Leo (Tserpitsky)


Metropolitan Leo is the current Metropolitan of Novgorod and Staraya Russa. He was named Bishop of Novgorod the Great and Staraya Russa on July 20, 1990 and elevated to the archiepiscopal dignity on February 25, 1995, and to the metropolitan dignity in January 2012.

Biography

He was born in the village of Zaluzhye in Stowbtsy District of Minsk Region in Belarus on April 13, 1946. He is the grandson of a priest.
After his service in the Soviet Army in 1966-1969, Lev entered the Leningrad Spiritual Academy, graduating in 1975 and successfully defending a candidate's dissertation entitled "Decrees of the Second Vatican Council's 'Constitution on the Divine Liturgy'". He studied at the Papal Gregorian University from 1975-1978.
On 28 March 1971, he was shorn a monk by Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod; he was consecrated a hierodeacon in April of that same year and was consecrated a hieromonk in April 1975. From 1972 to 1975, he was personal secretary to Metropolitan Nikodim. In 1978, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite and was part of the Russian Orthodox Church's delegation at the funeral of Pope Paul VI and the inauguration of John Paul I; he was with the Metropolitan when Nikodim collapsed and died during an audience with the Pope.
He was consecrated Bishop of Tashkent on November 1, 1987.
Since becoming Bishop of Novgorod and Staraya Russa, Leo has overseen the rebuilding of the church in the eparchy in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse. He concelebrated the rededication of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom after it was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991, reestablished a library in the upper gallery of the cathedral, oversaw the reopening of a number of churches in the eparchy, established a festival in honor of Metropolitan Arsenius of Novgorod, returned the relics of Bishop Nikita to the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, and has patronized other efforts to rebuild the church and church culture in the eparchy.
The Holy Synod on December 28, 2011 appointed him head of the Metropoly of Novgorod. He was elevated to the rank of metropolitan on January 8, 2012 in the Dormition Cathedral of Moscow Kremlin by Patriarch of Russia, Kirill I.

Awards and honors

Lev has been the recipient of several secular and ecclesiastical awards. In 1992, he was made an honorary citizen of Novgorod the Great. On March 30, 2006, President Vladimir Putin awarded him the Order For Merit to the Fatherland, 4th class. He has also received the Order of Honour, the Order of Sergius of Radonezh, 4th class, and the Order of St. Prince Daniel of Moscow. In 2004, he was a recipient of the Yaroslav the Wise Medal, 1st class awarded by Novgorod State University.