Biography of His Eminence,
Bishop Auxentios

Bishop Auxentios (Matthew Gates Chapman) is 63 years of age and a convert to Or­tho­doxy. He was born in Cleve­land, Ohio. He gra­dua­ted from Uni­ver­sity School, a private pre­pa­ra­tory school in Hun­ting Valley, Ohio, and went on to com­plete his under­graduate edu­ca­tion at Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity, where he stu­died ma­the­ma­tics and re­lig­ion. At Prince­ton, where he also con­ver­ted to the Or­tho­dox Faith, he was a stu­dent of the late Pro­to­pres­by­ter Geor­ges Flo­rov­sky, who served on his the­sis com­mit­tee in the de­part­ment of re­lig­ion, and of the Most Re­ve­rend Chry­sos­tomos, for­mer Me­trop­ol­i­tan of Et­na, then a lay­man, pre­cep­tor, and doc­to­ral can­di­date in the de­part­ment of psy­cho­lo­gy. He holds a Li­cen­tiate in Theo­logy from the Center for Tra­di­tion­a­list Or­tho­dox Stu­dies in Et­na, California, and re­ceived his doc­to­ral de­gree in li­tur­gics at the Gra­du­ate Theo­log­ical Un­ion, Ber­ke­ley.

His Eminence was ordained a Hierodeacon in 1976, a Hie­ro­monk in 1977, and Ti­tu­lar Bi­shop and as­sis­tant and se­cre­tary to the then Arch­bi­shop (later Me­tro­po­li­tan) Chry­sos­to­mos of Et­na in 1991. He is the au­thor or co-au­thor of a do­zen books, in­clu­ding a vo­lume on the Rite of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Re­sur­re­ction in Je­ru­sa­lem, ta­ken from his do­cto­ral dis­ser­ta­tion, and a score of ar­ti­cles in aca­de­mic jour­nals. He serves as Di­rec­tor of the Cen­ter for Tra­di­tion­a­list Or­tho­dox Stu­dies and is e­di­tor of its tri­an­nual jour­nal, Or­tho­dox Tra­di­tion.

Bishop Auxentios is one of five siblings, one an attorney and investor, an­other an in­sur­ance exe­cu­tive, one a cor­por­ate exe­cu­tive, and an­other an Ang­li­can cler­gy­man. His fa­ther, George By­ron Chap­man, Jr., is de­ceased, but his mother, Ann Whit­man Chap­man, daugh­ter of the Ame­ri­can ar­tist Paul Whit­man, lives in Au­ro­ra, Ohio, where His Eminence was reared.

Nameday: De­cem­ber 13 (Old Style)/26 (New Style), Feast of the Holy Mar­tyrs Evs­tra­tios, Aux­en­tios, Eu­gene, Mar­dar­ios, and Orestes.

____ ____