Biography

Exharch Fyodorov

Leonid Fyodorov was born on November 4, 1879 in Saint Petersburg into a Russian Orthodox family. Having lost his father while still young, Leonid remained in the care of his mother, who had to earn a living to provide for the family herself. Despite their humble means, Leonid’s mother tried hard to give her son a good education. At the age of 14, Leonid suffered a deep personal crisis. “An inexpressible yearning had fallen over me, leading to an inconsolable depression,” he later wrote. At 20, “Thanks to diligent readings, studying the Holy Fathers, the Councils and the history of the Church, I became convinced in the truth of the universal Church at the very moment when I was losing my faith.” This is what spurred him to strive for a reunification with the ecumenical Catholic Church. For the realization of that mission, he had to abandon his homeland. Continuing his studies under a false name in Rome, Fyodorov adopted Catholicism.

The Eastern Catholic Church faced persistent animosity in tsarist Russia, and the incognito Fyodorov was soon discovered by Orthodox agents, who warned him that continuing his studies would lead to a prohibition from returning to the Russian empire.

On March 25, 1911 in Constantinople, Leonid Fyodorov was ordained as a Greek Catholic priest, and in 1912, he took the monastic vows. From that point on, his entire life was dedicated to the reunification of the Eastern and Western Churches.

Meanwhile, major world events were coming to a head. In 1914, World War I began. Fyodorov at once set off for Russia, but a mere two weeks after returning to his homeland, he was arrested and exiled to Tobolsk. The official reason for Fyodorov’s arrest was his affiliation with the Catholic Church. Fyodorov was only released from exile after the February revolution of 1917.

Father Leonid Fyodorov and Archbishop Andriy Sheptytsky, Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, arrived in Petersburg in order to gather Russia’s Catholics, whose numbers at the time were already growing, and to organize a Russian Catholic Church.

On June 11, 1917, a cathedral opened in the Church of Saint John the Baptist with the participation of all the Russian Greek Catholic priests. Archbishop Sheptytsky named Father Leonid Fyodorov to be their representative, the Exarch for all of Russia.

For the first time in the history of the Russian Empire, the Eastern Catholic Church began to operate freely and independently. At long last, Father Leonid was able to devote himself completely to the work that he had dreamed about his entire life. In the summer of 1917, at Fyodorov’s initiative, a society for advocates of the reunification of the Churches was founded. Russian Orthodox believers, Eastern and Western Catholics, Russian Old Believers and members of other Christian denominations were accepted as members into the society.

In Petrograd, Father Leonid founded the female order of the “Sacred Family”, the “Sisterhood of the Holy Spirit” and the “St. John Chrysostomus Congregation”.

When the Bolsheviks seized power, however, the freedom ended; they had no desire to see a church that was independent of government influence, nor did they want unity among the Christians, who could have deposed the Bolsheviks’ anti-religious government.

In 1923, the government began to make an example of the Russian Catholic clergy, accusing them of organizing counter-revolutionary activities. One of the primary targets of the accusations was Father Leonid Fyodorov. The Exarch of the Russian Greek Catholics was sentenced to ten years in prison.

After several years, Fyodorov’s imprisonment was commuted to exile, but shortly thereafter, the Exarch was arrested again and was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in the Solovki concentration camp, where others in the Orthodox and Catholic clergies were being held at that time. In the concentration camp’s unbearable conditions, the 47-year-old and seriously ill Father Leonid wrote theological papers and performed his priestly duties.

After being released from the camp, Fyodorov still faced another six years of exile in various corners of northern Russia. Father Leonid Fyodorov, the first Exarch of the Russian Greek Catholic Church and a martyr for the unity of the Churches, died on March 7, 1935 in Vyatka.

‘It is the ecumenism of the martyrs and witnesses of the faith that shows the way to unity for Christians in the 21st century. May their sacrifice be a practical lesson of life for all,’ said Pope John Paul II at a beatification ceremony for new martyrs of the 20th century, including Father Leonid Fyodorov, on 27 June 2001. 

Background

The truth of the Universal Church

Leonid Ivanovich Fyodorov came to the conviction of the truth of the Universal Church through a personal search and studies on the Church’s origin and on the Fathers of the Church.

“In the end I decided to take a step without return: to go in foreign countries for becoming Catholic”, Fyodorov wrote in a memoirs letter.

To join the Catholic Church was an action fraught with consequences at his times in Russia. As a matter of fact, at that time Russian law did not permit a passage from Orthodox to Catholic profession: those who dared to do so, were sentenced to exile and their properties were confiscated.

Leonid took the decision to leave his homeland and carry on his studies in Rome. The Metropolite of Eastern Catholic Rite, Father Andrei Sheptytsky, whom he met in his journey to Rome, helped him in the hard decision. Sheptytsky had the mission of the unity of the Western and Eastern Churches, each of them keeping alive their traditions and liturgy. Fyodorov fully agreed on that mission. The profound love that Fyodorov felt for the Church caused him to suffer enormously for the separation of the two Christian Churches. That is why he dedicated his whole life to overcome the tragic split between them.

During the Italian stage, both Popes Leone XIII and Pio X blessed Fyodorov’s mission for the unity of Churches and for the diffusion of the Catholic Eastern Rite Church in Russia.

As a theology student and under a pseudonym Fyodorov participated to three Forums of Velehrad on the unity of Churches, finding the theological confirmation as adhesion to the unique and holy Body of Christ, and meeting the more convinced supporters of this vision. His future mission in Russia became clear to him, and the first practical consequence was the foundation of a Scientific Centre on Eastern Religious Culture inside the Studite scientific Institute “Studion”, in L’viv, as proposed by Metropolite Sheptytsky.

Once ordained Catholic priest of the Byzantine Rite in Constantinople, he traveled to Russia several times in incognito, starting a collaboration with Vladimir Abrikosov and his community in Petrograd.

Only in June 11, 1917, in the short period of religious freedom before the Bolsheviks raised to power, a Council could be inaugurated in the St. John the Baptist Cathedral, the first Catholic Cathedral in Russia. All Russian Catholic priests of Eastern Rite attended it. On this occasion, the Metropolite Sheptytsky appointed Leonid Fyodorov as his representative and Exarch of Russia.

For the first time in Russian history, the Catholic Church of Eastern Rite was free to start its autonomous activity. Father Leonid could devote himself completely to the project he had cherished for his whole life. In the summer of 1917, he created a group of promoters for the unity of the Churches. Orthodox, Catholics of Latin and Eastern Rite, Old Believers and other Christians could take part to this group.

The rise to power of Bolsheviks in November 1917 sealed the end of all freedoms. The Catholic clergy realized the necessity of the union with the Orthodox in front of the terrible claim that Lenin threw out: “I arrived at the indisputable conclusion that just now we must fight the reactionary clergy in the most decisive and implacable manner, and crush their opposition with such cruelty that they won’t forget it for many decades”.

Nonetheless, the dialogue between Orthodox and Catholics continued, despite the more and more difficult situation. In the years between 1920 and 1923, several meetings aimed at reunifying the Churches took place in Moscow: in these meetings, Orthodox and Catholics of Eastern Rite discussed the issues concerning the unification of the Church. Father Leonid had an active role, establishing highly significant relationships. The participation of the Orthodox clergy in this meeting was blessed by the Patriarch Tikhon, the highest representative of the Orthodox Church. Patriarch Tikhon met a couple of times with the Russian Catholics. Father Leonid wrote: “The Patriarch received me very kindly; he also hopes sincerely in the union.”

After the trials of 1923, most Catholics were sent to the concentration camp of the Solovky Islands. Leonid Fyodorov was sent to the Solovetsky camp on October 26, 1926. At that time the 47 years old Exarch was already suffering for heart-problems and forms of rheumatism. Father Leonid once said: “Maybe the contribution of the Russian Church to the treasure of the universal Church is just the fact that only through its sufferings, and not so much through its victories, it proves its belonging to the Holy Body of Christ”.