Metropolitan Nikodim (

secular name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth an ...

Boris Georgiyevich Rotov russian: Борис Георгиевич Ротов, 15 October 1929 – 5 September 1978), was the

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

metropolitan of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

from 1963 until his death. Nikodim was born in

Frolovo Frolovo (russian: Фро́лово) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the Archeda River (Don River (Russia), Don's drainage basin, basin), north of Volgograd, the administrative center o ...

in south-west Russia. Ordained in 1960 at the age of 31, the youngest

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

world at the time, he went on to become one of the six presidents of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

. According to the

Mitrokhin Archive The "Mitrokhin Archive" is a collection of handwritten notes which were secretly made by the KGB archivist Vasili Mitrokhin during the thirty years in which he served as a KGB archivist in the foreign intelligence service and the First Chief Direc ...

, which claimed deep Communist penetration of the Russian Orthodox Church, Nikodim was a

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

agent whose

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

activity with the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and the WCC served to further

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

goals. The KGB assigned Nikodim the codename "Svyatoslav". Nikodim is said to have participated in negotiating a secret 1960s agreement between Soviet and Vatican officials that authorized Eastern Orthodox participation in the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

in exchange for non-condemnation of atheistic communism during the conciliar assemblies. Nikodim collapsed and died in 1978 while in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

for the installation of

Pope John Paul I Pope John Paul I ( la, Ioannes Paulus I}; it, Giovanni Paolo I; born Albino Luciani ; 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 to his death 33 days later. Hi ...

. The new pope, who himself died a few weeks later, prayed over him in his final moments.

Bibliography

* * '' Васильева О. Ю.'' Тридцать лет спустя... К истории Поместного Собора 1971 г. // Церковь в истории России. — Сб. 5. М.: ИРИ РАН, 2003. — С. 314–323. * * '' Боровой В. М., прот.'
Митрополит Никодим и церковная ситуация середины XX века
// Личность в Церкви и обществе: Материалы Международной научно-богословской конференции (Москва, 17-19 сентября 2001 г.). — М. : Московская высшая православно-христианская школа, 2003. — 448 с. — С. 215–226. * В память вечную...: Материалы Минского научно-богословского семинара, посвященного памяти высокопреосвященнейшего Никодима (Ротова), митрополита Ленинградского и Новгородского (†1978) / сост., отв. за вып. Н. В. Артимович. — Минск : �. и. 2006. — 120 с. * * * * * * ''Шкаровский М. В.'' Ленинградская Академия и семинария в период испытаний. 1958—1978 годы // Санкт-Петербургские духовные школы в ХХ-XXI вв. — Т. 2. — М. : Издательство Санкт-Петербургской Православной Духовной Академии, 2016. — 512 с. — С. 8-188

References

1929 births 1978 deaths People from Korablinsky District Christian Peace Conference members Burials at Nikolskoe Cemetery Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church {{Eastern-Orthodoxy-bio-stub