Nikodim of Leningrad

Nikodim (1963)

Nikodim von Leningrad ( Russian Никодим , actually: Russian Бори́с Гео́ргиевич Ро́тов Boris Georgijewitsch Rotow ; born October 16, 1929 in Frolowo , Ryazan Oblast ; † September 5, 1978 in the Vatican City ) was a Russian Orthodox metropolitan .

Live and act

Nikodim attended a seminary at the Spiritual Academy of Leningrad and, after completing his studies for priests ordained. After a few years of the priesthood, which he filled out with devotion and expertise, he was raised to the (titular) bishop of Podolsk . In this capacity, he was also the head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Russian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Nikodim became the mentor of some of the current leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1961 he was before the episcopal ordination of Patriarch Alexij . As a young priest, Metropolitan Kirill was Metropolitan Nikodim's personal secretary. Metropolitan Juvenalij of Krutitsy and Kolomna regards Metropolitan Nikodim as his “spiritual father and mentor, friend and brother”. In 1963 he became Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod , after having been Archbishop of Yaroslavl for three years and, for a short time, Metropolitan of Minsk .

Nikodim was considered a friend of the Catholic Church . He was an observer at the Second Vatican Council . In 1969 he wrote his 657-page dissertation on “ Johannes XXIII. , Pope of Rome ”. In recent years, he has been accused by some of being a crypto-Catholic .

Metropolitan Nikodim is considered to be a devotee and supporter of the so-called James liturgy . She was unknown in the Russian Church for a long time. Since the beginning of the 20th century, in the course of the return to the origins of the liturgy , people began to study this form and to publish the texts and chants in Slavonic . The Church Slavonic translation of the Greek text, which the then Archimandrite Philip Gardner , who was also a musicologist, and deacon Alexy Gontjaev concerned, in 1938 by Metropolitan Anastassij , head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad , approved for liturgical use. Since then, this liturgy has occasionally been celebrated in various Russian churches abroad. Metropolitan Nikodim celebrated it in the church of the Spiritual Academy in Leningrad. The James liturgy was also used in many other orthodox jurisdictions. It is known and celebrated at least once a year in the churches of Serbia , Bulgaria and Finland . The St. James liturgy has been celebrated regularly in the parish of St. Michael the Archangel in Göttingen since 2002 .

Nikodim also played a role in the ecumenical movement from time to time, since he had also become exarch of Western Europe in 1974 . In 1975 he became the President of the World Council of Churches (WCC). At the same time, his church sent him to work in the Christian Peace Conference , of which he was president from 1971–1978. With this work the Russian Orthodox Church became part of the world Christianity, which had previously become visible in the WCC from the Western churches.

Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod died of a heart attack in the presence of the shocked Pope John Paul I. Metropolitan Nikodim had previously suffered five heart attacks and nevertheless continued his work for the unity.

aftermath

Every year on September 5th, the Holy Liturgy is celebrated in St. Petersburg in the Trinity Cathedral of Lavra in memory of Metropolitan Nikodim , and afterwards the faithful go to his tomb behind the cathedral. In addition to Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg , either Patriarch Kyrill or Metropolitan Juvenalij or both are at his tomb.

Since the 1990s, Metropolitan Nikodim has become a controversial figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. The more conservative elements in the church were very critical of the metropolitan and his ecumenical attitude. In a way, he became a symbol of more open access.

At the invitation of Metropolitan Kyrill (Gundjajew), Archbishop of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Head of the Ecclesiastical Foreign Office of the Moscow Patriarchate , a conference was held in Smolensk from August 31 to September 2, 2003 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Nikodim. As the head of the Church Foreign Office of the Moscow Patriarchate at the time, he was instrumental in ensuring that the ROK was present and involved with two representatives at the Council from the beginning of the Second Vatican Council and that then for more than a decade a conditional communion with the ROK duration.

On the 30th anniversary of his death, September 5, 2008, a conference was held in the St. Petersburg Orthodox Theological Academy on “Metropolitan Nikodim: Legacy and the Present”. The fact that there are still critics of Nikodim is shown by the fact that Metropolitan Kirill felt it necessary to reject accusations at this conference that Metropolitan Nikodim celebrated the Eucharist together with Catholics and had become a crypto-Catholic.

Web links

Nikodim (Rotov) (1929–1978), Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod 1963–1978 in the online encyclopedia Saint Petersburg (English, Russian )
Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad , OrthodoxWiki
Stefania Falasca: “… I have never heard such beautiful things being said” . In: 30 days, international monthly magazine directed by Giulio Andreotti . No. 6/7 , 2006 ( online [accessed May 31, 2015]).

Individual evidence

↑ Orientation ecumenism. A manual. Published by Hans-Martin Moderow and Matthias Sens, EVA Berlin 1979, p. 291 on behalf of the Theological Studies Department at the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR
↑ Peter Anderson: On the 30th anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov; 1929–1978). Institutum Studiorum Oecumenicorum - Theological Faculty of the University of Friborg / Switzerland, archived from the original on August 28, 2009 ; accessed on September 29, 2018 .
↑ James Liturgy. In: orthodoxia.de. Orthodox St. Michaels Congregation in Göttingen, August 31, 2015, accessed on September 29, 2018 .
^ Albert Rauch: Journey to Russia (Moscow / Smolensk / St. Petersburg): International conference on the 25th anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) August 29th. - 09/06/2003. Eastern Church Institute Regensburg , June 1, 2015, accessed on September 29, 2018 .

personal data
SURNAME	Nikodim of Leningrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Nikodim; Rotow, Boris Georgievich (real name, transcribed); Никодим (Russian); Ро́тов, Бори́с Гео́ргиевич (real name, Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Russian clergyman, Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod
DATE OF BIRTH	October 16, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH	Frolovo
DATE OF DEATH	5th September 1978
Place of death	Vatican city

[1] Orientation ecumenism. A manual. Published by Hans-Martin Moderow and Matthias Sens, EVA Berlin 1979, p. 291 on behalf of the Theological Studies Department at the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR

[2] Peter Anderson: On the 30th anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov; 1929–1978). Institutum Studiorum Oecumenicorum - Theological Faculty of the University of Friborg / Switzerland, archived from the original on August 28, 2009 ; accessed on September 29, 2018 .

[3] James Liturgy. In: orthodoxia.de. Orthodox St. Michaels Congregation in Göttingen, August 31, 2015, accessed on September 29, 2018 .

[4] Albert Rauch: Journey to Russia (Moscow / Smolensk / St. Petersburg): International conference on the 25th anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) August 29th. - 09/06/2003. Eastern Church Institute Regensburg , June 1, 2015, accessed on September 29, 2018 .