In Russia Aleksey Pavlovich Khrapovitsky was born in Russia on 17 March (
O.S.) 1863 in
Vatagino,
Krestetsky Uyezd,
Novgorod Governorate (now
Okulovsky District,
Novgorod Oblast), the son of a noble landowner and general. After receiving secular
secondary education at the
5th Petersburg Gymnasium, in a move that was at the time highly unusual for a young man of his pedigree and education, he studied at the
Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1885. In that year he became a
monk and was given the name Antony in honor of St. Antony the Roman of Novgorod. In 1886 Antony taught at a theological academy in
Kholm. . 1917 From 1887, he taught at the Academy where he had studied, and in 1890, he was appointed as rector of the St Petersburg seminary and raised to the rank of archimandrite. Later he was appointed rector of the
Moscow Theological Academy in the
Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (1890–1894), then in 1895 he was transferred to the post of rector of the
Kazan Theological Academy (until 1900). On 7 September 1897, Archimandrite Anthony was
consecrated Bishop of
Cheboksary, vicar of the
Kazan diocese. On 14 July 1900, he was transferred to
Ufa as Bishop of Ufa and Menzelinsk. As a significant part of the residents of the Ufa province were
Muslims and
Priestless Old Believers, Bishop Anthony worked on missionary outreach in his diocese. In 1902 or 1903 together with Amvrosiy Bulgakov, head of
Pochaiv Lavra, Antony travelled to
Eastern Galicia and
Bukovyna, visiting the
Greek Catholic Cathedral of St. George in
Lviv. During that period he corresponded with Greek Catholic metropolitan
Andrey Sheptytsky, who strove to restore
Byzantine Rite practices in his church. On 22 April 1902, Bishop Anthony was appointed to the Volyn and Zhytomyr cathedra (based in
Zhytomyr). In 1905, he was a co-founder of Zhytomyr's chapter of the
Union of the Russian People. In 1907, Bishop Anthony headed a commission charged with examining the
Kiev Theological Academy. The commission's findings were unpopular with the Academy's staff, leading to Bishop Anthony's publication of "The Truth about the Kiev Theological Academy" and the resignation of its rector, Bishop
Platon (Rozhdestvensky), the future head of the
American Metropolia. In 1906–1907, Bishop Anthony was member of the
State Council and in 1912-1916 of the
Holy Synod. He worked on the preparation for a Local Council of the Russian Church; he responded to the 1905 questionnaire of Russian bishops by calling for the restoration of the patriarchy and the reform of theological education and other reforms in Church administration. On 19 May 1914, he was appointed as Bishop of
Kharkov and
Akhtyrka. After the
February 1917 Revolution, he was forced to ask for retirement because of poor relations with the new authorities in his area and the discontent of certain members of his clergy. On 1 May 1917, he was retired and assigned to the
Valaam Monastery, where he wrote his book "The Doctrine of Redemption", which later caused controversy among Orthodox theologians. In August 1917 he was again elected Archbishop of Kharkov by the Diocesan council of Kharkov.
