Anthony (Vadkovsky) (1846-1912), Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga 1898-1912

Categories / Religion. Church/Personalia
ANTHONY (lay name Alexander Vasilievich Vadkovsky) (1846-1912, St. Petersburg ), Church figure, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1899). On graduating from the Kazan Theological Academy (1870) he worked there as a lecturer, then as an inspector. In 1883, he took monastic vows under the name of Anthony. From 1885, he was an inspector at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. In 1887, he became Rector and Bishop of Vyborg, and vicar of the St. Petersburg Eparchy. From 1892, he was Archbishop of Finland, and from 1900, a leading member of the Holy Synod. With participation of Anthony, the St. Petersburg Theological Academy together with the Society of Religious and Moral Education arranged public readings on theological and philosophical problems. From 1893, Rev. Anthony was the head of the Commission for Old Catholic Affairs. In 1898, he became the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, and Father Superior of Alexander Nevsky Lavra. From 1906, Anthony headed the Special Pre-Convocation Commission, and was a member of the State Assembly. Anthony served as editor of Orthodox Interlocutor Journal (1879), cooperated with Wanderer and Orthodox Account journals, and was engaged in describing manuscripts of the Library of Solovetsky Monastery. He was an honorary member of Theological Academies of Kazan, Moscow and St. Petersburg (1892), of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (1893), St. Petersburg Council of Children’s Orphanages (1887), and Doctor of Church History (1895). Scholarly and literary articles of Anthony are presented in the book entitled From the History of Christian Sermon (St.Petersburg., 1892), and his sermons and speeches are gathered in the anthology Speeches, Talks and Teachings (two editions, St. Petersburg, 1901). In 1907, he consecrated the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in St. Petersburg (Spas-na-Krovi). Anthony was buried in Nikolskoe Cemetery of Alexander Nevsky Lavra. In 1988, a wooden cross was placed on his tombstone.

References: Бертенсон М. Н. Антоний, митрополит С.-Петербургский и Ладожский. [Пг.], 1915; Очерки истории Санкт-Петербургской епархии. СПб., 1994. С. 228-235; Manuil (Lemeљevskij). Die russischen orthodoxen Bischцfe von 1893 bis 1965: Bio-Bibliogr. Erlangen, 1979. T. 1. S. 266-275.

A. I. Razdorsky. Antony (Alexander Vasilievich Vadkovsky), Metropolitan
Бертенсон М. Н. Антоний, митрополит С.-Петербургский и Ладожский. [Пг.]., 1915
Очерки истории Санкт-Петербургской епархии. СПб., 1994
Manuil (Lemesevskij) Die russischen orthodoxen Bischofe von 1893 bis 1965: Bio-Bibliogr. Erlangen, 1979 Theological Academy
Synod
Society for Religious and Moral Education
Alexander Nevsky Lavra
Holy Resurrection Cathedral, (Spas-na-Krovi)
Nikolskoe Cemetery