By Kostas Onisenko
Metropolitan Feofan of Kazan and Tatarstan passed away today at the age of 73 after COVID-19-related complications.
According to Russian media, the Metropolitan was born on May 21, 1947, to a working-class family in the Kursk region, after completing his military service he found refuge in the Church and he remained there until the end.
He held various positions in the Russian Orthodox Church both in Russia and abroad. He served in various Metropolises of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad (in the Holy Land, in Argentina, in Egypt).
From 1993 to 1999 the Metropolitan was deputy head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, which was headed at that time by Metropolitan Kirill, the currently Patriarch of Moscow
Among other things, he actively participated in the spread of Christianity in the North Caucasus region. He became Metropolitan on August 1, 2012. Since 2015 – Head of the Diocese of Tatarstan.