Simon (Vinogradov)

Archbishop Simon (Vinogradov) of Shanghai and Beijing.

Archbishop Simon (Vinogradov) of Shanghai and Beijing (Russian: Симон (Виноградов)) (1876 - February 24, 1933) was a clergyman of the Russian Orthodox Church and a hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. He served as the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission from 1928 to 1933.

Early life

Archbishop Simon's secular name was Sergei Andreevich Vinogradov. He studied at seminary in Vladimir and later joined the Kazan Theological Academy where he met Anthony (Khrapovitsky), who was the rector of the seminary and the future Metropolitan of ROCOR. While at the academy he was tonsured a monk and took the name Simon and became a hierodeacon and later a hieromonk. After having graduated with a degree in theology in 1902 he was assigned to the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in China. He was elevated to archimandrite in 1907.

Episcopacy

In the summer of 1922, Archimandrite Simon was ordained by ROCOR as the bishop of Shanghai, vicar to the Diocese of Beijing, and held this title until 1932. In 1931 upon the death of the previous head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission and bishop of Beijing, Metropolitan Innocent (Figurovsky), the ROCOR synod chose Simon to be his successor and elevated him to the rank of archbishop. Archbishop Simon held this title until his death in 1933 of pneumonia. He was buried in the crypt of the Church of All Holy Martyrs in Beijing, alongside Metropolitan Innocent. Bishop Simon was in communication with the ROCOR during his episcopacy, rather than the Moscow Patriarchate.