alderman) of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra.
November 17, 1957 in Odessa he was consecrated bishop of Balta, vicar of the Diocese of Odessa.
Since December 26, 1957 he was bishop of Dmitrov, vicar of the Moscow diocese.
From July 1960 to November 14, 1961 he was Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate.
November 23, 1960 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.
Since March 16, 1961 he was archbishop of Tula and Belyov.
On November 14, 1961 he was appointed Metropolitan of Leningrad and Ladoga.
After the death of Patriarch Alexius I in 1970 Metropolitan Pimen was elected the Patriarchal Locum Tenens, but the Communist authorities did not allow the holding of a church council to select a new Patriarch in the same year as the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth.
Local Council was opened May 30, 1971. The most important act of the Council - the abolition of the "oath" on the old rites of the Great Moscow Council, 1667. June 2, 1971 on the final day of the Counsil Metropolitan Pimen was elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. June 3 of the same year he was enthroned.
Pimen's task was to lead a Christian church in a state ruled by an officially atheist Communist party. In his post he worked closely with the authorities: he participated in numerous 'peace movement' conferences sponsored by the government. Pimen was awarded the Soviet Peace Fund Medal (1969, 1971) and, in 1970, the Gold Medal "Борцу за мир" ("Fighter for Peace") by the 'Soviet Committee for the Defence of Peace'. Pimen was a member of the World Peace Council from 1963 onwards. In 1961, Pimen was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (орден Трудового Красного Знамени), one of the highest awards of the time.
At the end of his difficult term as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church he organized the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Christianization of Rus' in 1988. This event became the historic moment that marked the end of persecution of Orthodox Christianity in the Soviet Union.