User:AbpSergius

Archbishop +Sergius was formerly a U.S. Marine officer, university professor, clinician, litigator, and transnational consultant, Sergius' conversion to the Christian faith took place after many years of agnosticism.

Upon receiving authorization to perform all the duties and exercise all the powers of the clergy from the Ordaining Council of the Community Baptist Seminary, he began a ministry in voluntary poverty to homeless persons and political refugees in the streets and shelters of the inner city of Washington, D.C. He was also a chaplain at the D.C. General Hospital and at the D.C. Jail.

Subsequently, he was a political and social activist in service of the Southeast Asian (principally Cambodian) refugee community at Providence, Rhode Island.

While involved in a variety of social activist movements in the Northeastern U.S., Sergius' efforts in ministry were noted by the Primate of The Ukrainian Orthodox Catholic Church in America. Consequently, Sergius was received as a spiritual son and, upon examination, was ordained to the priesthood in the Eastern Orthodox confession.

In 1992, Fr. Sergius+ was elevated to the sacerdotal rank of Archimandrite, and became the Archbishop's episcopal deputy in the Northwestern U.S. In 1993, the Primate was stricken with a catastrophic illness and, subsequently (on account of matters of church politics and prejudices), +Sergius voluntarily withdrew from the Archdiocese, while remaining in general communion with the Eastern Orthodox confession and while continuing to work across a broader ecumenical spectrum.

After relocation to the Northwest, +Sergius continued his social activist and peace movement activities via a chaplaincy among homeless persons, as a writer of books, essays, and pastoral letters, as a demonstrator against thermonuclear weapons proliferation and the misuse of atomic energy, as an advocate on behalf of victims of social injustice, as an environmental preservation advocate, and the like. His labors in ministry have earned recognition and support from various national religious leaders.

In 1995, +Sergius was consecrated as bishop (then, later, archbishop) of the Eastern Orthodox episcopate, having oversight of a transnational multi-ethnic archdiocese, spanning four nations. In 1998, he chose to live in semi-reclusion and is now resident at Holy Transfiguration Skete in the mountain-desert of Southwestern Idaho, U.S.A. However, his advocacy, writing, and teaching activities continue.

He was awarded a Ph.D. in Comparative Theology from International University and another in Community Development and Conservation, after receiving his first doctorate from Harvard University and the baccalaureate degree from Dartmouth College.

He was designated a Lehman Scholar at Harvard, a Rufus Choate Scholar at Dartmouth, and a Fellow of both the American Psychological and American Orthopsychiatric Associations, as well as (while serving to the rank of Captain, USMC) an Honor Graduate with Distinction at the United States Naval School of Justice.

+Sergius has also completed doctoral work in Oriental Medicine and is a Master Teacher (Shihan, 8th Dan) in Classical Bushido and The Oriental Breathform.

His written works have been published widely, under various pseudonyms and in several languages.

His principal email addresses are:

sergius@socialjusticealliance.org

dr_ajb@post.harvard.edu