The Election of Metropolitan Mark Anthony as the VI Archbishop of North America and Most Honorable Exarch of Africa of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Antioch on Saturday July 22, 2023 on the feast of Hieromartyr Pancratius Bishop of Taorminia in Sicily (1st Century). July 10, 7531 Church Calendar.
Metropolitan Mark Anthony was today formally ‘Elected’ by Genuine Antiochian Orthodox Synod to be the 6th Archbishop of North America. The election endorses the Reposed Metropolitan Stephen’s nomination of Bishop Mark as the new Archbishop, in a ceremony that has been part of the statutory process for appointing senior bishops in the Church of North America since 1958.
The Election ceremony was held today at St Cyprian Monastery, Sharon PA with Seven Bishops present and 2 joined via video conference while 1 sent his vote due to distance.
As required by the 1958 Appointment of Bishops Act, the proclamation below, issued by His Eminence, Archbishop Timotheus, as the Vice President of the Holy Synod, was published at the end of the Election ceremony to announce the result:
“In the name of the Holy Synod We, Archbishop Timotheus, being the Hegumen of the Monastery of Saint Cyprian and Vicar General of the Primate and the Vice President of the Holy Synod of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Antioch in America,
“Being required publicly to notify and declare that the See of the Archbishopric of North America having been for some time vacant by the repose of the Most Reverend Stephen Thomas last Archbishop thereof,
“We the said Holy Synod of this Autocephalous Church (in pursuance of and proceeding according to the bull of Ecclesia establishment by His Holiness Ignatius Peter III, Patriarch of Antioch.) have this day Elected the Most Reverend +Mark Anthony Metropolitan of Harrisburg and the Archbishop of Nigeria to be our Archbishop and Metropolitan in this Autocephalous Archiepiscopal See of North America whom God long preserve.
Read in the Holy Monastery of Saint Cyprian, Sharon PA the twenty third day of July in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-three, By us, Hegumen of St Cyprian Monastery and Archbishop of Pennsylvania.”
Archbishop Mark’s appointment as Archbishop will be completed in the Confirmation of Election ceremony to be held on Seventh Sunday of Saint Matthew 24th at 10:30am in a Divine Liturgy, the feast of The Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos of Pochaev, Icon of the Mother of God (July 11, 7531 Church Calendar) that will be broadcast entirely via video conference. The service will be available on the Church website at www.genuineorthodoxchurch.org and on the Church YouTube channel.
Arrangements for Metropolitan Mark’s enthronement service at Saint Cyprian Monastery will be announced later in the year.
Prayer on the Election of the Archbishop of North America
O Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty, we give you thanks: you have heard our prayer, guided your people and raised up Mark to serve as the next Archbishop of North America.
We make our prayer through Our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, in union with the Holy Spirit who lives and reigns with you one God forever and ever.
Amen.
Biographical details – Bishop Mark
His Eminence, Archbishop +Mark, Metropolitan of Nigeria and Exarch of Africa, Civil Name Akinnugba Macfonse Osmond was born into the family of a Catechist and was raised by the devout Roman Catholic Parents in Ondo Kingdom of Nigeria. He attended St Paul’s Roman Catholic Mission Primary School Ondo from 1981 to 1987. At the conclusion of his primary education, he was admitted into Sacred Heart Minor Seminary, Akure in 1987 as part of discerning his vocation, he completed his Secondary Education at St Joseph College, Ondo, Ondo State in 1993. Between 1993 and 1996, he devout his life to teaching catechism and evangelism through legionary work at St Patrick Catholic Church, Ondo, St Mathew’s Catholic Church and Saint John Bosco Parish of the Salesians in, Oke Odunwo, Ondo, Ondo State of Nigeria.
He joined the religious life of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in discerning his vocation in 1996 and soon became a religious educator having taught Catechism and Christian Religion in schools and Roman Catholic Churches.
As part of his apostolate, he had had to minister to the people living in abject poverty, those living with HIV/AIDS, those struggling to survive financial constraints, and those whose case were considered hopeless. He had worked at Kuwinda and Kibera Slums in Kenya.
