Election of Auxiliary Bishop in the Autonomous Church of Estonia
On Monday, 9 December 2024, the Holy Synod of the Autonomous Orthodox Church of Estonia decided, in accordance with the needs of the Church and the canonical order, to elect as auxiliary Bishop of the Metropolis of Tallinn the hieromonk Damaskinos (Olkinuora), who will henceforth bear the title of Bishop of Haapsalu.
According to the synodal decision, His Grace Bishop-elect Damaskinos will be consecrated on 12 January 2025, during the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy to be celebrated in the Holy Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour in Pärnu.
Hieromonk Damaskinos Olkinuora was born in 1985. He holds a master’s degree in theology, philosophy and musicology and a doctorate in theology. He was ordained a monk in 2016 at the Xenophontos Monastery on Mount Athos and a priest in the same monastery in 2018. Father Damaskinos speaks ten languages (including Estonian and Russian) and also reads in six classical languages. Since 2015 he has been a lecturer in systematic and patristic theology at the University of Eastern Finland and since 2023 he has been an associate professor of patristics at the University of Helsinki.
