San Francisco, March 30, 2026
Photo: Holy Virgin Cathedral of SF
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) consecrated Archimandrite Peter (Karakozov) as Bishop of Seattle, vicar of the Western American Diocese, on Saturday, March 28, the feast of the Akathist of the Most Holy Theotokos. His election had been decided at the December session of the ROCOR Synod of Bishops.
The consecration took place at the Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco. His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America and New York, the ROCOR First Hierarch, presided over both the rite of nomination on the eve of the feast and the Divine Liturgy with episcopal consecration the following morning.
Concelebrating at both services were His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America and Their Graces Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe, Bishop Vasily of San Francisco and the West (Orthodox Church in America), Bishop Theodosius of Manhattan, Bishop Jacob of Sonora, and Bishop Job of Stuttgart, ROCOR reports.
Photo: Holy Virgin Cathedral of SF
The rite of nomination was held on Friday evening before Matins at the cathedral. In his speech upon being named to the episcopate, Bp. Peter reflected on the Gospel account of Christ’s threefold question to the Apostle Peter—“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?”—as an image of episcopal calling. “Lord, Thou knowest all things”—he said, was “the only honest answer: not ‘I am ready,’ not ‘I am worthy,’ but ‘Thou knowest.’“
He also recalled the spiritual figures who had shaped his path, including his first spiritual father, Archimandrite Dimitry (Egorov), a confessor who had passed through the Soviet Gulag system, and Abp. Kyrill, who had ordained him to the diaconate and priesthood. He closed by promising to keep the Orthodox faith in its purity and to tend the flock “not according to my own will, but according to the will of Him who sent me.”
At the Divine Liturgy the following morning, Met. Nicholas addressed the newly consecrated bishop upon presenting him with his episcopal staff. He called on Bp. Peter to maintain firm faith amid what he described as difficult times of suffering, enmity, and division, comparing the bishop’s role to that of a ship’s helmsman who keeps his nerve in a storm.
Photo: Holy Virgin Cathedral of SF
He recalled the spiritual inheritance of the Seattle vicariate, tracing a lineage from Archbishop Tikhon (Troitsky) and St. John (Maximovich)—who died in his quarters at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Seattle—through Bishop Nektary (Kontsevich), Archbishop Anthony (Medvedev), and the current hierarchs of the Western American Diocese.
Following the Liturgy, Bp. Peter gave his first archpastoral blessing to the faithful.
Watch the moment of Bp. Peter’s consecration:
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