Metropolitan Iziaslav (Brutskiy)

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Metropolitan Iziaslav (Brutskiy) secular name is Ioann Brutskiy (Russian: Иван Бруцкий) (born 22 January 1926) in the wealthy farmer’s family in Western Belarus. After Belarus was united with the Soviet Union in 1939, in 1940, Ioann Brutskiy’s father was exiled to Kazakhstan. In 1943 the young Ioann Brutskiy shared the destiny of being an «ostarbeiter». Having avoided repatriation in 1947, Ioann Brutskiy graduated from the gymnasium in Hannover. He immigrated to Canada and participated in emigrant public affairs and in parish life of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

In 1962, he immigrated to the U.S. and became an active member in different political and religious organizations in Cleveland and Detroit. As a member of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and an active member of the community, he was delegated to the Church Council (Sobor) of this jurisdiction which took place in May of 1972 in Highland Park, New Jersey. In 1979, he was ordained to the diaconate and later that same year to the priesthood. He graduatedg from the St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1981. Then, by the hierarchs of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church he was consecrated to the rank of bishop. Shortly after that, he become archbishop and in 1984, Archbishop Iziaslav was elevated to the rank of metropolitan and elected to be the Primate of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.