Bishop Ioan Casian of Canada celebrates 20th anniversary of episcopal ordination

His Grace Bishop Ioan Casian of Canada marks the twentieth anniversary of his episcopal ordination on Thursday.

He was ordained to the episcopate on 2 July 2006 at the Cathedral of the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen in Chicago. He initially served as Assistant Bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of the Americas.

Biographical Background Bishop Ioan Casian was born on 20 February 1969 in Comănești, Bacău County, Romania.

From 1989 to 1993, he studied at the Andrei Șaguna Faculty of Theology in Sibiu, graduating with a dissertation in Canon Law entitled Oikonomia in the Orthodox Church under the supervision of Professor Ioan Floca.

Between 1993 and 1995, he lived at the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Jerusalem. During this period, he studied Ancient Greek and French and received training in icon painting and restoration. In 1995, he was tonsured as a rassophore monk.

From 1995 to 1998, he pursued further studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum of St Anselm in Rome, specialising in the history and spirituality of monasticism and the Church Fathers, while also studying at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, focusing on history, art and the classical languages…