In 2001, He Eminence was received into the Byzantine Seminary in Northridge, California in the USA to study Theology. The Signum Fidei Apostolate which was founded in 2004 at the end of his studies by His Eminence +Mark Anthony to provide education, to alleviate the plight of the impoverished and win hearts for God while inculcating human values and dignities in those whose life and heart are touched by the lives and the teachings of the members.
This mission, coupled with his work as a Journalist in the midst of the ministry which again brought him into close proximity with the sufferings of people, made so deep impression on His Eminence Mark +Anthony that it soon became his lifework, as a bi-vocational Cleric. But does His Eminence Mark +Anthony agree that secular work has replaced religious calling?
Not at all! Rather he insists. “I am a wholistic Minister. I cast out the demons from their spirit in prayer, feed their soul with a positive mental attitude – with a burning desire to live a just life with teachings and writings, to thrive and to win. Then I put food in their mouth to give them strength and support them as they face the world. Towards becoming self-reliant I empower them with skills that enable them to make money and be financially stable. The glory of God is a person fully alive.” Prayer, Knowledge and Wealth as the key to successful living. Because this takes care of the total being, the spirit, the soul and the body”.
His Eminence Mark +Anthony worked as a Pastoral Religious Counsellor and a foster father to the orphans at the Nyumbani Children of God Relief Institute, home for the HIV/AIDS Orphans in Nairobi –Kenya, the largest of its kind in East Africa.
He also worked with Africa Peace Point (a Non Governmental Organization for children’s right) in Kenya and also in Tanzania for another two years before coming to Nigeria to continue his charity and evangelical work and to established a Non Profit Making Organisation that cater for the needy and those living with the scourge of HIV/AIDS pandemonium while spreading the gospel.
In 2009, he completed master’s degree in Pastoral Counseling at the California International University of Theology, Los Angeles His Eminence Mar +Anthony on January 2010, on the feast Our Holy Father Theodosius the Great, and was ordained a Deacon By Archbishop Peter Tang in Yaounde and on January 29, 2010 the feast of the Veneration of the Chains of the Apostle Peter, he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood.
He later completed his Doctorate Degree in Divinity, both from California International University of Theology, Los Angeles. He was entrusted with the mission to establish the Byzantine Catholic Church in Nigeria and coordinate the evangelistic activities across the continent of African and beyond.
His Eminence Metropolitan Mark +Anthony was consecrated on April 18, 2011 to the Episcopacy of the Byzantine Catholic Church by Archbishop Peter Tang and were Co-consecrated by Archbishop Jean Ndjewel of the Byzantine Catholic Church on Our Holy Father Mark of Trache at the Cathedral of Saint Catherine.
In April 2012, he was elevated to the rank of Exarch of Africa of the Byzantine Catholic Church.
In 2013, he was received into the Antiochian Orthodox Church through Cheirotesia and given the mandate to oversee the church in Africa for the Jurisdiction and given the title of Primate Legate to Africa, and Exarch of Africa, subsequently the co-adjuctor of the Metropolitan Primate.
In 2017, he made a True Orthodoxy Declaration of Faith and began the conversion of the clergies and missions under his jurisdiction into the Genuine Orthodox Church repudiating the heresy of ecumenism and new calendar.
He succeeds Metropolitan Stephen as the VIth successor to the throne of the First Hierarch of the Genuine Orthodox Church of Antioch as His Beatitude, Metropolitan Mark, Archbishop of North America and Most Honorable Exarch of Africa from this day June 22, 2023 in the year of our Lord July 10 7531 of the Byzantine Calendar.
Many Years Despota! Many Years Despota !! Many years Despota !!!
Be mindful, O Lord, of our Archbishop +Mark., and of every Bishop of the Holy Synod of the True Antiochian Orthodox Church: of Priests and Deacons and all the Clergy of thy Church, which thou has established to feed the flock of the Word: and by their prayers have mercy upon me and save me, a sinner.
Grant, O Lord, a prosperous and peaceful life, health, salvation, and furtherance in all good things to Thy servant Metropolitan Mark, Archbishop of North America and preserve him for MANY YEARS!