Archbishop Sergius (Konovaloff)
Son of a Russian who emigrated to Belgium (Alexis Konovaloff, chemist) and a Dutchwoman (Caroline Van Staveren), Serge Konovaloff had obtained in 1963 the license and the aggregation in Germanic philology at the Catholic University of Louvain and had become , from 1964, professor of languages and history at Saint-Joseph College in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, where he taught for almost thirty years. In 1968, he married Lydia Petrovna Tchernenko, of Russian origin like him, who gave him three children.
He was therefore an altar boy, read and sang in the choir of the Russian Orthodox parish of Louvain (founded in the 1920s for Russian students at the University). In 1968, he was ordained deacon for the said parish, but the decrease in the number of Russians in Louvain (the "Walen Buiten" having had as collateral damage the departure of students of Russian origin, mostly French-speaking, from the University) and the absence of a resident priest led to the closure of the place of worship in 1975. Deacon Serge Konovaloff was then assigned to a small Russian Orthodox parish in Etterbeek. In 1976, he was promoted to protodeacon (dean of deacons) but, devoid of any form of ambition, refused priestly ordination for a long time. It was only on the insistence of the parishioners and his bishop that he accepted to be ordained a priest by Monsignor Georges (Wagner), on February 24, 1980, during the first week of Great Lent. While continuing to teach, he was appointed rector of his Etterbeek parish of Saint-Panteleimon-et-Saint-Nicolas, a position which he combined, from 1984, with that of the Russian parish of Charleroi. In the exercise of these functions (as well as those of chaplain of the Russian youth movement of “Vityaz” in Belgium and France), he gained great esteem from his flock and became a valued spiritual adviser. As soon as he was appointed head of this parish, Father Serge made every effort to actively revitalize parish life. It publishes a bimonthly parish bulletin and provides services every Saturday evening, Sunday morning and on major feast days. This regularity in services will attract many parishioners to the parish, but also occasionally many other people from other jurisdictions wishing to recharge their batteries, seek advice and learn about liturgical life. Monsignor Basile (Krivocheine) of Brussels (Patriarchate of Moscow) openly recommended Father Serge to people in need of spirituality and advice.
The personality of Father Serge, who was above jurisdictional conflicts, was well reflected during the funeral of his matouchka on August 10, 1984, where members of the Patriarchate of Moscow, Constantinople and the Outside Church concelebrated. To try to break down these jurisdictional barriers, Father Serge wanted to create an Orthodox catechesis school for children of all jurisdictions. This dream, nevertheless blessed and approved by the various hierarchs of that time, unfortunately never saw the light of day. Father Serge was also part of the “Spassky” choir, which brought together people from all jurisdictions.
The premature death of his wife in 1984 and the monastic vows he took in 1990 made him a potential candidate for the episcopate (in the Orthodox Church, married men can be ordained to the priesthood, but bishops are chosen among monks), even if this last eventuality, far from smiling to Serge Konovaloff, seems to him rather like an “undeserved punishment”. The fears of Father Serge (who in the meantime had become Archimandrite and Dean for the Benelux of parishes in the diocese) came true: on the death in April 1993 of Archbishop Georges Wagner, he was expected to succeed the deceased. Having accepted this responsibility out of obedience, it is with abnegation that Archbishop Sergius (who also became rector of Saint-Alexandre-Nevski Cathedral and of the Saint-Serge Orthodox Theological Institute of Paris, member of the Assembly of Bishops of France and the Council of Christian Churches in France) will assume, for almost ten years, the direction of his vast diocese (about sixty parishes located in France, Benelux, Germany, Italy and Scandinavia). The time was full of promising changes for the Orthodox Church but, therefore, difficult.
Archbishop Sergius strengthened the autonomy of his archdiocese within the Patriarchate of Constantinople by obtaining, in 1999, the restoration of its status as an “exarchate” (ecclesiastical province under the Patriarchate without intermediary). Finally, thanks to his qualities of simplicity and common sense, Bishop Serge Konovaloff – little prepared, at the start, to direct such a vast and diversified entity (to the purely Russian parishes were added mixed or even entirely Western communities) – succeeded to bring together representatives of various currents of thought in his archdiocese and to preserve unequaled peace and cohesion there.