Chicago, December 29, 2025
Photo: chicagodiocese.org
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America has been administered by the His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal as its Locum Tenens since His Eminence Archbishop Peter reposed in November 2024.
Earlier this month, the ROCOR Synod elected three new vicar bishops and transferred His Grace Bishop Theodosius of Seattle to Manhattan, though nothing was said about filling the vacant Chicago See.
On December 26, diocesan Secretary Archpriest Gregory Joyce published an update on the situation:
Dear Fathers,
Today the Holy Synod in Moscow approved three episcopal candidates for our Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. By now you are likely to have read about this and noticed that none of those candidates have been given the title of “Chicago & Mid-America”.
The filling of our empty diocesan see is a multi-step process. The first step has been accomplished with the approval of these vicar bishops. Archbishop Gabriel asked me to convey to you that the next step will take place when all our bishops meet in council in Germany after Pascha. We can have hope that following that gathering we will be assigned our own ruling bishop.
Let us continue to pray for our bishops, that the Lord will guide them to assign us the candidate that we need for our salvation.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Fr. Gregory
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