Ukrainian becomes a bishop of Constantinople Patriarchate
Archimandrite Maksym (Rudko) will serve in the Austrian Metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
On November 10, 2024, Archimandrite Maksym (secular name Roman Rudko) was consecrated as Bishop of Aristion, a vicar of the Austrian Metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, according to the Facebook page of the Vienna parish of the UOC (Patriarchate of Constantinople).
The newly elected Bishop of Aristion, Roman Rudko, hails from Lviv, where he completed his secondary education and graduated from the POC seminary.
He earned his Master’s degree in Greece, at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki’s Faculty of Theology.
In 2018, at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Vienna, Roman Rudko took monastic vows and was ordained a deacon by Metropolitan Arsenios (Kardamakis) of Austria and Exarch of Hungary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
In 2023, Maksym became an Archimandrite and was appointed Protosyncellus of the Austrian Metropolis and Hungarian Exarchate.
On August 29, 2024, during a meeting of the Holy Synod of Phanar, he was elected vicar bishop of the Austrian Metropolis with the title Bishop of Aristion.
As previously reported by the UOJ, in his congratulatory letter sent to Trump, Patriarch Bartholomew expressed hope that the United States would defend religious freedom.