Politics of the Russian Orthodox Church afterenthronement of Metropolitan Kirill into patriarchal dignity was marked by a large-scale reform of the administrative administration. Large diocesan institutions began to split up into small independent episcopal centers with the subsequent unification of them in the metropolia. As a result of these actions, the number of hierarchical departments increased significantly in the Moscow Patriarchate. One of such newly formed centers is Eletskaya and Lebedyansky Diocese (photo below).
For the first time the episcopal chair in Yelets waswas formed at the beginning of the twentieth century by an imperial decree at the request of the Holy Synod. The episcopacy bore a vicar status, that is, it had an auxiliary and dependent position in relation to the main center, which for Elets then was the Oryol department. However, its ruling bishop ordered that the vicar, instead of Yelets, where he was to be settled by the Synod, lived in Orel himself, visiting the Elets as necessary. Therefore, in fact, the vicariate did not function, and the vicar himself acted as an assistant to the Orel Most Reverend for all diocesan questions. All this happened in August 1906, when the Vicariate was established. Synod with this state of affairs was reconciled until 1918, when it was again determined that the vicar Eletskiy stayed in his cathedral city and engaged directly in the management of his subordinate parishes.
Political events in Russia after 1917 andThe consequent church troubles destroyed the established system of governing the church. A single organism hitherto began to split into independent currents and factions. So there appeared the renewal structures, supported at first by the Soviet authorities, and the reactionary, extreme right-wing pro-monarchist associations, which were oppressed by the same power. In the middle was more or less moderate (especially after 1927, when the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius about loyalty to Soviet power was published), the patriarchal church, in opposition to which there were many clergy. Like one of these groups, Eletsk Vicariate in 1922, at the diocesan meeting of the clergy in the person of the clergy, decided to establish an independent autocephalous church. Its primate was Bishop Nikolai (Nikolsky). The clergy decided to take this step, in order to avoid merging with the reformist structures of the Renovationists, whose church organization at that time was official and took a pro-Soviet position. However, the newly formed church faced a powerful opposition from the Soviet government, which, in response to the decision of the diocese to move to a self-governing position, responded with arrests of the activists of the clergy. Bishop Nicholas was exiled to Zadonsk, from where he continued to administer the remnants of the faithful priests and laymen who remained loyal to him. The final destruction of the diocesan structure in Yelets came in 1937 - the time of severe anti-religious persecution in the Soviet Union.
After the change in the field of religious policyUSSR, and especially after perestroika, the church life in Yelets was revived as part of the Lipetsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The cathedral (this time, not a vikarno, but independent) status of the region was restored by the Holy Synod in May 2013 with the name "Eletskaya and Lebedianska Diocese". According to the same decision, the revived episcopate was part of the newly formed Lipetsk metropolia. The diocesan ruling bishop was appointed bishop Maxim (Dmitriev).
To date, Eletskayaa relatively large pool of parishes. According to official figures, for 2015, there are about sixty churches in the diocesan eparchy, including the cathedral of the Ascension of the Lord, and five monasteries, one of which is male and four female. In addition to religious buildings, there is an administrative building in Yelets, which is occupied by the Eletskaya and Lebedyan diocese. Address: Lipetsk Region, Yelets City, Red Square, Building 1, index 399770.
Before the defeat of church life in times of persecutionThe need for spiritual education was satisfied by two schools. To date, Eletskaya and Lebedyan diocese owns only an Orthodox gymnasium in the name of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Within the framework of this educational institution, a full program of secondary school education (eleven classes) is taught. Plus, in addition to the generally accepted disciplines, a number of electives are offered for choice: church singing, sewing, local studies and others. About the intention to revive the school or create a seminary on the basis of the chair Lipetsk and Lebedyansky diocese has not yet reported.
Orthodox structures in the region interactwith society through five specialized departments, which includes the Eletskaya and Lebedyan diocese. The news of church life is reported by the Orthodox website and the Diocesan Blagovest magazine. Also in the department there are seven commissions dealing with various issues of the life of the church and society. And among other things, there is the activity of the Metropolitan Center in Lipetsk, with which the Eletskaya and Lebedyan Diocese collaborates. The Society of Orthodox Physicians is a vivid example of this.
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