Nicholas Yarushevich

Nicholas
Church	Russian Orthodox Church
Metropolis	Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna
See	Moscow
Installed	28 January 1944
Term ended	19 September 1960
Predecessor	Alexander
Successor	John
Other post(s)	Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia, Exarch of Ukraine Govering in Finland (temporarily) Metropolitan of Volyn and Lutsk, Exarch in western regions of Ukraine and Belarus Archbishop of Petergof
Orders
Ordination	1914
Consecration	7 April 1922 by Benjamin (Kazansky), Aleksiy (Simansky), Artemiy (Ilyinsky), Venedikt (Plotnikov)
Personal details
Born	Boris Dorofeyevich Yarushevich (1892-01-12)12 January 1892 Kovno, Russian Empire
Died	13 December 1961(1961-12-13) (aged 69) Moscow, Soviet Union

Metropolitan Nicholas (Russian: Митрополит Николай, born as Boris Dorofeyevich Yarushevich, Russian: Борис Дорофеевич Ярушевич; January 13, 1892 (December 31, 1891 OS), Kovno – December 13, 1961, Moscow), was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Biography

He supported the controversial 1927 declaration of Metropolitan Sergius, pledging loyalty of the Church to the Soviet authorities without concurrence of the imprisoned Patriarchal locum tenens, Peter of Krutitsy, and Sergius' subsequent collaboration with them.

In 1941 he became Metropolitan of Volhynia and Lutsk and later, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia. Later, as the German troops advanced, he was evacuated to Moscow.

In the early hours of September 5, 1943, together with Metropolitan Sergius and Metropolitan Alexius, Nicholas had a meeting with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, where the latter proposed to reestablish the Moscow Patriarchate and elect the Patriarch. On September 8, 1943, when the Moscow Patriarchate was reestablished, Nicholas became a permanent member of the Holy Synod. In 1944 he was appointed Metropolitan of Krutitsy. In 1946, when the External Church Relations Department was established within the Patriarchate, Metropolitan Nicholas became its chairman. In 1947 he became Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna.

In 1950 he became a member of the World Peace Council, occupying a staunchly pro-Soviet position. According to Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, both Patriarch Alexius and Metropolitan Nicholas, "were highly valued by the KGB as agents of influence."

Nicholas held Joseph Stalin in high esteem. However, his increasingly open opposition to atheism put him at odds with the Soviet leadership under Nikita Khrushchev. In 1960 he was dismissed from the position of the Chairman of the External Church Relations Department and later left the position of Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna.