On Saturday, December 19, Bishop-elect Ioannis of Phocaea was ordained by Archbishop Elpidophoros of America at the Church of St. George in Piscataway, New Jersey.
In his statements to the newspaper The National Herald, the newly ordained bishop stressed that the experience of the history of the Church and the descent of the Holy Spirit caused him enormous tension to the point that it took half an hour to recover after the ordination.
On his part, Archbishop Elpidophoros, addressing the Bishop-elect of Phocaea, Ioannis, stated that, by a blessed happenstance, they found themselves there in Piscataway, “in the parish that you served when you were first ordained a priest.”
Addressing those present, the Archbishop of America stressed that many may be surprised to learn that Phocaea, on the coast of Asia Minor, was the center of Hellenic life and thought over two-thousand-five-hundred years ago.
On his part, Bishop Ioannis thanked Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, “under his ministry, I was elected by the Holy Synod in the Holy Diocese of Phocaea,” while he also thanked the Archbishop of America and the Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco.
Bishop Ioannis of Phocaea is the Protosyncellus of the Metropolis of San Francisco, where he will continue to perform his duties on assignment as, according to canonical and church institutions, he will be the Assistant Bishop to Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.
