Archbishop Kyrill (Yonchev) (

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 ...

Ilia Manchov Yonchev, ; February 26, 1920 – June 17, 2007) was the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In ...

's Diocese of Western Pennsylvania and Bulgarian Diocese.

Biography

Archbishop Kirill was born as Ilia Manchov Yonchev in Panagyurishte, Bulgaria, on 26 February 1920. In 1940 he graduated from the Saint John of Rila Theological Seminary in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. On January 19, 1941, he was tonsured to monastic orders and given the name Kyrill. The following day, he was ordained to the diaconate. In April 1943, he was ordained to the priesthood. In 1944 Father Kyrill graduated from the Saint Clement of Ochrid School of Theology and was appointed instructor of theology in the seminary in

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

, Bulgaria. In the same year, he was named abbot of the

Bachkovo Monastery The Bachkovo Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos ( "Успение Богородично", ''Bachkovski manastir'', ka, პეტრიწონის მონასტერი, ''Petritsonis Monasteri''), archaically the Petritsoni ...

. In 1946, Father Kyrill was sent to

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, for advanced studies in theology and philosophy. In 1950, following the communist takeover of Bulgaria, he emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. A short time later, he was assigned pastor of Saint George Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Toledo, OH.

Bishop

In the late 1950s, Metropolitan Andrei (Petkov), leader of the

Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (), also called Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia or ROCOR, or Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Pat ...

's Bulgarian Diocese of North and South America and Australia, petitioned to be accepted into the Russian Metropolia but had been rebuffed by them for unclear reasons, so in 1964 he petitioned and was approved by the Holy Synod of the Church of Bulgaria to be readmitted to the Bulgarian episcopacy. One of his clergy,

Archimandrite The title archimandrite (; ), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot ('' hegumenos'', , present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") whom a bishop appointed to supervise several "ordinary" abbots and monaste ...

Kyrill (Yonchev), disagreed with his decision and was consecrated by the bishops of the ROCOR to serve as head of the Bulgarian Diocese in Exile. Due partly to Metr. Andrei's advanced age, Bp. Kyrill persuaded many Bulgarian parishes to accept his authority. In 1976, Bp. Kyrill and his diocese broke from the ROCOR and joined the Orthodox Church in America, thus creating its Bulgarian Diocese. Archbishop Kyrill died on June 17, 2007, after suffering from ill health for the previous year.

Notes

References

External links

Orthodoxwiki Page
20th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops 21st-century Eastern Orthodox bishops Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America People from Panagyurishte Bulgarian expatriates in the United States 1945 births 2007 deaths Bulgarian expatriate bishops 20th-century American clergy 21st-century American bishops {{EasternOrthodoxy-bishop-stub