Philippine Orthodox Church

Diocese of the Philippines and Vietnam of the PESEA

On 28 December 2018, in response to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's actions in Ukraine,^[16] the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to create "a Patriarchal Exarchate in South-East Asia [PESEA] with the center in Singapore." The "sphere of pastoral responsibility" of the PESEA is Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, the Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand.^{[17][18][19][20][21]} Archbishop Sergius (Chashin), was appointed as primate of the newly created PESEA, with the title "of Singapore and South-East Asia"^[18][22][19] On the same day, in an interview with Russia-24 channel,^[23] Metropolitan Hilarion, spokesman of the ROC, declared the ROC "will now act as if they [Constantinople] do not exist at all because our purpose is missionary, our task is to educate, we are creating these structures for ministerial care about our flock, there can be no such deterring factors here", and that the ROC will take charge of the Orthodox faithfuls of its diaspora instead of the Eumenical Patriarchate.^[24][25] The Moscow Patriarchate aims to establish parallel jurisdictions all over the world without consultations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, effectively competing with the latter.^[26][27]

On 7 January 2019, during the evening service in the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, Patriarch Kirill elevated Archbishop Sergius (Chashin) to the rank of Metropolitan in connection with the latter's appointment as exarch of the PESEA.^[28]

On 26 February 2019, the PESEA was divided into four dioceses that were created, of which the Diocese of the Philippines and Vietnam.^[5][14][4]

20 September 2019, ROCOR mission in the Philippines was received to Diocese of the Philippines and Vietnam^[29]

On February 22, 2020, Metropolitan Paul of Manila and Hanoi celebrated the great consecration of the Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov in Makalangot on the island of Mindanao, which became the first full-fledged church building in the diocese. On the same day, a first Diocesan Assembly of the clergy and laity of the Philippine-Vietnamese diocese was held was held there. Five deaneries within the diocese were established: deanerу of Manila, deanerу of Davao City, deanerу of General Santos, deanerу of Vietnam, and deanerу of Davao del Sur.^[30][31]

On February 12, 2023, meeting of the clergy of the diocese decided to separate the North Kotobato deanery from the Davaovo deanery, and also to include the Davao del Sur deanery to the Davao deanery. A diocesan Department for Prison Service and a Youth Department were also established.^[32][33]