Romanian Orthodox hierarchs in North America to be installed in new dioceses

Moscow, April 6, 2017

Photo: Basilica.ro

A delegation of the Romanian Patriarchate led by Metropolitan Nifon of Târgoviște will visit North America from April 28 to May 7 for the installation of two Romanian hierarchs, reports the press service of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

On October 28, 2016, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church established two new diocesan structures: the Diocese of Canada, with His Grace Ioan Casian at the head, and the Metropolis of the Americas, with His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae (Condrea) at the head. The Metropolis is comprised of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the United States of America, and the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Canada. The ceremony of investiture took place on Sunday, 30 October 2016, after the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, celebrated by His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel.

Now, Archbishop Nicolae will be installed as Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan of the Americas in Sts. Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Chicago on April 30, and Bishop Ioan Casian as the ruling bishop of the Diocese of Canada on the following Sunday, May 7, in St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Montreal.

His Eminence Archbishop Nicolae was born on April 15, 1967 in Constanta, Romania. He attended high school in Constanta and Bucharest and continued with the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Sibiu from 1988 to 1992. He earned a Master’s Degree (1995) and a PhD in Theology (2001) at Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg, France.

He was tonsured into monasticism in December 2001 at Radu Vodă Monastery in Bucharest, and has served as the Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of the Americas since 2002.

His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian was born on February 20, 1969 in Comăneşti in Bacău County, Romania.

He graduated from the Andrei Şaguna Theological Faculty in Sibiu in 1993, and lived at St. John the Baptist Monastery in Jerusalem from 1993 to 1995. He undertook further theological studies in Rome and served as administrative secretary of the Romanian orthodox Metropolis of Western and Southern Europe for four years.

He was elected to the dignity of bishop by the Romanian Orthodox Holy Synod on March 2, 2006, and has served as Vicar Bishop of the Americas for the past ten years.