Leonid (Okropiridze) of Georgia

Leonid (Okropiridze) Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia

His Holiness and Beatitude Leonid (Okropiridze) of Georgia was the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia from 1918 to 1921. He was the second ruling bishop of the Church of Georgia following restoration of autocephaly in 1917.

Life

Longinoz Okropiridze (Georgian: ლონგინოზ ოქროპირიძე) was born in Georgia in 1860, then part of Imperial Russia. He attended the Kiev Theological Academy, graduating in 1888. He entered the Holy Orders and was tonsured a monk with the name Leonid. During these early years he served as inspector at schools in Georgia operated by the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity.

He was raised to the dignity of archimandrite and served as abbot of the Monasteries of Zedazeni, Khirsi, and St. John the Baptist in Georgia. He also was chairman of the Commission for Correction of the Georgian Bible.

Archim. Leonid was also active, with other Georgians, in the struggle for restoration of autocephaly of the Church of Georgia during the early part of the twentieth century. After the 1917 February revolution in Russia, the Georgian synod proclaimed autocephaly on March 12, 1917. Pending the election of the Catholicos-Patriarch, Leonid was the locum tenens until Bishop Kirion II was elected Catholicos-Patriarch of the restored church on September 30, 1917. In the restoration hierarchy, Archim. Leonid was consecrated a bishop and was appointed Bishop of Gori Imereti Guria-Samegrelo as well as Metropolitan of Tbilisi.

On June 27, 1918, Catholicos-Patriarch Kirion was found murdered in his residence at Martqopi Monastery. On November 28, 1918, Metr. Leonid was elected Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia.

Following his enthronement, Catholicos Leonid was confronted with the issues of lack of international recognition of the Georgian autocephaly and the persecutions of the Church and its clergy by the invading Bolshevik forces that in March 1921 took control of Georgia from the short lived Democratic Republic of Georgia. Adding to these problems was the epidemics of cholera that began to infect the country. On June 11, 1921, Catholicos Leonid died from cholera.

Succession box: Leonid (Okropiridze) of Georgia
Preceded by: ?	Metropolitan of Tbilisi 1917-1918	Succeeded by: ?
Preceded by: Kirion II	Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia 1918-1921	Succeeded by: Ambrose (Khelaia)

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Source

• Wikipedia:Leonid_of_Georgia