Talmiche, Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala, October 23, 2024
In recent decades, thousands of native Guatemalans have converted to the holy Orthodox faith, and now one of them has been a consecrated a bishop for the first time.
On Sunday, October 13, 2024, Bishop-elect Evangelos Pata Tuctuc of Sasima was consecrated at the Orthodox Seminary in the mountains of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, which was formally opened in February of this year.
The episcopal consecration was held in a covered outdoor church due to the thousands of faithful in attendance, reports Romfea.
The consecration was celebrated by Metropolitan Iakovos of Mexico, Exarch of Central America and the Caribbean Islands of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, with auxiliary Bishops Athenagoras of Myrina and Timothy of Assos.
The new hierarch is another auxiliary to Met. Iakovos, serving as Regional Supervisor of Central America with jurisdiction over Guatemala and Mexico’s Chiapas region. He received the name Osios in his consecration.
He is the first Guatemalan bishop, a spiritual protégé of Andrés Girón, missionary to the Maya people.
Bishop Osios of Sasima personally serves 84 parishes and communities and oversees a total of 114 with a population of 300,000 indigenous faithful, assisted by 5 priests and 2 deacons, all serving without salary.
In 2015, an Orthodox medical clinic was opened in Guatemala.
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