Topic: Convert hierarchs?

[Gorazd]

Archbishop Theodosious (Attalah Hanna) of Jerusalem Patriarchate, former Muslim.

It seems to me that he is from an Arab Christian family (though that is still exceptional - most JP bishops are Greeks). Actually, "Hanna" (or Yuhanna) means John in Aramaic, and is a typically Christian last name. The Muslim version of John would be "Yahya".

[katherineofdixie]

Lutherans don't really have a structured liturgical service anyway so I guess that there isn't much of a "rite" so to speak for them to be attached too.

Not so. Although of course, things could have changed since I last attended a Lutheran service. I was Lutheran before I converted (German Lutheran, btw, and the strength of my ethnic/religious background and culture was one reason it took me so long to convert to Orthodoxy). The Lutheran service is structured and liturgical, so that I felt very comfortable the first time I attended a Divine Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Church. I was quite attached to the Lutheran liturgy, and I still miss the music.

(btw, a GOA bishop that I know told me that we are all converts!)

[Fr. George]

(btw, a GOA bishop that I know told me that we are all converts!)

Technically, he's right, unless someone was baptized in vitro.

[Orthodox11]

Lutherans don't really have a structured liturgical service anyway so I guess that there isn't much of a "rite" so to speak for them to be attached too.

I was formerly a member of the Church of Norway - all my family still are (albeit nominally). It is very much a liturgical church. The first time I showed my grandma a copy of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Norwegian she said "Ah, it's basically like ours, except for all the Maria stuff."

[mike]

Archbishop Jonah of Kampala and all Uganda, Patriarchate of Alexandria

Isn't he a grandson of the one of the two first Ugandan Priests (Fr. Ruben Spartas Mukasa).

Metropolitan Theodosius (Nagashima) of Japan (former Buddhist) and (Arch?)Bishop Alexis (van der Mensbrugghe) of Meudon (former Roman Catholic).

[katherineofdixie]

Lutherans don't really have a structured liturgical service anyway so I guess that there isn't much of a "rite" so to speak for them to be attached too.

That's not quite true.  I grew up in a fairly conservative parish where the Liturgy was celebrated every other week in a modified form of the Rite of St. Gregory.  However, over time, more praise band music and praise worship crept in.  There are still many parishes (a dwindling minority) especially in the LCMS (Missouri Synod Lutherans) who still use the traditional Liturgy (from the LH of 1943 which itself is a reprint of the one from 1905).  I grant that there are few of them, but I think the time is ripe in the LCMS (especially following their assembly this year where it is very likely they will get rid of their progressive disaster of a president for the past 12 years) for Liturgical renewal using the same type of Liturgy the Germans brought over from Saxony in the 1860s which was being phased out by the unionists over there.

Yes, it's not true at all that Lutherans don't have a structured liturgical services. (If not for any other reason than Germans are very structured!)The Lutheran Church I grew up in here in the US was very liturgical - you should have seen the blood on the floor when they were changing the hymnals and the services. This liturgical background enabled me to follow the Divine Liturgy quite well, the first time I attended an Orthodox Church. I was already familiar with the structure and could say "kyrie eleison" with the rest of 'em.

[ag_vn]

Archbishop George (Wagner), Auxiliary Bishop (1971-1981), Patriarchal Exarch for the Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe (1981-1993), former Protestant.

[ag_vn]

Bishop Paul (de Ballester-Convallier) of Nazianzus (1970-1984), Auxiliary Bishop in Mexico of the then united Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, former Roman Catholic.

Bishop Jose (Cortes y Olmos) of Mexico City, OCA (1972-1983), former Roman Catholic.

Bishop Alejo (Pacheco y Vera) of Mexico City, OCA (2005- ), former Roman Catholic.

[John of the North]

HG Irénée, Bishop of Québec City, Administrator of the Archdiocese of Canada. I would assume he was raised a Roman Catholic, but that is not clear from his biography--assumptions are dangerous.

