On February 12, Archimandrite Luke (Murianka), Abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, and Rector of Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Seminary, was consecrated as Bishop of Syracuse, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese.
Archimandrite Luke was born in 1951 in Philadelphia. He studied at the Jordanville Seminary and Syracuse University. He pronounced his monastic vows in 1980 and was ordained a priest by Archbishop Laurus (Škurla, +2008). Since 1979, he has been teaching New Testament, apologetics, and comparative theology at the seminary. In 2008, he was appointed superior of the monastery and rector of the seminary, functions that he occupies to this day.
In his consecration address, he mentioned:
I have seen the Hand of God, Providence, leading me throughout my life. All of my ancestors hail from the same region of Carpathian Russia. My paternal grandfather organized parishes under the Russian Church when he arrived in America. It was he who brought me into the altar for the first time to serve when I was four years old. On my mother’s side, there are many generations of priests and four bishops, one who was a confessor for Orthodoxy against the Uniate heresy. My parents guided with simple Christian wisdom, and my father piously and conscientiously worked out his salvation as a funeral director, by burying all of the Orthodox Christians in Philadelphia. The memory of death was always present at home with the fragrance of incense and the singing of panihidas.
While studying at a local university since 1970, I attended services at the monastery, and in 1975 I entered the monastery with the firm intention to become a monk. My first years were spent studying in seminary and working in the garden under strict obedience to Monk Germogen. I was able to learn much about the spiritual life, piety, and Church life from many of the fathers who are now reposed. This was especially true of my almost daily conversations for guidance about life in the monastery and seminary with Metropolitan Laurus, who was exceedingly patient, never hastily making decisions and always seeking first a blessing from God. Their advice and wisdom have guided me to this day. Although I never wrote any of their words down on paper, they remain in my heart”.
The episcopal consecration was celebrated by Metropolitan
Hilarion, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR),
Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye (Orthodox Church of Ukraine), Archbishop Gabriel
of Montreal, and Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan (ROCOR).
Bishop Luke was appointed bishop of Syracuse, Vicar of the Eastern American
Diocese.
Click on the links here below to watch the videos of the episcopal nomination, the vigils of the Feast of the Three holy hierarchs, and the Divine Liturgy with the episcopal consecration.
Sources in English: Jordanville Monastery (videos) and the ROCOR Eastern American diocese