page_title: Onufriy (Berezovsky)
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Onufriy (Berezovsky) / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Kiev, Shevchenko park. Meeting on celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Taras Shevchenko. Art historian V. Skuratovsky at microphone.
context_page_description: Metropolitan Onufriy is the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, holding the title of Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine.
context_section_description: He was born 5 November 1944 in Chernivtsi Oblast as the son of a priest. In 1961 he graduated from high school. From 1962 to 1964 he studied at the Chernivtsi technical school, after which he worked in construction organizations in Chernivtsi.
  In 1966, he joined the technical faculty of the Chernivtsi University, and in 1969, after the third year, entered in the second class of the Moscow Theological Seminary; the following year, he became part of the brotherhood of the Trinity St. Sergius Lavra.
  March 18, 1971, he was tonsured a monk with the name Onufriy, in honor of St. Onuphrius the Great. June 20, 1971, he was ordained a hierodeacon. May 29, 1972, ordained a hieromonk.
  After 18 years, Archimandrite Onufriy went back to Ukraine as the superior of the Pochayiv Lavra of the Holy Assumption.
  In 1988, he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy as a candidate in theology.
  On July 20, 1988, he was appointed Father-Superior of the Dormition Pochayiv Lavra.
  On December 9, 1990, he was consecrated Bishop of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna by Metropolitan Philaret (Denysenko) at the St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev.
  On 22 January 1992, Onufriy signed  a request of the bishop meeting of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II with the requirement to provide autocephalous Church in Ukraine, and on January 23 he was transferred by Metropolitan Philaret (Denysenko) to Ivano-Frankivsk diocese.
  April 7, 1992 was restored by the Diocese of Chernivtsi, and served in this diocese for 23 years.
  July 28, 1994 was elevated to the rank of archbishop and appointed a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox church.
  November 22, 2000 was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan.
  November 23, 2013 by Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Vladimir he was awarded the right to wear the second Panagia.
  February 24, 2014 the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church elected him by secret ballot for the post of locum tenens of the Kiev metropolitan chair in connection with a medical certificate of inability of Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine to perform the duties of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
  On 13 August 2014 he was elected as the new head of his church as primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine of the Moscow Patriarchate (succeeding Metropolitan Volodymyr).
caption: Meeting on celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Taras Shevchenko, Kiev, Shevchenko park, 9 March 2014
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4000", "Image ImageLength": "3000", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SX50 HS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2014:04:12 14:01:21", "Image ExifOffset": "320", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "992", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1106", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8092", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:03:09 12:19:58", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:03:09 12:19:58", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "181/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "159/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF FocalLength": "116157/1000", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3000", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "8393443/512", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "8393443/512", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}