His Eminence Metropolitan Iosif of Western and Southern Europe celebrates his name day on Friday, when the Orthodox Church commemorates St. Joseph of Arimathea.
The Holy and Righteous Joseph of Arimathea is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on 31 July. A secret disciple of Jesus Christ, he joined Nicodemus in taking down the Lord’s body from the Cross, wrapping it in a clean linen shroud, and placing it in a new tomb.
Biography
Metropolitan Iosif was born on 19 February 1966 in Vișeu de Jos, Maramureș County.
He graduated from Gheorghe Șincai High School in Baia Mare and the Andrei Șaguna Faculty of Theology in Sibiu. Between 1994 and 1998, he pursued doctoral studies at the St Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris.
He was ordained a deacon on 19 October 1993 and a celibate priest on 26 October of the same year, serving at the chapel of the Faculty of Theology in Alba Iulia.
He subsequently served as spiritual father and teaching assistant at the Faculty of Theology in Alba Iulia and taught Church History and Patrology at the local theological seminary.
On 17 April 1994, he was tonsured a monk and received the name Iosif (Joseph). Between 1994 and 1998, he served as priest and spiritual father at the Protection of the Mother of God Monastery in Bussy-en-Othe, France.
Ministry in Western Europe
On 29 November 1997, he was elected Archbishop by the Electoral Assembly of the Archdiocese of Western and Southern Europe and was ordained to the episcopacy on 15 March 1998 at the St Stephen Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Paris.
Following the elevation of the archdiocese to the rank of a metropolis on 21 October 2001, he received the title Metropolitan of Western and Southern Europe.
The metropolis serves Romanian Orthodox communities in France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Iceland.
Metropolitan Iosif is a member of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church and of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of France. Between 2001 and 2002, he also served as acting Archbishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the Americas.
Photo: Basilica.ro
