Archimandrite Melchisedek to be consecrated bishop in June

PITTSBURGH, PA (OCA Communications) - On Saturday, June 27, 2009, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah and the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America will consecrate Archimandrite Melchisedek (Pleska) Bishop of Pittsburgh and the Diocese of Western Pennsylvania. Who is on Facebook I might add if you were interested in following him there.

The rite of consecration will take place at a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Allison Park, PA, beginning at 8:30 AM. On Friday evening, June 26, the Rite of Nomination and Proclamation will take place at the cathedral at 7:00 PM, immediately before Vespers.

Archimandrite MelchisedekArchimandrite Melchisedek was born Thomas Alexander Pleska, in Dayton OH, August 20, 1942. His father, Alexander Peter Pleska, was born in Byelo-Russia near Brest-Litovsk, and immigrated with his parents to the US in 1925. His mother Johanna (Eugenia Stachuk) Pleska was born in Cleveland, Ohio, of Ukrainian immigrant parents, and baptized in St. Theodosius Cathedral.

At the time he was growing up in Dayton there was no Orthodox parish present, and he and his sister received their Christian formation in local Protestant parishes and taken to the "Russian" Church in Cleveland for important Holy Days, and other visits. It was as an adult that Fr. Melchisedek describes himself as becoming a member in the Orthodox Church at Christ the Saviour Church (pictured left) in Cincinnati, OH, under the pastorship of Fr. Daniel Rentel.

After High School, Thomas Pleska first attended the University of Michigan School of Music and then Miami University in Oxford, OH, where he completed a BA with a major in Philosophy, with aspirations to eventually receive a doctorate and teach. After graduating he entered the business world, first in a stock brokerage and later in real estate.

In the early 1980s, he made the decision to take a Master of Divinity degree at St. Vladimir's Seminary. During his studies, under the deanship of Protopresbyter John Meyendorff (pictured right), Thomas was encouraged to consider ordination. Through several encounters with monastic spiritual fathers, including Elder Dionysios of the Simono-Petras Monastery on Mount Athos and Archimandrite Dimitry Egouroff, a monk of Old Valaam, he also made the decision to take the monastic tonsure after ordination.

Thomas Pleska was ordained to the Diaconate in 1985, on the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, November 21, by His Grace, Bishop Job. In 1986, on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, he was ordained to the Priesthood by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius.

In the Fall of 1986, Fr. Thomas accepted the position of Instructor of Dogmatic Theology at St. Tikhon's Seminary. During his time teaching at St. Tikhon's, he served as chaplain at the Holy Myrrhbearers Women's Monastery in Otego NY, and as interim pastor at the Churches of the Holy Trinity in Pottstown, PA, St. Michael in Old Forge, PA, and St. Basil in Simpson, PA. It was also at this time that he made his acquaintance with the Elder Sophrony and his monastery in Essex, England.

From 1989 to 1998 Fr. Thomas served as rector of Saints Peter and Paul Church in Meriden, CT.

In 1998, Fr. Thomas traveled to Greece where he served first at the Monastery of the Holy Cross, an international women's community in Thebes. In 2003, he was transferred to serve as chaplain at the women's monastery of St. George the Great Martyr and to serve his own brotherhood at the Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Petras.

In 2004, he was tonsured to the Great Schema, taking the name Melchisedek, and raised to the rank of Archimandrite.

On April 2, 2009, Archimandrite Melchisedek was elected Bishop of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania by the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America. He returned to the US

During Great Lent 2009 to celebrate Holy Week and Pascha in parishes of the Diocese of Western Pennsylvania.

Since returning to the US and taking up residence at the Western Pennsylvania Diocesan Center, Fr. Melchisedek has begun familiarizing himself with diocesan parishes and institutions and taking on administrative duties in the diocese.