HIS GRACE IRENAEUS,
Bishop of Orsk and Gai
(Tafunya Sergey Petrovich)
Date of birth: May 30, 1971
Date of tonsure: April 13, 1995
Date of ordination to a hierodeacon: May 28, 1995
Date of ordination to a hieromonk: September 10, 1995
Date of consecration to a bishop: November 22, 2011
Saint’s Day: September 5
BIOGRAPHY:
Tafunya Sergey Petrovich was born on May 30, 1971, in the village of Varvareuka, Florești district, Moldavian SSR into a faithful Orthodox family and was baptized as a baby.
From 1978 to 1986, he studied at the Varvareuka Secondary School and from 1986-1989 at the Bălți Vocational and Technical Institution. In 1989-1991, he services in the Armed Forces.
In 1991-1992 he was a novice at the Noul Neamț Monastery.
From 1992-1996, he studied at the Moscow Theological Seminary and upon graduation was enrolled at the Moscow Theological Academy.
Sergey Petrovich was tonsured on April 13, 1995 at the Noul Neamț (Chițcani) Monastery by Abbot Dorymedont (Cecan) (the future Bishop of Edineț and Briceni, †2006) and received the name Irenaeus, in honor of the Holy Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons.
On May 28, 1995, he was ordained to the hierodeaconate by Philaret (Karagodin), Bishop of Dmitrov and the head of the Moscow Theological Academy.
On September 10, 1995, he was ordained as a hieromonk by Eugene, Bishop of Vereya and the head of the Moscow Theological Academy.
In 1996-1998, he served in obedience in the capacity of an assistant dean of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary.
In 1997, on a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Eugene, Bishop of Vereya and the head of the Moscow Theological Academy, he took part in the celebration of the Patron Saint’s Day of St Panteleimon Monastery on Athos.
In 1998, he was appointed as a professor to the Kishinev Theological Seminary. He then shifted to external studies at the Moscow Theological Academy.
In 1999, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy. In 2002, he defended his graduation thesis drafted at the Department of the Russian Orthodox Church History dedicated to “The History of the Noul Neamț (Chițcani) Monastery.” In 2009, he passed the Ph.D. defense at the Department of the Russian Orthodox Church History with the thesis on “The Metropolitan Gabriel (Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni) and the Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova (Kishinev-Moldavian Archdiocese) founded by him.”
In 1998-2001 he was a professor of Theological Studies, Philosophy, and Liturgics at the Kishinev Theological Seminary.
In 1998-2004, he served asa missionary of the Kishinev Theological Seminary and the Noul Neamț Monastery, and as senior priest of the prison church of St Apostle Andrew, the First-Called in the city of Bender.
On November 28, 1998 he was awarded with a hypogonation and a pectoral cross.
In 2000, he was appointed to the capacity of the Secretary of the Moldavian Archdiocese.
In 2001-2004 – the chief guide and the head of the Noul Neamț Monastery’s Sunday School.
In 2001-2004 taught Fundamental and Comparative Theology at Bender Religious College, in 2002-2005 – Religious Studies at the State University of Tiraspol.
On May 20, 2004 was elevated to the rank of a hegumen.
Since 2004 – the representative of the Moldavian Archdiocese in Moscow; service at the New Monastery of the Saviour.
Since 2005 – the Councilor of the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova in the RF.
On October 14, 2006 was awarded with an epigonation.
In 2005-2009 – a professor of Patrology at the Theological Seminary of Pererva.
Since 2009 – a spiritual guide of the Orthodox Theater “Water of Life”, since 2010 – the head of the Sunday School of the New Monastery of the Saviour. In 2011 appointed to the capacity of the Responsible for Youth Affairs at the New Monastery of the Saviour.
Upon the decision of the Holy Synod dated October 5-6, 2011 (Register No. 113) was selected as the Bishop of Orsk and Gai.
On October 27, 2011 was elevated to the rank of an archimandrite.
On October 28, 2011 at the Office of the Patriarchal Residence, Chisty Lane, Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill presided over the designation of the archimandrite Irenaeus to the Bishop of Orsk and Gai.
On November 22, 2011 during the liturgy at the Church of the Resurrection of the Word of the Pokrovskiy (Intercession) Stavropegial Women’s Monastery of Moscow His Holiness Patriarch Kirill presided over the ordination of archimandrite Irenaeus (Tafunya) to the Bishop of Orsk and Gai.
AWARDS
Church awards:
2010 – “Jubilee Badge of Honor of the Holy Royal Martyrs Monastery 2000-2010” (Ekaterinburg Diocese),
2012 г. – II-Class Order of the Saint Basil the Great (Edineț and Briceni Diocese),
2013 – Jubilee medal “In the Memory of 200-years Anniversary of the Victory in the Patriotic War of the 1812”,
2013 – Order of Metropolitan Gabriel (Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni) (Kishinev Archdiocese).
Secular awards:
2005 – Medal of the Order “The Great Victory” (the RF).