This coming October 7, the diocese of St. Clemente in Saratov, southern Russia, will have its first priestly ordination in 15 years.
It is deacon Denis Maria Smolko, 30 years old (1992), Russian nationality, born in an Orthodox family, but 12 years ago he joined the Catholic Church. After the pre-semitic years in the city of Novosibirk in Siberia, Brother Denis was sent by the Archbishop of the Archdiocese to Ars Seminary, in France. He studied here from 2014 to 2020 and during this time he joined the priestly congregation of Saint John Maria Vianney.
In 2020, Brother Denis returned to Russia and on December 8, last year (2021), was ordained a deacon at the church of Christ in the city of Marx, in the Saratov region and is now performing the deacon ministry in the diocese. Honoring the Cross in Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortstan in the Russian Federation.
A statement from the Saratov bishopric said that Brother Denis Maria Smolko had been preparing for the priesthood for 10 years. “For our diocese, this is a very significant event, because the previous priestly ordination in this diocese was 15 years ago.”
The diocese of Saratov is governed by German-born Bishop Klemens Pickel and has only 19,000 Catholics, belonging to 51 parishes with 21 diocesan priests and 28 religious priests. The territory of this diocese is one million 400,000 square kilometers, more than four times that of Vietnam, but only 45 million inhabitants..