Archimandrite Tikhon [Mollard] consecrated to Episcopacy
His Beatitude, Metropolitan HERMAN presided at the consecration of Archimandrite Tikhon [Mollard] to the episcopacy at Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk Monastery here on Saturday, February 14, 2004.
Archimandrite Tikhon was elected to the episcopacy by members of the Holy Synod of Bishops at their October 2003 session.
On the eve of the consecration Divine Liturgy, the canonical election of Archimandrite Tikhon as Bishop of South Canaan and Auxiliary to Metropolitan Herman was held in the monastery church of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk.
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Concelebrating with Metropolitan Herman at the consecration Liturgy were His Beatitude, Metropolitan Theodosius, retired Primate of the Orthodox Church in America; His Eminence, Archbishop Kyrill of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania; His Grace, Bishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada; His Grace, Bishop Nikon of Boston and the Albanian Orthodox Archdiocese; and His Grace, Bishop Dimitrios of Xanthos, Auxiliary to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Over 20 clergy from the OCA, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, and the Orthodox Church of Russia also concelebrated at the Liturgy.
Prior to the beginning of the consecration Liturgy, Protopresbyter Robert S. Kondratick, OCA Chancellor, and Archdeacon Alexei Klimitchev lead Bishop-elect Tikhon into the center of the church, where he made his profession of faith before the consecrating hierarchs. Following his consecration to the episcopacy, Bishop Tikhon ordained Deacon Justin Hewlett to the Holy Priesthood and Subdeacon David Mezynski to the Holy Diaconate.
Following the consecration Liturgy a banquet was held at Saint Tikhon Seminary, during which Bishop Tikhon was presented with a number of gifts from the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful.
Bishop Tikhon was born in Boston, MA on July 15, 1966, the son of Francois and Elizabeth Mollard. After brief periods living in Connecticut, France, and Missouri, he and his family settled in Reading, PA, where he graduated from Wyomissing High School in 1984. In 1988 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Sociology from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, after which he moved to Chicago.
In 1989 he was received into the Orthodox Church from the Episcopalian Church and, in the fall of the same year, he began studies at Saint Tikhon Seminary. The following year he entered the monastic community at Saint Tikhon Monastery as a novice.
After receiving his Master of Divinity degree from Saint Tikhon Seminary in 1993, he was appointed instructor in Old Testament at the seminary. He subsequently served as Senior Lecturer in Old Testament and taught Master level courses in the Prophets and the Psalms and Wisdom Literature. He also served as an instructor in the seminary’s Extension Studies program, offering courses in the lives of the Old Testament saints, the liturgical use of the Old Testament, and the Old Testament in patristic literature.
Archimandrite Tikhon collaborated with Igumen Alexander (Golitzin) in the publication of “The Living Witness of the Holy Mountain,” published by Saint Tikhon Seminary Press, by illustrating this classic book about Mount Athos.
In 1995 he was tonsured to the Lesser Schema by His Eminence, Archbishop Herman, and given the name Tikhon, in honor of Saint Tikhon, Enlightener of North America and Patriarch of Moscow. Later that year he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate and Holy Priesthood at Saint Tikhon Monastery. In 1998 he was elevated to the rank of Igumen, and in 2000 to the rank of Archimandrite.
In December 2002, he was appointed by Metropolitan Herman to serve as Deputy Abbot of Saint Tikhon Monastery.