Metropolitan Evdokim, Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, Archbishop of Nizhny-Novgorod - Predecessor of the Catholicate

Metropolitan Evdokim, Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America, Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod

Metropolitan Evdokim (Basil Mikhailovich Meschersky) was born 1 April 1869 in Kaznevo, Vladimir Governorate, Russian Empire. After seminary and service as a priest, he was consecrated in 1904 as a Bishop in the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin by Metropolitan Vladimir of Moscow and Kolomna, assisted by Archbishop Sergius of Yaroslavl and Rostov, and various other bishops. 



He served as Vicar-Bishop of Volokolamsk in the Moscow Diocesp, where he published a journal on Christianising society entitled “The Christian.” He also served as rector of Moscow Theological Academy. 


Later he was appointed as Bishop of Kashira, Vicar-Bishop of the Tula and Belev Diocese, as well as Rector of the Shcheglovsky Monastery of the Mammal Icon of the Mother of God. Just before the commencement of the Great War in 1914, he was elevated to the rank and dignity of archbishop and transferred to North America. There he was assigned to the Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and North America as its archbishop. There he was very active in organisation and re-organisation of religious institutions in America. Then in 1917 he was called to participate in the All-Russian Local Council. Due to the Russian Civil War, he could not return to North America. He became Archbishop of Nizhny-Novgorod. He joined the movement that opposed Soviet control of the Church.