The Most Rev. Gibran Ramlaoui, Bishop of Australia and New Zealand and Dependencies, consecrated November 21, 1969 in St. George’s Church, Cleveland, Ohio.
GIBRAN JACOB RAMLAOUI, the second of six children of Jacob Gibran and Farfoura Sarkiss, was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, on the feast day of the Elevation of the Cross, September 14, 1931.

After graduation from St. Elias Orthodox College in 1948 he entered the monastic order as a novice under the tutelage of the Most Reverend Theodosius, Metropolitan of Tripoli, whom he served as personal secretary for five years. In 1954 novice Gibran graduated from the College of the Three Heirarchs in Beirut with a diploma in psychology and philosophy.

The feast day of Pentecost holds a special place in the pastoral life of Gibran Jacob Ramlaoui. He was ordained Deacon in 1954 and Priest in 1959 on Pentecost by the Most Reverend Elia, Metropolitan of Beirut, at the St. George Cathedral. While an Archdeacon and Priest in Beirut, Fr. Gibran taught Arabic, French, Literature and Ethics at St. Elias College.

In 1962 Fr. Gibran received a graduate diploma in literature from St. Joseph University in Beirut. In the same year he was called by His Eminence, the late Metropolitan An-tony B ashir, to join the Syrian Antiochian Orthodox Archrliocese of North America and was assigned pastor of St. Nicholas’ Church in Montreal, Canada.

Archimandrite Gibran was transferred in 1963 to St. Mary’s Church in Johnstown, Pa., where he continued his theological and academic studies. In 1964 he received a Bachelor of Theology degree from Christ the Savior Seminary, where, as a graduate student, he also taught Logic and Ethics. During his three year tenure in Johnstown, Archimandrite Gibran taught French at the Johnstown branch of the University of Pittsburgh, and continued postgraduate work at Duquesne University, and served as president of the Council of Orthodox Clergy of Greater Johnstown.

In October, 1966, Archimandrite Gibran was assigned to St. George’s Church in Cleveland, Ohio, by His Eminence, Metropolitan Philip, who himself was elevated to his present office while pastor there. The following year Archimandrite Gibran completed his course work for a Doctorate in Philosophy at Duquesne University and is presently completing his thesis. In 1968-69 he taught philosophy at John Carroll University. In April, this year, he was elected president of the Greater Cleveland Council of Orthodox Clergy.

Fr. Archimandrite Gibran was elected Bishop for Australia, New Zealand and Dependencies by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch on October 17, 1969. On October 22 he received a cablegram from His Beatitude, Theodosios VI, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, who twenty one years earlier received Bishop-elect Gibran into the monastic order in Tripoli. The Holy Synod charge Metropolitan Philip to consecrate Bishop-elect Gibran in the United States. It was Bishop-elect’s choice to be consecrated in Cleveland.