For the first time ever, Ukrainian becomes Patriarch's deacon in Constantinople

Andriy Krochak, Ukrainian by origin, was ordained as a deacon on November 30, 2018 in the Cathedral of St. George on the Phanar by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during the festive divine service in honor of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called. The patriarch gave a new name Iakovos to his Ukrainian deacon.

He will serve as a patriarchal deacon at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, said a RISU journalist.

Before November 29, upon completion of the work of the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with the blessing of Patriarch Bartholomew, the Permanent Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos, admitted Andriy Krochak to monastic vows.

Hierodeacon Iakovos (Andriy Krochak) was born on January 17, 1991, to a Ukrainian emigrant family in Saskatoon, Canada. His father Taras Krochak is an Orthodox priest who serves in the Canadian city of Calgary in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada under the Omophorion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Andriy Krochak studied theology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and completed postgraduate studies at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the field of Orthodox Theology at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy (Switzerland).

He holds a Ph.D. in theology and is fluent in four languages ​​- Ukrainian, English, Greek, and French. He is working on a doctoral dissertation on liturgical theology at the Paris Catholic Institute in France.

At the invitation of Patriarch Bartholomew, for a long time, he was bearing obedience and was an intern at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Phanar, where he currently lives. He is a spiritual son and disciple of the well-known orthodox theologian, Archbishop Job (Getcha) of Telmessos, who is also a Ukrainian from Canada.

He now has the name Jacob in honor of the Venerable Jacob Tsalikis of Evboia who came from a town near Telmessos in Asia Minor.

As reported, on November 29, the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate completed the work of the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, where the draft Charter of the unified autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine was approved.