Iziaslav Brutskiy
Metropolitan Iziasłaŭ (born Ivan Daniłavič Brucki; January 22, 1926 – November 26, 2007) was the primate of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (BAOC).
He was born into a wealthy farming family in Biełavuša, West Belarus. After West Belarus was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939, his family faced hardship and his father was exiled to Kazakhstan in 1940. In 1943 Ivan was sent to Germany as a forced laborer by the Nazis. He avoided repatriation after the war and finished school in Hannover. He then moved to Canada and became active in the Belarusian community and in BAOC church life. In 1962 he moved to the United States, living in Cleveland and Detroit and remaining involved in church and community work.
He participated in the BAOC Church Council (Sabor) held in May 1972 in Highland Park, New Jersey. He was ordained a deacon in 1979, and later that year he became a priest. He graduated from the St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1981. He was consecrated bishop by the leaders of the BAOC and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, soon becoming archbishop. In 1984 he was elevated to metropolitan and elected the primate of the BAOC. He died in New Jersey on November 26, 2007, at the age of 81.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 08:22 (CET).