His Eminence Metropolitan Iosif of Western and Southern Europe turned 60 on Thursday, marking a milestone in a life dedicated to the service of the Church.
Metropolitan Iosif was born on 19 February 1966 in Vișeu de Jos, Maramureș County, northern Romania.
He graduated from “Gheorghe Șincai” High School in Baia Mare, the “Andrei Șaguna” Faculty of Theology in Sibiu (1989–1993), and completed doctoral studies at the St Serge Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris (1994–1998), with a dissertation entitled “The Mystery of the Human Person in St Symeon the New Theologian.”
He was ordained to the deaconate on 19 October 1993 and, later that same month, a celibate priest assigned to the chapel of the Faculty of Theology in Alba Iulia. He served as spiritual father and assistant lecturer in Moral Theology at the faculty and also taught Church History and Patrology at the Theological Seminary in Alba Iulia (1993–1994).
On 17 April 1994, he was tonsured a monk and received the name Iosif in honour of Saint Joseph of Arimathea. He subsequently served as priest and confessor at the Protection of the Mother of God Women’s Monastery in Bussy-en-Othe, Yonne, France (1994–1998).
Episcopal Ministry
The Electoral Assembly of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Western and Southern Europe elected him Archbishop on 29 November 1997. He was ordained to the episcopacy on 15 March 1998 at the Greek Cathedral of St Stephen in Paris by an assembly of twelve hierarchs, led by Metropolitan Serafim of Germany and Central Europe, with Metropolitan Jeremiah of France (Ecumenical Patriarchate) participating.
At that time, the Archdiocese’s jurisdiction included Romanian parishes and communities in France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Iceland. In 1998, the Archdiocese comprised 30 parishes. Today, more than 200 parishes and communities are organised under its care.
On 21 October 2001, the Archdiocese was elevated to the rank of Metropolis, and he was appointed Metropolitan.
Metropolitan Iosif is a member of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church and of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France. Between 2001 and 2002, he served as Locum Tenens of the vacant Archdiocesan See of America and Canada, contributing to the eparchy’s renewal.
Metropolitan Iosif shepherds the largest Romanian diaspora community worldwide, overseeing hundreds of parishes and communities across Western and Southern Europe. Under his pastoral leadership, the Metropolis has experienced sustained growth, responding to successive waves of migration and consolidating ecclesial structures for Romanian Orthodox faithful living abroad.
His ministry has been marked not only by institutional development, but also by efforts to preserve liturgical life, spiritual identity and cultural continuity among Romanians settled outside their homeland.
Photo: Basilica.ro
