The Lord has seen fit to call His servant, Archbishop Andronik (Kotliaroff), to his rest this day at approximately 6 PM after a battle with illness.
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Born in 1951 in Kuldzha, China, to a family of Russian refugees fleeing the godless Soviet regime, Archbishop Andronik’s life was defined by the struggle to preserve the truth of the Holy Orthodox faith in diaspora.
He served as a firm, unflinching hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, bearing the cross of episcopal leadership through a period of significant ecclesiastical turmoil and institutional decay.
Archbishop Andronik stood as a witness to the importance of canonical integrity and the preservation of the sacred traditions inherited from the Russian martyrs and confessors. His ministry, particularly his later years as Archbishop of Syracuse and St. Nicholas, was characterized by an uncompromising adherence to the faith once delivered unto the saints, often at great personal and organizational cost. His ecclesiastical career spanned serving as a deacon, hieromonk, and hegumen, notably as the director of the ROCA Mission to the Holy Land until its eviction in 1997.
Following the 2007 reconciliation of a substantial part of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) with the Moscow Patriarchate, Andronik refused to join, aligning instead with the Provisional Supreme Church Authority. He was consecrated as a bishop on December 7, 2007, by Metropolitan Agafangel and bishops from the Greek Old Calendar Church, helping establish a firm resistance to the encroachments of the Kremlin’s influence. He was a shepherd who knew the history of his people and the gravity of the spiritual battle against the forces currently dismantling Western Christian civilization. As he passes into the hands of Our Lord, our prayers ascend for the repose of his soul in those places where there is neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting.
Memory eternal to the servant of God, Archbishop Andronik. Vichnaya Pamyat.
