New Primate of the Orthodox Church in America is elected
His Eminence Archbishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania was elected the sixth Primate of the Orthodox Church in America during the 17th All-American Council of the OCA on November 13, 2012.
The Council, participating in which were five hundred and ninety delegates eligible to vote, opened with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy by the Locum Tenens of the OCA, Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit and Romanian Episcopate together with the hierarchs and clergy at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Parma.
After the second ballot at the plenary session, the members of the Holy Synod retired into the sanctuary where they elected His Eminence Tikhon as Archbishop of Washington and Metropolitan of All America and Canada.
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Archbishop Tikhon (secular name Marc R. Mollard) was born in Boston, MA, 0n July 15, 1966. He graduated from Wyoming High School in 1984. In 1988 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Sociology from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, after which he moved to Chicago.
In 1989 he was received into the Orthodox Church and began studies at St. Tikhon’s Seminary of the OCA. One year later he entered the monastic community at St. Tikhon’s Monastery as a novice.
After receiving his Master of Divinity degree in 1993, he was appointed instructor in Old Testament at St. Tikhon’s Seminary.
In 1995, he was tonsured to the lesser schema by Archbishop Herman with the name of Tikhon in honour of St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow. Later that year he was ordained deacon and presbyter.
In 1998 he was elevated to the rank of hegumen, and in 2000 to the rank of archimandrite.
He was consecrated bishop in 2004. He has been Bishop of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania since 2005, being elevated to the rank of archbishop on 9 May 2012.