New Perm Diocese head: 'First task is not to break what works'
Bishop Ignatius led his first service at Sludskaya Church in Perm
In July, Bishop Ignatius of Yeniseysk and Lesosibirsk was appointed the new head of the Perm Diocese. On Saturday, 25 July, he arrived in Perm. The bishop commented on his appointment and outlined the tasks he sets for himself.
This year, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church released Metropolitan Methodius of Perm and Kungur into retirement — he had requested it two years earlier. Bishop Ignatius of Yeniseysk and Lesosibirsk became the new head of the Perm Diocese. In a conversation with Perm journalists, he admitted it was his first visit to the Kama region.
“I came to the Perm land in fulfillment of the blessing of the Holy Synod. And when you act not by your own will but by blessing, by obedience, there is always joy in your heart,” the bishop noted. “And anxiety, of course, to justify the trust placed in me, because the Perm land is an ancient land, a prayerful land. Much has been done here in terms of church construction, social service, and youth ministry. Before coming to Perm, I asked people whose lives are connected with this region, and I did not hear a single negative word. Everyone speaks with delight about this wonderful, marvelous land and about people devoted to their work.”
The bishop briefly answered what he sees as his priority tasks in his new post.
“The priority tasks are not to break what exists if it works well, and to improve something together, of course, with the clergy and the laity,” the bishop said. “What should be improved? We need to look, because I have just stepped off the platform. Let deeds speak for me rather than words.”
Earlier, we reported that several years ago Bishop Ignatius’s ex-wife accused him of domestic violence. She told NGS24.RU that during their marriage her husband beat her after quarrels. A few days after the accusations by his former wife, a statement by Archimandrite Ignatius himself appeared on the Krasnoyarsk Diocese website.
“I am shocked by the untruth contained in media publications attributed to my wife. I pray for her and will always pray for her. I also pray for those spreading untruth about me and forgive them from the bottom of my heart, as Christ commands,” Ignatius’s statement reads.
