Alexander Kudryashov Metropolitan of Riga and All Latvia, Primate of the Latvian Orthodox Church Date of Birth: 03.10.1939 Country: Dive

1. Early Life and Education
2. Early Career
3. Ordination and Religious Service
4. Monastic Vows and Episcopacy
5. Leadership of the Riga-Latvian Diocese
6. Later Years

Early Life and Education

Alexander Kupriyanovich Kudryashov was born in November 1937 in the village of Pishchalino, Byelorussian SSR. He graduated from the historical and philological faculty of Daugavpils Pedagogical Institute in 1964.

Early Career

After graduating, Kupriyanovich worked as a Russian language and literature teacher in Riga schools and a bartender in the Tallinn grill bar. In 1982, he was ordained a deacon and then a priest at the Holy Elias Church in the village of Ust-Syny, Perm Oblast.

Ordination and Religious Service

In 1983, Kupriyanovich was transferred to Riga and appointed rector of the Riga Transfiguration of the Savior Church. The following year, he became the dean of the Valmiera and Madona districts. He also served as a member of the Board of the Latvian branch of the Soviet Culture Fund from 1986.

In 1988, Kupriyanovich became a member of the Diocesan Council and editor of the "Vestnik of the Riga-Latvian Diocese." He also oversaw the publication of a prayer book in Russian and Latvian in 1989, the same year he graduated from the Moscow Theological Seminary in absentia.

Monastic Vows and Episcopacy

On July 10, 1989, Kupriyanovich took monastic vows with the name Alexander and was elevated to the rank of archimandrite the following day. Due to the advanced age of the Metropolitan of Riga and Latvia, Leonid (Polyakov), Kupriyanovich was determined to become the Bishop of Daugavpils, Vicar of the Riga Diocese, on July 6, 1989. He was consecrated as Bishop of Daugavpils on July 23, 1989, in the Moscow Epiphany Cathedral, residing in Riga and managing the affairs of the Riga Diocese.

Leadership of the Riga-Latvian Diocese

After Metropolitan Leonid's passing on September 9, 1990, Bishop Alexander became the interim administrator of the Riga-Latvian diocese. On October 27, 1990, he was appointed Bishop of Riga and all Latvia. In 1994, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop and to the rank of metropolitan in 2002.

Later Years

From 1997 onwards, Kupriyanovich served as the rector of the Riga Theological Seminary. In 2009, he became a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church.