Kirill Vakhromeev

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Kirill Vakhromeev is the birth name of the current Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk, the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Filaret. Born in 1935 in Moscow, RSFSR, Vakhromeev atteneded Moscow Theological Academy in 1954 after spending a year in the seminary. During the course of his studies, he chose the name Filaret when he received the monastic tonsure in 1959. Two years later, he graduted from the Academy with a doctorate in theology. Vakhromeev, after serving in Minsk, Kaliningrad and Moscow, he was appointed metropolitan for Minsk and the entire Belarusian SSR in 1978.

In 1989, as the collapse of the Soviet Union was iniment, Vakhromeev was appointed to become the patriarchal exarch of the new state of Belarus. He also served a short term in the Supreme Council of Belarusian SSR as a people's deputy. In 2006, for his work in the Russian Orthodox Church and for bringing spirituality to the people of Belarus, he was awarded the title Hero of Belarus by President Alexander Lukashenko.