[mike]

Former Bishop Basil (Osborne) of Amphipolis.

[mike]

Metropolitan Christopher of Prague (former Old Catholic).

[mike]

Metropolitan Seraphim (Lade) of Germany (former Protestant)

[orthonorm]

Amerindians.

Thank you. Word on the tip of my tongue this afternoon.

[ilyazhito]

Are there some more modern convert hierarchs apart from metropolitan Jonah?

In the OCA alone, two of his closest "contenders" for the metropolate (neither as far I know wanted it, one expressly saying no) were HG Job (from the Vatican), and HG Tikhon (from the episcoplians).  There was Archbp Peter L'Huillier (who is said to have been the foremost expert on canon law), and I seem to recall it being that the majority of the Holy Synod of the OCA are converts.  Our bishop Mark (Antiochian) is from the Pentacostals.  And of course there is Kallistos Ware, Metropolitan Anthony Bloom.  Although not a hierarch, nor yet formally canonized, there was Fr. Seraphim Rose.

Bishop Benjamin of the OCA Diocese of the West (third behind Bp. Jonah and Abp. Job in the recent vote for OCA Metropolitan) also converted to the Orthodox faith--I want to say he was previously Lutheran, but I'm not sure.

Bishop Benjamin's family were Methodists.

[Basil 320]

Reply No. 44 asked whether retired GOAA Bishop Dimitrios of Xanthos is a convert.  I don't think so, both his mother and father were of Greek extraction.

[username!]

As a side note, Met. Nicholas, memory eternal, was the first bishop of ACROD that was baptised Orthodox as a baby.. ie, he wasn't Greek Catholic at one point. 

[mike]

I've hard also some gossips that Archbishop Adam of Przemyśl and Nowy Sącz was an Eastern Catholic but IDK whether they are true.

[Maria]

His Eminence Metropolitan Moses of the GOC/HOTCA Synod converted from Roman Catholicism when he was a teenager.

http://www.orthodoxmetropolisportland.org/index.html

[mike]

Bishop Panteleimon of Oulu and Bishop Arsenius of Joensuu - from Lutheranism. Retired Bishop Seraphim of Sendai - former Presbyterian.

[mike]

Apparently, Patriarch Miron (Cristea) of Romania had been Eastern Catholic. Metropolitan Orestes (Chornock) of Agathonikeia was one too.

Bishop Ambrose of Recife and Archbishop Chysostomos of Rio de Janeiro (former Catholics).

Metropolitan John of Portugal and propably whole his Synod (now all of them are non-canonical).

[Putnik Namernik]

Apparently, Patriarch Miron (Cristea) of Romania had been Eastern Catholic. Metropolitan Orestes (Chornock) of Agathonikeia was one too.

Bishop Ambrose of Recife and Archbishop Chysostomos of Rio de Janeiro (former Catholics).

Metropolitan John of Portugal and propably whole his Synod (now all of them are non-canonical).

What happened? Who are they with now?

[Basil 320]

Metropolitan Orestes, when he was a parish priest, in 1937, Fr. Orestes P. Chornok, having converted to Orthodoxy and ordained to the episcopacy at The Phanar, brought Roman Catholic Byzantine Rite parishes in the U.S. from under the Church of Rome, to being under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, forming the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Diocese of the U.S.A. (ACROD).  ACROD headquarters are in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

[choy]

Bishop Irenee of Quebec City and the Archdiocese of Canada (OCA) was Roman Catholic.  I got to chat with him a bit when I stated my intention to become a Catechumen.  He was visiting our parish that day.

[mike]

What happened? Who are they with now?

They are with themselves. Use the forum search, you should find something.

