Metropolinan Alexy (Konoplyov)
Alexey (Konoplyov; 28th of January/10th of February 1910, Pavlovsk, Voronezh Governorate, Russian Empire – 7th of October 1988, Kalinin, Russian SFSR) – an archbishop of Riga and Latvia in 1966. From 1981 – Metropolitan.
Born into a family of clerks. At the age of twelve, he lost his father.
From 1924 he served as an altar boy. In 1929 and 1933 he was a psalmist in the churches of Pavlovsk. In 1930 he was sentenced to three years of labor camps (served in the Svir OGPU labor camps). In the second half of the 1930s he worked in a photo studio. During the Second World War he fought and was wounded several times.
In 1951 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary and in the same year was ordained a priest. He served at the Resurrection Church in Moscow, later becoming rector of the Trinity Church on the Lenin Hills (now Vorobyovy Hills).
In 1955 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy. On June 6, 1956, he took monastic vows with the name Alexey. On June 14 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite, and on July 21 of the same year he was consecrated Bishop of Perm and Solikamsk.
From 1957 to 1961 he had been serving as Bishop of Luga, Vicar of the Leningrad Diocese. Since 1961 he was Bishop of Tula and Belyov. In 1964 he was elevated to the rank of archbishop.
From January 27 to October 8, 1966, he had been Archbishop of Riga and Latvia.
He was then appointed Archbishop of Krasnodar and Kuban. In 1966–1967 he also temporarily administered the Diocese of Rostov-on-Don.
From 1978 he was Archbishop of Kalinin and Kashin. In 1981 he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.
As a war veteran, he always called people to peace! In the dioceses under his care, he worked, as far as possible, on the restoration of churches. He was awarded a number of ecclesiastical and state honors. In the summer of 1988 he was granted the right to wear a second panagia.
He passed away on October 7, 1988, in Kalinin (now Tver).
By Sergey Tsoia
Sources of information:
1) Латвийская Православная Церковь 1988-2008 г.г. Рига: Издание Синода Латвийской православной церкви, 2009. С. 32;
2) Использованы также некоторые дополнительные данные из интернет-ресурсов:
