The Spanish-Portuguese diocese (SPD) (russian: Испанско-Португальская епархия) or Diocese of Madrid and Lisbon (russian: Мадридская и Лиссабонская епархия, es, Diócesis de Madrid y Lisboa) is a

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

of the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

(ROC) created on 28 December 2018. The diocese is part of the Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe. The primate of the SPD is Nestor (Sirotenko) who holds the title of " Archbishop of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and Lisbon".

History

On 28 December 2018, in response to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's actions in Ukraine, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to create "a Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe EWEwith the center in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

" as well as "a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in Spain and Portugal with the center in Madrid" During the same synod, the decision was also taken to create "a

Patriarchal Exarchate in South-East Asia The Patriarchal Exarchate in South-East Asia (PESEA, russian: Патриарший экзархат в Юго-Восточной Азии) is an exarchate created by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) on 28 December 2018. The primate of the PESEA ...

ESEAwith the center in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

." Bishop Nestor (Sirotenko), who was at the time primate of the

Russian Orthodox Diocese of Chersonesus The Diocese of Chersonesus (russian: Корсунская епархия, french: Diocèse de Chersonèse, also called Diocese of Korsun) is a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church which covers the territory of France, Switzerland, Liechtenst ...

, was appointed as primate of the newly created Spanish-Portuguese diocese, with the title of "of Madrid and Lisbon" Bishop John (Roschchin) of Bogorodsk was appointed to replace Bishop Nestor (Sirotenko) as primate of the

and was also appointed as primate of the newly created Patriarchal Exarchate in Western Europe. On the same day, in an interview with Russia-24 channel, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations of the ROC of the ROC, declared the ROC "will now act as if they

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

] do not exist at all because our purpose is missionary, our task is to educate, we are creating these structures for ministerial care about our flock, there can be no such deterring factors here", and that the ROC will take charge of the Orthodox faithfuls of its diaspora instead of the Eumenical Patriarchate. By that time, 73 thousand Russian citizens and 106 thousand Ukrainian ones lived in Spain. 17 priests in 25 parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church served in Spain. 11 parishes and communities were in Portugal. Madrid-based Archpriest Andrei Kordochkin explained: "Parishes are often located several hundred kilometers from each other, it is hardly possible to coordinate its ministry from France. The creation of a new diocese is intended to overcome this isolation and strengthen unity among priests who serve far from each other. In addition, there are a number of issues related to the legal existence of parishes, which can be resolved only if their administration is in the capital" Bishop Nestor (Sirotenko) was granted the title of archbishop on 3 January 2019 by

Patriarch Kirill Kirill or Cyril (russian: link=Russian, Кирилл, chu, , secular name Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev, russian: link=no, Владимир Михайлович Гундяев; born 20 November 1946) is a Russian Orthodox bishop. He became ...

at Moscow's Dormition Cathedral.

Notable temples

Spain

There are three Russian Eastern Orthodox temples in Spain co-built as such: The Cathedral of Saint Mary Magdalene in Madrid (seat of the diocese), the Temple of the Mikel Archangel in Altea (

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...

) and the

Orthodox Church of the Presentation of the Lord Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

Adeje Adeje is a town and municipality in the southwestern part of the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, and part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. The town Adeje is located 4 km from the coast, 8 km north of the resort town ...

( Canary Islands).

Ruling bishops

* Nestor (Sirotenko) (28 December 2018 -)

External links

Information about the Spanish-Portuguese diocese on the official website of the ROC

References