Ruling Hierarch

The Most Reverend Bishop Dr. Auxentios of Etna and Portland was born Matthew Gates Chapman in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 15, 1953 (Old Style). He graduated from University School, a private preparatory school in Hunting Valley, Ohio, and went on to complete his undergraduate education at Princeton University, where he studied mathematics and religion. At Princeton, where he also converted to the Orthodox Faith, he was a student of Protopresbyter Georges Va­si­lievich Florovsky (1893–1979), who served on his thesis committee in the Department of Religion, and of the ever-memorable Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Etna (1943–2019), then a layman, preceptor, and doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology. His Eminence holds a Licentiate of Theology from the Center for Tra­di­tion­a­list Orthodox Studies in Et­na, California, and he earned a Doctorate of Theology in Liturgical Theology at the Graduate Theological Un­ion, Ber­ke­ley.

His Eminence was ordained a Hierodeacon in 1976, a Hie­ro­monk in 1977, and Ti­tu­lar Bi­shop and as­sis­tant and se­cre­tary to the then Arch­bi­shop (later Me­tro­po­li­tan) Chry­sos­to­mos of Et­na in 1991. He is the au­thor or co-au­thor of a do­zen books, in­clu­ding a vo­lume on the Rite of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Re­sur­re­ction in Je­ru­sa­lem, ta­ken from his do­cto­ral dis­ser­ta­tion, and a score of ar­ti­cles in aca­de­mic jour­nals. He serves as Di­rec­tor of the Cen­ter for Tra­di­tion­a­list Or­tho­dox Stu­dies and is e­di­tor of its tri­an­nual jour­nal, Or­tho­dox Tra­di­tion.

Bishop Auxentios is one of five siblings, one an attorney and investor, an­other an in­sur­ance exe­cu­tive, one a cor­por­ate exe­cu­tive, and an­other an Ang­li­can cler­gy­man. His fa­ther, George By­ron Chap­man, Jr., is de­ceased, but his mother, Ann Whit­man Chap­man, daugh­ter of the Ame­ri­can ar­tist Paul Whit­man, lives in Au­ro­ra, Ohio, where His Eminence was reared.

Patron Saint and Name Day: Saint Auxentios of Sebaste († 296), De­cem­ber 13 (Old Style)

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