The Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church (or Orthodox Old-ritualist Church, Orthodox Old-Rite Church, ; ) is the Romanian Old Believer jurisdiction of the Belokrinitskaya Hierarchy.
The head of the Church carries the title of Archbishop of Belaya Krinitsa and Bucharest and Metropolitan of all Orthodox Christians of the Old Rite everywhere (). His see is nominally in Bila Krynytsia/Belaya Krinitsa/Fântâna Albă (Bukovina), his residence in Brăila, Romania since 1940.
It positions itself as the world center of popovtsy, as the "Mother Church" for the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church; the latter does not recognize this.
History Lipovans are Russian Old Believers who fled Russia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, in order to escape the persecution of their faith.
Eparchies There are seven eparchies of the Lipovan Orthodox Old-Rite Church: Eparchy of Fântâna Albă, with residence in Brăila, which includes the old rite orthodox parishes from Brăila and Galați counties, Bucharest, Borduşani (Ialomiţa county), Fântâna Albă/Bila Krynytsia (Ukraine); Eparchy of Slava, with residence in Slava Rusă (Tulcea county), which includes the parishes from Slava Rusă, Slava Cercheză, Carcaliu, Ghindăreşti, Jurilovca, 2 Mai, Constanţa, Cernavodă and Năvodari in Constanţa county, and parishes from Bulgaria; Eparchy of Bukovina and Moldavia, with residence in Târgu Frumos (Iași County), which includes the parishes from Iași, Vaslui, Neamţ, Suceava and Botoșani counties; Eparchy of Tulcea, with residence in Tulcea, which includes the parishes from Tulcea, Sulina, Mahmudia, Sarichioi, Periprava, Chilia Veche, Mila 23, Sfiştovca; Eparchy of the US, residing in Oregon, which includes the parishes from the U.S., Canada, and Australia; Western Eparchy, based in Turin (Italy), which includes the parishes from Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Austria, and Hungary; Eparchy of the Baltic States, residing in Jēkabpils, comprising the parishes from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
First Hierarchs In Hungary and Romania (Belaya Krinitsa, temporarily in Brăila, Romania)
NamePortraitPeriodNotesAmbrose (Papageorgopolos) 28 October 184626 July 1848Died on 30 October 1863Cyril (Timofeyev) 4 January 18492 December 1873Athanasius (Makurov) 9 May 18741 October 1905Macarius (Lobov) 10 September 19062 January 1921Nicodemus (Fedotov) 24 September 192415 October 1926Paphnutius (Fedoseyev) 8 June 1928 8 April 1939Silouan (Kravtsov) 25 June 1939 5 January 1941 The last metropolitan, who resided in Belaya Krinitsa. 22 July 1940 he transferred his headquarter to BrăilaInnocent (Usov) 10 May 1941 16 February 1942Tikhon (Kachalkin) 12 April 1942 4 March 1968Joasaph (Timofey) 15 December 196816 February 1985Timon (Gavrilov)1 June 198521 August 1996Leontius (Izot)24 October 1996Incumbent
External links Official website
References