“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit! (John 1: 47) Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitskii) died on this day in Serbia in 1936. He came to monasticism from noble origins and therefore did not have the inferiority complex of many clergy from the Russian ‘Levite caste’. This may explain why he so fearlessly stood up against the state’s domination over the church. Anthony’s contempt for historical analysis was negatively reflected in his understanding of canonical matters (e.g., sacramental oikonomia; cf. my piece) and contemporary political processes in Russia that led to the Russian Revolution. For Anthony, the monarch was a figure restraining anti-Christian forces in the world, “the one who withholds” (the katechon from 2 Thes. 2:7). This is the origin of his willingness to embrace various autocrats from Hetman Petro Skoropadsʹkyi, to Anastasii Vosniatskii, the leader of the Russian Fascists. It would be unfair to focus on such particular aspects of the personality of a hierarch such as Metropolitan Anthony, who was so significant to the Russian Church in so many ways, without seeing the bigger picture. He loved the Russian Church; he was always candid, had a big, compassionate heart, and operated abroad in uncharted canonical waters. Relevant Links There is a lot to read about him on ROCOR Studies, but Archimandrite Kiprian’s portrait of Anthony remains the best sketch of his personality. |
