BELGRADE: November 14, 2014
A Plaque to the First Head of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Will Be Unveiled in Belgrade

On Saturday, November 15, 2014, a memorial plaque will be unveiled dedicated to Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) of blessed memory in the Patriarchal Palace in Sremsky Karlovci, Serbia.

The ceremony, headed by hierarchs of the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches, will be attended by Serbian and Russian social, civil and religious figures, as reported by the Fund of St Andrew the First-Called through Interfax-Religia. This foundation helped finance the plaque.

The plaque is made of bronze and represents a rectangle with a bas-relief of Metropolitan Anthony at the top, and an inscription in Russian and Serbian below which reads: �To the First Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), 17 (29) March 1863 -28 June (10 August) 1936.�

The press service of St Andrew�s Fund announced �Very few in Russia know of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky) beyond a narrow group of specialists. The establishment of a memorial plaque may spark public attention to his memory both in Russia and in Serbia.�

Metropolitan Anthony, theologian and philosopher, was the first President of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The Synod of Bishops was housed in the Patriarchal Palace in Sremsky Karlovci since its inception, where Metropolitan Anthony had a residence where he lived until his death.

Metropolitan Anthony was born in the town of Vatagino, Krestetsky uyezd of Novgorod guberniya in Russia to the family of a landed gentlry. Upon graduating from high school in the northern capital, he enrolled in St Petersburg Theological Academy. After graduation, he was tonsured a monk and became a teacher. He was at one time the Rector of Moscow Theological Academy.

A member of the Pomestny (National) Church Council of 1917-1918, he was one of the candidates to the patriarchal throne. On May 19, 1918, he was chosen for the cathedra of Kiev. He emigrated in 1920, and was buried in Belgrade in a crypt in Iveron Church.

It is believed that it was he who served as the prototype of Feodor Dostoevsky�s Alyosha Karamazov. Metropolitan Anthony was very active in the liturgical field, he visited prisons, hospitals, published a great deal, held discussions with Leo Tolstoy and warned of the coming revolution.

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