[podkarpatska]

Metropolitan Orestes, when he was a parish priest, in 1937, Fr. Orestes P. Chornok, having converted to Orthodoxy and ordained to the episcopacy at The Phanar, brought Roman Catholic Byzantine Rite parishes in the U.S. from under the Church of Rome, to being under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, forming the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Diocese of the U.S.A. (ACROD).  ACROD headquarters are in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

There is no such thing as a "Roman Catholic Byzantine Rite."  These people were Greek Catholics and were anyone living from that generation, and the one before them (the generation of St. Alexis Toth), they would tell all of you in no uncertain terms that they were not and their people never were Roman Catholics.

[Basil 320]

I know, "podkarpatska," but that's what gets under my skin about this "jurisdiction;" they are not part of Orthodox Church, but they think they are; they're part of the Roman Catholic Church; don't they commemorate the Pope of Rome in their Divine Services?  I don't know what to call them, I'm sorry, but I'm sticking with "Roman Catholic Byzantine Rite," because that's as I see them.  "Greek Catholic" drives me nuts too, being of Greek heritage, of which 90+% of the people claim membership in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and being an Eastern Orthodox Christian, which is the "Catholic" church as stated in its canons.


P.S. You didn't correct my spelling of "Chornock."  

(I watched a good part of the "Opening of the Doors" service of Christ the Saviour Cathedral last night on the ACROD web site; I've viewed it before and find it inspiring.)

P.S.S. One thing that surprised me about that service, the bishop processes with the clergy during the Great Entrance.  Is that practice common outside of a Carpatho-Russian practice?  My experience in Greek practice, is that the bishop awaits the procession from the Beautiful Gates from where he receives the Chalice and Patten from the priest(s).

[Alpo]

Bishop Arsenius of Joensuu

Where did you find this? In Finnish it's "Arseni" and I thought it's usually "Arseny" in English. Or is there some variation?

[mike]

Bishop Arsenius of Joensuu

Where did you find this? In Finnish it's "Arseni" and I thought it's usually "Arseny" in English. Or is there some variation?

Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenius_%28name%29

Or are you asking, how do I know he was Lutheran?

[mabsoota]

i only skimmed this quickly, but father peter's (member on this site) bishop seems to be missing from this list:
metropolitan seraphim of the british orthodox section of the coptic orthodox church; former anglican.
he is also a kind and interesting person and knows huge chunks of orthodox church history 

[mike]

Bishop Stephen (Dzubay) of Pittsburgh (former Catholic)
Archbishop James (Akkersdijk) of Hague (former Catholic)

[mike]

Bishop Stephen (Dzubay) of Pittsburgh (former Catholic)

Apostatised later and went back to Vatican.

[mike]

Bishop Igatius (Nichols) of Washington (former Anglican)
went vagante later

Bishop Joseph (Zhuk) of New Yersey (former catholic)

[ilyazhito]

Bishop Ignatius (Nichols) of Washington (former Anglican)
went vagante later

Bishop Joseph (Zhuk) of New Jersey (former catholic)

Spelling corrected. In addition, the current Russian hierarchs are probably converts from atheism, if you could call them that.

[podkarpatska]

Bishop Ignatius (Nichols) of Washington (former Anglican)
went vagante later

Bishop Joseph (Zhuk) of New Jersey (former catholic)

Spelling corrected. In addition, the current Russian hierarchs are probably converts from atheism, if you could call them that.

Some not doubt may be so, but not all.

[ilyazhito]

Bishop George Schaefer of Mayfield (ROCOR) is a former Roman Catholic who attended mass daily and served as an altar boy. He converted through the Greek Orthodox Church (GOAA), later went to the ROCOR parish in San Francisco, and even spent time on Mount Athos.
Bishop Jerome Shaw is a former Episcopalian from an Anglo family who converted to Orthodoxy after contact with ROCOR and being in Greece.

[mike]

Bishop elect David (Mahaffey) of Sitka.

[Iconodule]

Bishop elect David (Mahaffey) of Sitka.

Former Methodist.

[mike]

Bishop Tikhon (Hollosy) of Komarne.

[ilyazhito]

What was he before, and to which church does he belong now?

[mike]

He is a retired bishop in the diocese of Presov. No idea what he used to be.