Eumeniusz

Bishop Eumenius (, secular name Evgenу Ivanovich Mikheyev, ; born 17 May 1942) is a bishop in the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (RORC). He has been the Old Believer bishop of Chișinău and Moldova since 2005.

Personal life Mikheyev was born on 17 May 1942 in Kandalaksha, Murmansk region, in a family of Old Believers. His family has a history of clergymen, most prominent being his Peter Semenovich Mikheev, was dean of the Moscow region.

In 1954 at the age of 12 he moved to the village of Shuvoye in the Yegoryevsky District of the Moscow Oblast, where his grandmother Varvara Mikhailovna lived. By his own admission: "After the war, in Shuvoy, my peers and I went to the temple. And we did not feel any particular persecution at that time. Perhaps the reason was that the chairman of the village council was an Old Believer at that time, and that all the inhabitants of the village were Old Believers or came from [Old Believers] families. And all supported each other. And the secretary of the village council generally helped my grandfather in his affairs, helped with certificates when he needed to go somewhere to make a request."

At the end of high school in 1959 Mikheyev entered the Yegoryevsk professional school where he studied the profession of carpenter. He afterwards worked for several years at the factory in Shuvoy. Around this time he also visited Old-rite churches in Shuvoy and Yegoryevsk.

On 2 January 2005, he was ordained bishop. On Saturday 5 February 2005, he arrived at the diocese of Chișinău.

Views

Mikheyev opposes the reconciliation with the Russian Orthodox Church, what he and other Old Believers calls the "new-rite Church." In 1971, the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church took place and recognized the old and new rites as equal. However, Mikheev said that Old Believers were not affected by the council and did not trust the new developments as the two churches are not in communion with one another. Mikheev says that reconciliation will only be possible between the two churches if the "new-rite Church" readopts the pre-Nikon traditions. Krasnoselsky told them that here, in Transnistria, you are not guests, but at home, because Transnistria is Russian land, Russian world.

On 31 January-2 February 2023, Eumenius participated in the Winter Council of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church, where Metropolitan Cornelius expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.