Mark (Arndt)

Archbishop Mark (secular name Michael Arndt; born January 29, 1941, Chemnitz, Saxony) is the Archbishop of Berlin and Germany of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and Overseer of the Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.

As a child, Michael attended the schools in Frankfurt am Main, graduating in 1960. After finishing school he volunteered for military service in West Germany for one year. Later he was recalled up to serve several times, rising to the rank of First lieutenant. In 1962, he entered Frankfurt University, then later transferred to the University of Heidelberg. His academic program included studies in English and Slavic languages and literature.

In the course of his study of Slavistics, he became a specialist in a number of Slavic languages and literature, including Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Czech and Macedonian. He completed his PhD with the doctoral thesis "Biographical Literature of the Duchy of Tver in the 14th and 15th Centuries".

During his studies of Russian, he became acquainted with the Russian émigré community in Frankfurt. While studying under Professor Dmitri Chizhevsky at the University of Heidelberg, he visited the ROCOR Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Mannheim.

In 1964, he converted to Orthodox Christianity and became a reader. He later made trips to Mount Athos where he developed friendships with many of the elders, including two Hieroschemamonks named Seraphim and Abel.

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