During the Revolution In 1917–1918, he took part in the
Local Council of the Russian Church, at which he advocated restoring the
patriarchate in the Church of Russia. After the decision on restoration of Russian patriarchy passed (three days after the
Bolsheviks' capture of power in Petrograd), his candidacy for this eminent position received the largest number of votes — 159 (out of 309) — but on 5 November 1918, Metropolitan
Tikhon of Moscow was elected by lot out of the three candidates, the weakest candidate of the vote. On 28 November, Archbishop Anthony was raised to the rank of metropolitan and on 7 December elected a member of the Holy Synod headed by Patriarch Tikhon. In January 1918, Metropolitan Anthony was present at the All-Ukrainian Church Council in Kiev. He then fled the city before the Bolshevik invasion. Following the killing of Metropolitan
Vladimir (Bogoyavlesky) of Kiev, Metropolitan Anthony was elected to the Kiev cathedra, and returned when the city was occupied by the
Imperial German Army. However, his election was not approved by the authorities because of his opposition to Ukrainian
autocephaly. Under Antony's leadership the Orthodox Church in Ukraine started using
Ukrainian language on par with Russian in its administration. In mid-December 1918, together with Archbishop
Eulogius (Georgiyevsky) of Volyn, he was arrested by the
Symon Petliura government. The hierarchs, along with Bishop
Nicodemus (Krotkov) of
Chigirin, were held at the
Basilian monastery in
Buchach. In the spring of 1919, when Buchach was taken by Polish forces, they were transferred to the
Camaldolese monastery in
Bielany. In the summer of 1919 they were freed through the work of the French diplomatic mission at the request of metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who for some time hosted Antony in his residence. In September 1919, he left for Kuban, then returned to Kiev, which was held by White forces of General
Denikin. After Kiev was retaken by Bolsheviks in November 1919, he left for
Yekaterinodar, where he was elected as president of the Temporary Higher Church Authority of South-East Russia. After the defeat of the Denikin army, in March 1920 he left for
Greece, where he received the support of Archbishop
Meletius (Metaxakis) of Athens. In September 1920, he was invited by Gen
Pyotr Wrangel to Crimea, then controlled by Wrangel's anti-Bolshevik forces. After the latter's defeat in November 1920, Antony left Russia for good.
In exile Between November 1920 and February 1921, Metropolitan Anthony was in
Constantinople, then
occupied by British, French and Italian forces. At first he decided that the Temporary Church Authority should be abolished and pastoral care for displaced Russians handed over to other local churches. However, after learning of the decision of Gen Wrangel to keep his army, Metropolitan Anthony decided to keep the Church organization abroad as well. The Temporary Authority met on 19 November 1920, aboard the ship
Great Prince Alexader Mikhailovich, presided over by Metropolitan Anthony. He and Bishop
Benjamin (Fedchenkov) were appointed to examine the canonicity of the organization. On 2 December 1920, they received permission from Metropolitan Dorotheos of Prussia, Locum Tenens of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, to establish "for the purpose of the service of the population [...] and to oversee the ecclesiastic life of Russian colonies in Orthodox countries a temporary committee (epitropia) under the authority of the Ecumenical Patriarchate"; the committee was called the Temporary Higher Church Administration Abroad (THCAA). On 14 February 1921, Metropolitan Anthony settled down in Sremski Karlovci, where he was given the palace of former Patriarchs of Karlovci (the
Patriarchate of Karlovci had been abolished in 1920). In the course of the subsequent few months, at the invitation of Patriarch
Dimitrije of Serbia, the other eight bishops of the THCAA, including
Anastasius (Gribanovsky) and
Benjamin (Fedchenkov), as well as numerous priests and monks, relocated to Serbia. On 31 August 1921, the Council of Bishops of the
Serbian Church recognised the THCAA as an administratively independent jurisdiction over the Russian exiled clergy outside the Kingdom of SHS as well as those Russian clergy in the Kingdom of SHS who were not in parish or state educational service; the THCAA jurisdiction would also extend to marital and divorce disputes of the exiled Russians. In March 1931, the Synod of Bishops awarded him the title of "Beatitude." He became known as a
polemicist who argued against
papal supremacy. In the 1920s and 1930s he published in Russian many books on theology and literature. Some of his theological views, especially his
soteriology, were severely criticised by a number of prominent Orthodox theologians. In 1930, Antony issued a Message to all Orthodox Russian people calling for an armed struggle against the
Bolsheviks. Metropolitan Anthony died on 10 August 1936, in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia. Patriarch
Varnava officiated at his funeral in
St. Michael's Cathedral in Belgrade. He was buried at the Iveron Chapel in the
New Cemetery in Belgrade. A nine-volume Russian biography by bishop Nicon (Rklitsky) was published in New York, 1956-1962. ==Ideological views==