PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Archimandrite Mykhailo Onyshchenko, exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate since 2018, was elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on October 6 to be elevated to bishop. His titular see is Comana, an early Christian city in Turkey that is recognized as the place where St. John Chrysostom was originally buried.
Having served as a priest in Lutsk, Volyn Oblast, the Rev. Onyshchenko served as an inspector of the theological seminary in Lutsk. He studied in Greece for 10 years, and later served as rector of the Church of St. Alypius the Stylite of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Antalya, Turkey.
The Rev. Onyshchenko was enthroned as exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on February 2, 2019, in Kyiv at St. Andrew Orthodox Church, headed by Metropolitan Emmanuel (Adamakis) of France, with Greek hierarchs. St. Andrew Church is a stavropegial church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate since 2018, after a vote by the Verkhovna Rada.
The previous bishop of Comana was Bishop Gabriel (de Walder), who led the diocese in Paris (1946-2013). No date for the consecration for Bishop Mykhailo or any other related details have been announced by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.