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8- November, 2024: Appointment of Bishop of the Holy Protection of Mary in Phoenix    

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Artur Olexandrovych Bubnevych of the clergy of the Eparchy of Holy Protection of Mary of Phoenix of the Ruthenians, currently serving as Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Albequerque, New Mexico,  as Sixth Bishop of the Eparchy of the Holy Protection of Mary of Phoenix, United States of America.  Bishop Elect Artur will be concecrated to the Order of the Holy Episcopacy on Tuesday, January 28th, 2025 at Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church in Annaheim, CA.

Curriculum vitae

Biography of Bishop-elect Artur Bubnevych

Bishop-elect Artur was born on June 22, 1975, in the village of Perechyn, in the Transcarpathian Oblast of Soviet Ukraine, in what was then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This region is the site of the Eparchy of Mukachevo, the oldest Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholic eparchy. Due to the oppression of our Church under communist rule, he was secretly baptized at home by the Byzantine Catholic priest Andrey Gleba on July 7, 1975. He speaks his native Ruthenian language as well as English, German, Latvian, Russian, and Ukrainian.

In June 1994, he graduated from the Vinogradov Polytechnical College, and then entered the Seminary of Blessed Theodore Romzha in August of that year. The Eparchy sent him to Austria where he learned English at the Language Catechetical Institute in 1995, and in 1996 he entered the International Theological Institute for studies on Marriage and Family for the Master of Theology. He graduated from the Seminary in 1998 and in December he was ordained to the order of Subdiaconate by Bishop Ioann Semediy. He had entered the Licentiate program at the same institute and graduated from there with his License in Theology in 2001. He then worked for the Diocese of Liepaja in Latvia until 2005.

Bishop-elect Artur worked for the Eparchy of Mukachevo, serving as the Project Secretary with Bishop Milan Šašik, CM, 2006-2013. In addition, to his work at the chancery of the Eparchy of Mukachevo, he served as a teacher of English at the Seminary, and in 2006-2011 he served as the main cantor at his home parish of Saint Nicholas in Perechyn.

In 2013, he made the decision to apply to come to America as a missionary for the Byzantine Catholic Church, and worked in the Eparchy of Phoenix from September 2013 to March 2014 as a Subdeacon and parish office assistant at St Stephen Cathedral in Phoenix. In 2014 Bishop Gerald Dino ordained Bishop-elect Artur on March 9 to the Order of Diaconate and on September 14 to the Order of Priesthood; both ordinations were celebrated at St Stephen's Cathedral. Bishop Gerald assigned him as the Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Albuquerque, starting on January 9, 2015.

In addition to his pastoral work, the bishop-elect has served on these commissions:

• the Intereparchial Commission of Youth and Young Adults (May 2018);
• Vocation's Board (January 2023);
• Eparchial Pension Committee (May 2023);
• Intereparchial Commission on Sacred Liturgy (Sept 2023).

Besides his priestly ministry, Bishop-elect Artur enjoys the sports of downhill skiing and Mountain Biking along with camping.

Statement From Bishop Kurt Burnette - Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy of Phoenix

Statement From Reverend Artur Bubnevych - Bishop Elect Eparchy of Phoenix

Consecrated 5th Bishop of Passaic December 4th, 2013

May God grant him many blessed years!