Vilnius, January 14, 2025 – His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostom (Martishkin), who led the Moscow Patriarchate’s Diocese of Vilnius and Lithuania from 1990 to 2010, reposed in the Lord on Christmas Eve, January 6.
The Metropolitan was 90 years old when he reposed, the diocese reports.
The current Metropolitan, His Eminence Innokenty, spoke of his predecessor as a remarkable man:
He was a man absolutely devoted to his Mother Church, selflessly fighting for its interests in its most difficult times. He was a very wise man who knew how to find a way out of very complex situations encountered in his episcopal practice. Metropolitan Chrysostom was a brave and courageous man. Despite his outward strictness, he was also a man of exceptional kindness.
Met. Chrysostom made his mark on Lithuanian history by supporting the nation’s independence movement and condemning Soviet military actions during the January 1991 events in Vilnius, earning him Lithuania’s January 13th Memorial Medal. Under his leadership, many churches were returned from state control, restored, or newly built. After his 2010 retirement, he lived quietly in prayer, attending services at the restored Church of the Nativity in Bukiškės near Vilnius.
On January 8, Met. Chrysostom’s funeral was served at the Holy Spirit Monastery in Vilnius. The service was attended by both Church and state officials as well as numerous clergy and faithful. After the service, he was buried in the monastery’s episcopal crypt.
May his memory be eternal!
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Photo: orthodoxy.lt Met. Chrysostom was born on May 3, 1934, in the village of Kazinka, Gorlovsky district, Ryazan Province, to a peasant family.
He graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy. For four and a half years, the future hierarch served as senior subdeacon to Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) of Leningrad and Novgorod. On September 12, 1964, he was ordained as a deacon at the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Leningrad.
On October 31, 1966, he was tonsured a monk at the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra with the name Chrysostom in honor of St. John Chrysostom, and was soon ordained as a hieromonk.
From December 1, 1969, he served at the All Saints Church in Moscow. On July 15, 1971, he was appointed head of the chancellery of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1971, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. From 1972, he served as Bishop of Zaraisk, vicar of the Moscow Diocese, and Deputy Chairman of the DECR.
From 1974, he served as administrator of the Kursk-Belgorod Diocese. On September 2, 1977, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop. On August 13, 1981, he was released from the position of Deputy Chairman of the DECR at his own request. From December 26, 1984, he served as administrator of the Irkutsk and Chita Dioceses, and temporarily, the Khabarovsk Diocese.
From January 26, 1990, he served as Archbishop of Vilnius and Lithuania. On February 25, 2000, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan. Metropolitan Chrysostom remained in the Lithuanian Diocese until December 24, 2010, when he retired due to health reasons at his own request.
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