Archbishop Anthony of Geneva and Western Europe

1910 – 1993

Archbishop Anthony (Bartochevitch) was diocesan bishop for the parishes in the UK from 1962 to 1964, and again from 1976 to 1981. 

Andrei Georgievitch Bartochevitch was born in 1911 in St. Petersburg. His father fled Russia in 1920 to Yugoslavia while Andrei, together with his mother and his brother Leo (the future Bishop Leontius) stayed in Kiev until 1924. The family in due course went to Belgrade, where Andrei attended secondary school. He and his brother often visited the restored Milkovo Monastery. In time, Andrei completed theological studies at the Belgrade Theological Faculty (1934-1939), was tonsured a monk (receiving the name Anthony), and ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 1941 in Milkovo Monastery, together with his brother Leontius.

Fr Anthony served as a priest in Yugoslavia, where he remained until 1949. From 1946, the then-Archimandrite Anthony lived in Belgrade and served at the Holy Trinity Cathedral. After 1950, Fr Anthony went first to Switzerland and later to the Holy Resurrection Church in Brussels, where he was the Rector from 1953 to 1957. In that year he was consecrated Bishop of Brussels. After the untimely death of his brother, Bishop Leontius (d. 1957), Bishop Anthony went to Geneva, where he succeeded his deceased brother, and where he resided as vicar bishop of Western Europe. In 1963, Bishop Anthony was appointed as Archbishop of Geneva & Western Europe, succeeding (the future saint) Archbishop John (Maximovitch). Archbishop Anthony was a regular member of the Synod of Bishops, and from 1987 served as First Deputy to the President of the Synod of Bishops.

As Archbishop of Geneva & Western Europe, all parishes of this large diocese were subject to Archbishop Anthony. However, Germany and the UK did not form a part of this diocese. When Archbishop John had returned to the USA in 1962, Bishop Nikodim in London became Vicar for Archbishop Anthony, until the Diocese of Richmond and Great Britain became a separate diocese in 1964. Following the death of Archbishop Nikodim in 1976, the parishes of Great Britain were administered by Archimandrite Alexey (Pobjoy) until 1981, when Bishop Constantine was appointed to the UK diocese. In the intervening period (from 1976 until 1981), Archbishop Anthony once again served as the Diocesan Bishop for the UK and Ireland.

Archbishop Anthony was a distinguished iconographer and painted, among others, the iconostasis of the church in Lyons. For many years, he actively sponsored missionary work to the faithful in the Soviet Union by publishing and broadcasting, largely in cooperation with Orthodox Action. Archbishop Anthony reposed in Geneva on 2nd October, 1993.