Spyrydon

Who is Spyrydon?

Spyrydon was the Ukrainian Orthodox archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate.

Oleh Babskyi was born on May 13, 1958 in Zhytomyr city, now in Ukraine. During 1977-1981 he attended the Theological Seminary in Leningrad, ROC and, after his marriage in March 1981, was ordained as a deacon by Archbishop of Tikhvin, Meliton Solovyov. On April 19, 1981 he was ordained a priest by Archbishop of Smolensk and Vyazma, Feodosiy Protsyuk. He served as a parish priest in ROC and graduated in absentia from the Theological Academy in Moscow with a ThD degree.

In 1989 he was elevated to the dignity of archpriest. He was divorced from his wife, and supported Metropolitan Filaret in split from the ROC and the creation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate. On June 6, 1992 he tonsured as a monk with name Spyrydon and next day, June 7, 1992, he was consecrated as first bishop of the UOC KP as titular Bishop of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi, auxiliary of the Kyiv Eparchy. Consecration was in St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv by Metr. of Kyiv and all Ukraine Filaret Denysenko and Bishop of Pochayiv Yakiv Panchuk. On July 25, 1992 he was appointed as Bishop of Lutsk and Volyn and in December 1992 was elevated to the dignity of Archbishop and appointed Archbishop of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizzhya. In 1993 he was appointed as Archbishop of Vinnytsia and Bratslav. On December 25, 1993 he left the UOC KP and again joined the ROC. He was accepted only as Archpriest Oleh Babskyi and in 1994 tonsured again as monk, but with name Vasyliy.