Our leadership
Guided by faith and vision
The Institute is shaped by its spiritual heritage and led by those committed to education, encounter, and unity between East and West.
Patron saint
Saint Charbel Makhlouf
Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828–1898) was a Lebanese Maronite Catholic monk and priest whose life of prayer, fasting, and solitude made him one of the most beloved saints of the Eastern Christian tradition. He lived as a hermit for the last twenty-three years of his life, and his intercession has been associated with many healings.
Saint Charbel is venerated by both Eastern and Western Christians and stands as a witness to the holiness that flourishes in the Eastern tradition. He is the patron saint of the Institute.
"He who prays is like a person who has wings."
— Saint Charbel Makhlouf
Founding vision
Josyf Cardinal Slipyj
Cardinal Josyf Slipyj (1892–1984) was the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who endured eighteen years of imprisonment in Soviet labor camps for his faith. Released in 1963 through the intervention of Pope John XXIII, he spent the remainder of his life in Rome.
Our church understands its founding mission through Cardinal Slipyj's vision of bringing Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox Christians closer together — a vision of unity rooted in suffering, prayer, and hope.
"Eighteen years of imprisonment could not extinguish the flame of faith or the vision of a united Christian East."
Cardinal Josyf Slipyj — Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II & Cardinal Slipyj.
Archbishop Metropolitan
Archbishop Metropolitan +Amvrosij
Founder, Institute for Eastern Christian Studies
Archbishop Metropolitan +Amvrosij is the founder of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies. His vision gave birth to the Institute's mission of forming Roman Catholic priests in the treasures of the Eastern Christian tradition, in service of the unity for which Christ prayed.
Archbishop Metropolitan +Amvrosij was consecrated at Santa Sofia in Rome, the historic Ukrainian Catholic church near the Vatican. His consecration connects the Institute's ministry to the heart of the Eastern Catholic tradition in the West.
His ministry reflects the Institute's commitment to the living tradition of Eastern Christianity and its aspiration for deeper unity among Christians.
Archbishop Metropolitan +Amvrosij, founder of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies. Cardinal Slipyj consecrated Archbishop +Amvrosij as Co-adjutor of the jurisdiction at St. Sophia Church in Rome, Italy in 1976.
Chancellor
Bishop +Joel Cycenas
Joel Cycenas was ordained a deacon by Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger, at the Basilica of St. Peter in October of 1999. After completing his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the Angelicum), he returned to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and was ordained a priest in May of 2000 by Archbishop Harry J. Flynn.
After serving in the Archdiocese as pastor, associate pastor, chaplain to a high school, and various other assignments, Joel asked to leave ministry to pursue marriage, which was granted to him, and he remains in good standing with the Church. Joel is now married with two children and lives in St. Paul, MN.
Bishop Joel's marriage and family are part of the life he brings to pastoral service in our independent jurisdiction. Our jurisdiction has received his ministry as a married man. We value the daily responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood as a perspective that can deepen pastoral attention to children, families, and people seeking a stable spiritual home.
In 2019 His Beatitude met Joel and validated him as a Byzantine Catholic married priest with bi-ritual faculties, giving him the privilege to offer both the Roman Rite and Eastern Rite liturgies. In 2021 Father Cycenas was elevated to Archpriest. Then, in January of 2024, His Beatitude Metropolitan Archbishop +Amvrosij consecrated Father Cycenas to the episcopate, elevating him to the rank of Bishop, with Bishop +Edward Joseph serving as co-consecrator.
Bishop +Cycenas serves as Vicar General for The Greek Catholic Church and Chancellor of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies. The Institute's main purpose is to help East and West unite by assisting, behind the scenes, the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Archbishop Metropolitan +Amvrosij and Bishop Joel Cycenas at the consecration