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Update recent episcopal activities.
After 40 days, the Patriarchal Exarch convened two assemblies of the clergy and lay leaders of the Diocese to discuss the serach for a new hierarch. The names of two multilingual candidates were brought forward and the Exarch began to discuss the situation with them and the Holy Synod. On the 28th of June 2023, the Synod unanimously elected the Rev. Archimandrite Theophan Koja as Bishop of Philomelion and ordained him to the episcopate on the 25th of July 2023.
Bishop Theophan was born in Tirana, Albania in 1966 and completed his theological education in Romania where he was ordained and served as both a missionary priest and as the abbot of the Aninoasa Monastery. Fluent in six languages, he then served close to twenty-five years in the United States prior to his elevation to the rank of bishop for the Albanian Diocese. He is currently assisted by six priests, a deacon, one seminarian, and numerous chanters all of whom serve in the Byzantine tradition using English, Albanian, and other languages based upon the pastoral needs of the faithful. The bishop led missionary activities to Albanian Orthodox Christians living in Florida, New Hampshire, and Connecticut within the first eight months of his episcopate. He also represented the Diocese and the Assembly of Bishops at the national Right to Life march in Washington, DC in January of 2024.
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