His Grace GEORGE,
Bishop of Mayfield
Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese

Right Reverend Bishop George
505 Holy Cross Road
Wayne, WV 25570-9755

Phone: (304) 849-3290
Fax: (304) 849-2016
 bpgeorges@gmail.com 

Rector of St. John the Baptist Cathedral, Mayfield, PA
Abbot of Holy Cross Monastery

         

   

BIOGRAPHY OF BISHOP GEORGE

The future bishop George, Paul Schaefer, was born on May 25, 1950, in Belleville, Illinois. He graduated from Catholic High School in 1968 and then attended Southern Illinois University from 1968 to 1972. In 1974 he was received into the Greek Orthodox Church in Modesto, CA, and given the name Makarios in honor of Saint Makarios the Great. He joined the Russian Church Abroad in San Francisco in May 1975 and entered Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, New York in September 1975.

On Christmas, January 7, 1976, Makarios was made a novice by Archbishop Averky (Taushev). As a novice his obediences in the monastery were working in the farm and cemetery. After a few years in the monastery he was made a riassophor monk on Friday of the First Week of Lent, 1979 and tonsured to the small schema on Friday of the First Week of Lent, 1980, and given the name Mitrophan in honor of Saint Mitrophan of Voronezh. He was ordained a subdeacon on Palm Sunday of the same year. In 1980, he graduated from Holy Trinity Seminary.

Fr. Mitrophan was sent to Mount Athos by Archbishop Laurus in June of 1981. He was tonsured to the great schema by Hieromonk Nektarios of Koutloumousiou Monastery, Mt. Athos, and given the name George in honor of Saint George the Great-Martyr.

In February, 1986, Fr. George returned to Holy Trinity Monastery and started working in the Printshop of Saint Job of Pochaev in 1986, where he worked until 1998. He assumed editorial duties on Orthodox Life in 1992.

 Fr. George was ordained a hierodeacon on the feast of St. Michael, 1986, and a hieromonk on Palm Sunday, 1987. In September 1998 he was elevated to the rank of abbot and archimandrite on the Feast of St. Job of Pochaev, 2005.

In 1994, he was appointed as economos of Holy Trinity Monastery and made dean of Holy Trinity Monastery in 2007. He is the author of several articles and translations published in Orthodox Life. He translated the sayings of the Optina Elders published in the book "Living without Hypocrisy," published by HTM Press in 2006. He served as confessor and spiritual father for Holy Trinity Monastery and for the Hermitage of the Holy Cross in Wayne, West Virginia, the largest English-language monastery of the ROCOR.

In May 2008, the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR elected Archimandrite George as Bishop of Mayfield, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church confirmed the election in June 2008. On December 7, 2008, Archimandrite George was consecrated to the episcopal office at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, by Bishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada, Bishop Peter of Cleveland, and Bishop John of Caracas. Bishop George’s place of residence is at Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV, of which he is now abbot.


His Grace JEROME,
Bishop of Manhattan
Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese  

Right Reverend Bishop Jerome
75 East 93rd Street
New York, NY 10128-1390

Phone: (212) 534-1601 
vrevjrs@execpc.com

Deputy Rector of the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City

           

     

BIOGRAPHY OF BISHOP JEROME

Bishop Jerome (John Robert Shaw) was born on December 21, 1946, and grew up in a small New England town. He came of an old American family, of "Anglo" ancestry, and was raised in the Episcopal (Anglican) Church. He was received into the Orthodox Church by chrismation, on the day after he turned seventeen: on Sunday, December 22, 1963.

After graduation from high school, John studied at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in Russian linguistics, with a minor in East European history.

He graduated cum laude in the spring of 1968, and entered Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY.

He was tonsured a reader on September 27, 1970, by Archbishop Averky of blessed memory. After graduation from Jordanville in the class of 1971, Rd. John served as subdeacon to Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky).

On April 11, 1976, Archbishop Nikon ordained him a subdeacon and deacon, and on April 25, he was ordained a priest. He was assigned to St. Vladimir Memorial Church, in Jackson NJ.

On Saturday, September 4, 1976, Archbishop Nikon suddenly reposed in the Lord, and Fr. John was reassigned at the request of Archbishop Seraphim (Ivanov) to Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Chicago, IL where he served from November of 1976 till March of 1991.

On the feast of the Ascension in 1984, Fr. John was elevated to the rank of archpriest.

From March 17, 1991 until November 30, 2008, he served in Holy Trinity Church in Milwaukee, WI. During that period, Fr. John translated Archbishop Alypy's Slavonic textbook into English; he was one of the delegates to the 4th All-Diaspora Sobor in 2006.

On May 15, 2008, the ROCOR Synod of Bishops elected him Bishop of Manhattan, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese. On June 23, 2008, it was confirmed by the Patriarch and Holy Synod of Russia.

On December 5, 2008, Fr. John was tonsured a monk in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville by Bishop John of Caracas, and given the name Jerome, in honor of St. Jerome of Stridon.

On December 7, 2008, in accordance with the resolution of the ROCOR Synod of Bishops, Fr. John was then elevated to the rank of Archimandrite.

On December 10, 2008, he was consecrated Bishop of Manhattan in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign.