Irirnarkh (Lapshin) (secular name: Ivan Ignatyevich Lapshin; 1832 – 14 (27) March 1902, Nizhny Novgorod) — Bishop of Yaroslavl and Kostroma of the Ancient Orthodox Church of Christ (Old Believers accepting the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy), now known as the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (RPSC). His connection to Nizhny Novgorod lies in the circumstances of his exile and death: he spent the final months of his life in the city under police supervision and died here; he was subsequently glorified as a locally venerated saint of the Yaroslavl-Kostroma Diocese.[1][3]

Life before the episcopate

Ivan Ignatyevich Lapshin was born in 1832 into a peasant family; his parents, Ignatiy and Synklitikiya, belonged to the dominant confession. In his youth he began attending an Old Believer prayer house in the village of Yellokhino, Danilovsky Uyezd, Yaroslavl Governorate, and in time joined the Old Believer church together with his wife and mother. On 17 April 1875, Archbishop of Moscow and All Russia Antoni (Shutov) ordained him as a priest.[3]

In June 1895, the priest's wife Yekaterina Dmitrievna died, having taken monastic vows shortly before her death under the name Yevgeniya. On 26 October 1895 in Moscow, Archbishop of Moscow and All Russia Savvatiy (Levshin) tonsured the widowed priest as a monk under the name Irirnarkh.[3]

Episcopal ministry

Hieromonk Irirnarkh was elected at the Holy Council on 10 October 1898 and consecrated as bishop on 21 October of the same year.[1][3] After his consecration he arrived at the village of Yellokhino, which at the time served as the residence of the diocesan bishop.[1] At the Holy Council in August 1899, Irirnarkh was elected assistant to the Archbishop of Moscow.[3]

Exile to Nizhny Novgorod and death

For refusing to sign a renunciation of his episcopal rank, on 7 July 1901 Irirnarkh was administratively exiled from the village of Yellokhino in Nizhny Novgorod Province under police supervision. He died in the city nine months after his exile, on 14 (27) March 1902.[1][3]

Translation of relics and glorification

Following the proclamation of freedom of religion in the Russian Empire, parishioners of the Holy Dormition Old Believer community of the village of Yellokhino petitioned the authorities to transfer the bishop's remains to his homeland. The coffin was exhumed in Nizhny Novgorod on 24 April 1909 (according to other sources, the body was removed as early as 1903) and delivered to the village of Yellokhino.[3] The coffin bearing the bishop's body was transported from Nizhny Novgorod Volga to the Ponizovkino landing stage, after which Old Believers carried it by hand for more than twenty versts to the village of Yellokhino; thousands of local residents came out to meet the procession. The remains were interred in a crypt adjoining the outer wall of the Assumption Church, consecrated in 1908.[3]

The bishop's body was found to be incorrupt. On 7 August 1996, on the feast day of Makarii of Zheltovodsk, Metropolitan Alimpiy celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church of the village of Yellokhino and glorified Bishop Irirnarkh as a locally venerated saint of the Yaroslavl-Kostroma Diocese.[3] In 2001, the relics were re-examined by Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia Alimpiy and Bishop of Yaroslavl and Kostroma Ioann (Vitushkin).[3] He was canonized by the RPSC in 2003.[1]

Sources

  1. dic.academic.ru — Irirnarkh (Lapshin) — what is Irirnarkh (Lapshin)? (archive)
  2. rpsc.ru — Bishop of Yaroslavl and Kostroma Irirnarkh (Lapshin) — Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (archive)
  3. checko.ru — LLC "GELP" — Nizhny Novgorod — TIN 5257201773 — Director Lapshin A. S.