Metropolitan Cornelius (; secular name: Konstantin Ivanovich Titov; ; born August 1, 1947) is a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church. He has served as the metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus', primate of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church, since October 18, 2005.
Biography Early life He was born on August 1, 1947 in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Moscow Oblast, in an Old Believer family. He was baptized in infancy with the name in honor of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine the Great. By his own admission: "I was born into an Orthodox Old Believer family, in the town of Orekhovo-Zuyevo. To be more precise, in Zuyevo, where the Old Believers originally lived. Before the revolution, there were several Old Believer churches and house of worship in our city, <...> Our Titov's house on Volodarsky Street, where I was born and grew up, was located next to the houses of famous Old Believers Morozovs and . We were friends with the Zimins as families. From early childhood, my grandmother, Maria Nikolayevna, took me to the Church, which was located on Kuznetskaya Street, it was called the "black prayer room", because monks once served in it. <...> There have always been icons and ancient church books in our house, although it was not safe at the time of atheistic persecution."Галина Голыгина. «…Бремя моё легко есть» // ozmo.ru, 6 august 2012 г.
In 1962, after graduating from the 8th grade of school, due to family difficulties, he began to work: he became an apprentice turner at the Orekhovo-Zuyevo Cotton and Paper Mill foundry, an enterprise founded by Old Believer industrialists Morozov family.Митрополит Московский и всея Руси Корнилий (в миру Константин Иванович Титов) // Вестник митрополии. 2006. — № 1. — С. 2. He worked at the Klavdia Nikolayeva Orekhovo Textile Mill, worked as the head of the Department of the foundry and mechanical plant.Голоднов Е. На службе Отечеству и церкви // ozmo.ru, 1 ноября 2010 г.
During his work, he studied at evening school, technical college and the Moscow Automobile Mechanics Institute, from which he graduated in absentia in 1976. Because of his work at the state defense plant, he was not conscripted into the Soviet Army. He has worked for the plant for a total of 35 years.
In his youth, he was a member of the CPSU, however, as Archpriest Yevgeny Chunin notes, "he left the party long before 1991 — when he consciously joined the Church of Christ. Then this issue was considered at the confessional level and was successfully resolved long before the first ordination of the future metropolitan."
In the second half of the 1980s, he took an active part in the activities of the Kristall Sobriety club. Until 1997, he worked at the plant as the head of the technical control department.
Churchwarden, deacon, priest in Orekhovo-Zuyevo and bishop of Kazan By his own admission: "after a long break, I came to our Old Believer church at 15 Sovkhoznaya Street, met the rector, Father Leonty Pimenov, who <...> discovered the depth of faith for me, which helped me to take a firm path to salvation of the soul, to learn a lot myself". However he did not graduate any theological institution.
In 1991, he became chairman of the church council of the Old Believers community of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, whose rector was priest Leonty Pimenov. During this entire period, he devoted a significant part of his time to the restoration of this dilapidated church.Календарь РПСЦ. — М., 2011. — С. 119—112.
At the beginning of 1997, he left his secular job, resigning from the position of head of the Technical Control Department of the plant, and completely focused on church activities. On May 11, 1997, on the feast of Myrrh-Bearing Women, having taken a vow of celibacy, he was ordained deacon by Metropolitan Alimpius (Gusev) of Moscow and all Rus.
He took part in the activities of the regional local history association "Radunitsa", established in 1997.
On March 7, 2004, Metropolitan Andrian (Chetvergov) of Moscow and All Russia was ordained a priest at the Pokrovsky Cathedral in Moscow, with his appointment as the second priest of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Orekhovo-Zuyevo.
On October 20, 2004, at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church, he was elected a candidate for bishop, and on October 21, he was also approved there as a candidate to fill the vacant Diocese of Kazan and Vyatka. He took monastic vows on March 14, 2005 with name Cornelius. However he competed celebrate his nameday on Constantine the Great day (July 3 according to Gregorian calendar).
On May 8, 2005, in the Pokrovsky Cathedral, Moscow, he was ordained bishop of Kazan and Vyatka. The consecration was performed by: Metropolitan Andrian (Chetvergov) of Moscow and all Rus, Bishop Siluyan (Kilin) of Novosibirsk and All Siberia, Bishop Herman (Saveliev) of the Far East and Bishop Eumenius (Mikheyev) of Chișinău and All Moldova. On July 21, the day of the celebration of the appearance of Our Lady of Kazan, the Enthronement to the See of Kazan was performed.
Election as primate and conflicts at the beginning of his primacy He was elected metropolitan at the Local Council on October 18, 2005. He was not considered a favorite before, as he served as a bishop for only a few months, and before that he served as a priest for only a year.Максим Гусев. В «оплоте старой веры» // Вера-Эскӧм: Христианская газета Севера России. — 2005. — Октябрь. — Выпуск № 1 (501). The vote had to be held three times. Other candidates were Archbishop John (Vitushkin) of Kostroma and Yaroslavl and Bishop Zosimas (Yeremeyev) of Don and the Caucasus. Only for the third time, 58-year-old Bishop Cornelius won more than two thirds of the votes needed for election. On October 23, 2005, in the Pokrovsky Cathedral at the Rogozhskoye Cemetery in Moscow, the rite of consecration was held, which was performed by Archbishop John (Vitushkin) of Kostroma and Yaroslavl, Bishop Sabbatius (Kozko) of Kiev and All Ukraine, Bishop Zosimas (Yeremeyev) of Don and the Caucasus, Bishop Eumenius (Mikheev) of Chișinău and All Moldova, Bishop Herman (Saveliev) of the Far East, more than 50 priests and 7 deacons. After the prayer service, Archbishop John presented the newly appointed Metropolitan with the staff of Metropolitan Ambrose of Belaya Krinitsa.
Shortly after his election as metropolitan, he declared himself as a follower of the course of his predecessor, Metropolitan Andrian, who headed the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church during 2004-2005. "Metropolitan Andrian's efforts aimed at overcoming the isolation of the Old Believers from the modern spiritual and cultural life of Russia, I will try to continue as much as I can. After all, this is the only way we can convey to our people the truth about the true Orthodox faith, which has not undergone reforms." He also stated his desire to maintain good-neighborly relations with the Moscow Patriarchate. At the same time, according to Sergei Vurgaft, who was dismissed from his post as the metropolitan's press secretary on December 25, 2005: "The idea of starting a conversation between the Old Believer Church and the Russian people was close to Metropolitan Andrian. But today these plans are not on the agenda of the Moscow Metropolitanate". Nevertheless, Metropolitan Andrian's active efforts to open the Old Believers to the general public inspired many people, but also gave rise to misunderstandings among isolationist representatives of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church. Many of them were satisfied with Metropolitan Alimpius' closed management style, which did not promise any changes in the foreseeable future. The sudden death of Metropolitan Andrian and the election of Metropolitan Cornelius in 2005 finally deprived of peace those who sought in the Old-Ritualism quiet seclusion and isolation from the problems. Since the mid-2000s, reproaches against the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church for its insufficiently harsh attitude towards the dominant Russian Orthodox Church had been increasingly heard, and the Metropolitan's contacts with government officials at various public and secular events had been condemned. Thanks to the development of the Internet, many were able to put forward their theory or judgment, making them the subject of universal discussion.