Elisey (Ganaba) of the Hague

His Eminence Archbishop Elisey (secular name Ilya Vladimirovich Ganaba, Russian: Илья Владимирович Ганаба) is a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. He is currently Archbishop of the Hague and Netherlands. During 2007-2017 he served ruling hierarch of the Diocese of Sourozh in Great Britain and Ireland.

Life

Ilya was born on August 1, 1962 in Leningrad, USSR. His father Vladimir Ganaba was an archdeacon at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Podolsk in the Moscow Oblast. Later, his older brother, Alexander Ganaba, served as archpriest and dean at the same cathedral.

In 1971, Ilya moved with his parents to Penza, in the Penza Oblast. There he attended school, graduating from high school in 1979. He also served as an episcopal subdeacon at the altar and sang in the choir of the Dormition Cathedral in Penza.

He entered the Leningrad Theological Seminary in 1980 before he was accepted in 1982 into the Leningrad Theological Academy. While attending the academy Ilya took monastic vows on November 17, 1985 with name Eliseus (Elisey), in honor of St. Elisha. On November 22, 1985, he was ordained hierodeacon and then hieromonk on January 18, 1986.

On June 20, 1987, he joined the brotherhood of St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow and continued his studies at the Moscow Theological Academy from which he graduated in 1988.

From December 27, 1988 to October 5, 1992, Fr. Eliseus served as Deputy Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. On January 20, 1994, he was appointed head of the overseas sector institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church.

By the Paschal season of 1997 Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad elevated Fr. Eliseus to the dignity of archimandrite.

On October 7, 2000, Fr. Eliseus was appointed the Representative of Patriarchate of Moscow to the Patriarchate of Antioch in Damascus, Syria. On March 12, 2002, Fr. Eliseus was appointed Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.

On November 26, 2006 at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow Archimandrite Elisey was consecrated Bishop of Bogorodsk, as assistant bishop to Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun. On December 27, 2007, Bp. Elisey was appointed by the Holy Synod in Moscow as the diocesan Bishop of Sourozh.

On February 1, 2010, Bp. Elisey was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow.

Succession box: Elisey (Ganaba) of the Hague
Preceded by: Platon (Rudnev)	Bishop of Bogorodsk (titular) vicar of Korsun diocese 2006-2007	Succeeded by: ?
Preceded by: Anthony (Bloom)	Bishop of Sourozh 2007-Present	Succeeded by: —

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Sources

• Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh
• Bishop of Sourozh
• Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh In Russian