Chalkidiki, Greece, July 17, 2018
Photo: i.ytimg.com Two bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church have died while on pilgrimage to Greece and Mt. Athos within the span of 10 days.
The body of His Grace Bishop Elias or Birsk and Beloretsk was found on July 6 on the beach in Chalkidiki, near Mt. Athos. According to the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Grace Bishop Tikhon (Chizhevsky) of Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomiya also reposed near Mt. Athos on Saturday.
While Bp. Elias’ cause of death is as yet unknown, Bp. Tikhon’s repose comes at the end of a battle with a long illness.
Vladyka gave 45 years of his life in ministry to Christ in His Orthodox Church, having been ordained as a deacon on June 17, 1973.
In 1987, he was sent to serve St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York. He was tonsured as a monk with the name of Tikhon at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania in March 1990, and was ordained to the priesthood in July 1991, then being appointed rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral.
He returned to serve in the Ukrainian Church in December 1992, and later served in the Ukrainian Church in Canada from 2001 to 2010.
He was elected as bishop of Ivano-Frankivsk and Kolomiya on December 23, 2014, and was consecrated to the episcopacy on December 27.
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