Your Beatitude, Your Eminences, Your Grace:

By the Providence of God and the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through the Venerable Hierarchs of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America, I stand here before you, chosen to be a bishop.

Realizing my unworthiness, I reflect upon the words of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete: "Where, O Christ, shall I begin to mourn the deeds of my miserable lifetime? And what beginning shall I make to the present mourning? But since Thou art compassionate, grant me forgiveness of sins."

In reflecting upon the call I have received to serve the Church as a bishop, I have been moved to also remember the people and events in my life that have led to this day. And so, I have naturally reflected upon my youth and the upbringing I received in the home of my parents.

Both my father and my mother were devout Serbian Orthodox Christians. For them, the practice of the faith was something integral to daily life‹both inside and outside the home. They were simple people, but they possessed a wisdom far beyond the wisdom of the world. For them, the Orthodox Christian Faith was not something to be relegated to only its ethnic expression. For them, it was not merely the keeping of certain feasts with their own particular customs but a way of life‹the way of life that leads to life eternal.

When my father first arrived in America from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1909, the first thing he did was to seek out the Church. He worked hard in coal and copper mines for some forty years. And throughout those years of hard work, he never forgot the Church and its importance. It was always foremost in his mind and central to his life. The same was true for my mother, who was born of Serbian Orthodox immigrants in Butte, Montana. She was raised to love the Church. This was seen in the way she lived her life. As I recall my parents¹ many sacrifices and their shining examples of Christian living, I can only respond by thanking Almighty God for the firm foundations they established for me.

My parents taught me to love the Church as they loved it. Growing up, I witnessed parish life in what might easily be described as a "difficult" parish. This can be seen in the fact that there were over fifty priests assigned to the parish in a seventy-five year period. Nonetheless, in spite of the difficulties of parish life, the people among whom I was raised remained faithful to Christ¹s Church, the life of the parish went on, and the Orthodox Faith was lived by those people who had sacrificed their time and their resources to establish and assure an Orthodox presence in Montana.

Because of what I observed growing up, at home with my parents, and within our parish community, I felt a call to serve the Church early in life. My life of service as a monastic and as a priest is relatively short, compared, at least, to the over two hundred year history of the Orthodox Church in North America. However, there have been many significant moments in my life that have related to that two hundred year history of the Church here in North America. I was baptized in Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Butte, Montana, which was consecrated in 1905 by the great missionary and hierarch, Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and Enlightener of North America. My monastic tonsure took place on the Feast of America¹s first saint, Saint Herman of Alaska in 1970, in the very year of his glorification. And, along with other American Serbs of my generation, I was constantly reminded of the life, virtues, sufferings, and apostolic zeal of Saint Nikolai of Zhica. He was held up to us as a shining example of fidelity to Christ and dedication to the mission of the Church. These three saints, in particular, have inspired and guided my life in the Church.

In 1988, I was received into the ranks of the clergy of the Orthodox Church in America. I felt called to be numbered among the clergy of the Orthodox Church in America primarily because of its deep and strong commitment to continue the mission and ministry of the Russian monastics who first arrived on Kodiak Island in 1794. The Orthodox Church in America remains true to the vision of Saint Herman of Alaska and his companions‹that vision of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to all the peoples of North America. And I desired to share in that vision.

During the week of the Holy and Life-giving Cross of the Great Fast that we have just concluded, The Holy Synod of Bishops called me to serve the Church as a bishop. I am prepared to respond as a monastic‹with obedience to the will of God as expressed through the hierarchs of the Church. I am prepared to lay down my life and accept the Cross which that office will place upon my shoulders. The beginning of my episcopal ministry, under the guidance of His Beatitude, Metropolitan THEODOSIUS, will take me to the land first blessed by Saint Herman and his missionary companions, to that land and to the peoples to whom Saint Innocent dedicated his life¹s efforts. My desire to serve the Orthodox Church in America and share in its mission has seemingly been blessed in a very real way by the saints and missionaries who first inspired me to share in their missionary work. I have now been called to share in their work. I am now being sent to walk where they walked. I am now being asked to give my life to the same peoples to whom they gave their lives. All this I willingly accept, confident in the support of the prayers and intercession of Saint Herman, Saint Innocent, and all the Saints who have "shone forth" in North America.

I again repeat that as I approach this sacred office, I am well aware of my sinfulness and weaknesses. And so, I ask for the guidance and assistance of those who have been called to this office before me‹I turn to Your Beatitude, Your Eminences, and Your Grace and ask your patience and love as I submit myself to this call of the Holy Spirit. I wish to publicly thank His Grace, Bishop TIKHON, whom I have been blessed to serve during my seven years as Chancellor of the Diocese of the West. I will always be grateful for the kindness, understanding, and guidance he has given me since I was first received into the Diocese of the West. I also wish to thank His Beatitude, Metropolitan THEODOSIUS, for his fatherly love, concern, and support, and for showing his confidence in me as I now begin to serve him and the Church as his auxiliary bishop.

Once again, I admit and acknowledge my many weaknesses and the great office‹the office of service‹to which I have been called. And I am assured, comforted and encouraged by the words of the prayer of ordination‹that the Divine Grace which always heals that which is infirm and supplies that which is lacking will be my strength and my inspiration as I begin a new ministry in and for Christ¹s Holy Orthodox Church.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!