Background
He was born in Frolovo in southwest Russia.
He was born in Frolovo in southwest Russia.
Ordained in 1960 at the age of 31, the youngest bishop in the Christian world at the time, he would go on to become one of the WCC"s six presidents. He collapsed and died in 1978 while in Rome for the installation of Pope John Paul I. The new pope, who would himself die a few weeks later, prayed over him in his final moments.
Metropolitan Nikodim is said to have participated in negotiating a secret 1960s agreement between Soviet and Vatican officials that authorized Eastern Orthodox participation in the Second Vatican Council in exchange for non-condemnation of atheistic communism during the conciliar assemblies.