The Right-Reverend Bishop Stefan (Sabelnik) of Trenton and North-America of the ROCOR

The Right-Reverend Bishop Stefan (Sabelnik) of Trenton and North-America was born in Germany on September 28, 1947, and is the youngest of three brothers.  His parents Paul and Agafiya were pious and faithful Christians of the Catacomb Church in the Ukraine during the Soviet persecutions during and before World War II.  In September of 1950, the Sabelnik family moved to the United States.  When the first opportunity arose, the father bought a plot of land for the family, and settled 8 kilometers away from Jordanville where Stefan spent his childhood.

 
            When Stefan Sabelnik was seven years old, he altar served with Archbishop Averky (Taushev) in the Holy Trinity Monastery at Jordanville.  In 1966, he graduated from high school and entered a five-year course at the Holy Trinity Seminary at Jordanville.  On April 27, 1967, he was tonsured a reader by Archbishop Averky.  On June 13, 1971 he graduated from seminary with a bachelor’s degree in divinity.

            Each summer for these five years, Stefan traveled to San-Francisco with his mentor, the iconographer Archimandrite Kyprian (Pyzhev), to help paint the Holy Virgin Cathedral, built by St. John (Maximovitch). 

            During the summer of 1971, he visited the holy Mount Athos and the Holy city of Jerusalem.

            On January 6, 1973, he was ordained a deacon at the Holy-Trinity Monastery by Bishop Laurus.  On June 23^rd, 1975 (on Pentecost Sunday), he was ordained to the priesthood. 

            On August 24, 1975, he was appointed by Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky) to be the prior of the Church of the Holy Assumption in Trenton, NJ (then, the Assumption parish was part of the Washington and Florida diocese).

Protopriest Stefan Sabelnik

            On September 3^rd, 1978, he was awarded the nabedrennik by the First-Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky).

             He raised four children.

             The parents of Fr. Stefan Родители о. reposed in the Lord in 1995 and are buried next to his older brother at the monastery cemetery in Jordanville. His other older brother, Father Vitaly Sabelnik, served at the Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco as a protodeacon for more than 30 years, and is now under the omophor of the Russian True-Orthodox (Catacomb) Church. 

            In 1988, on the day of the celebration of 1000 years of Christianity in Russia, Metropolitan Vitaly, the First-Hierarch of ROCOR, made Fr. Stefan Sabelnik a Protopriest in the Church of St. Vladimir.

            On the 30^th anniversary his ordination to the priesthood, Fr. Stefan was awarded a jeweled cross. 

Protopriest Stefan in the ROCOR Church of the Holy Assumption (in New Jersey, USA).

            During all this time, Fr. Stefan worked independently on manufacturing iconostases, etc. His most recent, large and very laborious work was the manufacture of the carved tomb for the relics of St. John of Shanghai, made in a very short time before the glorification of St. John in San Francisco on July 2, 1994.

Shortly Fr. Stefan discovered two damaged vertebrae discs in his lower back. С 1995 по 2000 годы он провёл в непрестанной боли. From 1995 to 2000 he had continuous pain. Four operations were performed on his back, and two them included a transfer of bones from the hip area, using screws, known as "spinal fusion."  Fr. Stefan’s condition was so deteriorated that he could neither walk nor serve. In May 2000 he went to see his brother in San Francisco in a wheelchair for further care and treatment. Привезли о. Brought into the Church in a wheelchair, Father Stefan attended liturgy at Holy Virgin Cathedral, and Fr. Stefan prayed and had his back anointed with oil from the lamp of the icon of St. John of Shanghai.  The next morning he awakened for the first time in five years without any pain. Through the intercession of the saint he recovered and in September returned to his parish in Trenton!

As a disciple of Archbishop Averky(Taushev), Protopriest Stefan Sabelnik always stood firmly in opposition against the members of the Synod of ROCOR(L) who were pro-union, who wished to begin talks with the treacherous ecumenical and Sergianist Patriarchate of Moscow. On March 18, 2007 Protopriest Stefan together with his parish flock came under temporary omophor of the Russian True-Orthodox Church. Several other clergy were earlier received by the Chairman of the Synod of Bishops of the RTOC, Archbishop Tikhon of Omsk and Siberia, and Fr. Stefan's brother, Protodeacon Vitaly Sabelnik also came under the omophor of the RTOC.

In Spring 2007, by a decree of the president of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian True-Orthodox Church, Archbishop Tikhon of Omsk and Siberia, the pastor of the ROCOR Church of the Holy Assumption in Trenton (New Jersey, USA), Protopriest Stefan Sabelnik was appointed dean of the Trenton Deanery of the ROCOR.

In December 2007, in accordance with the decision of the meeting of the ROCOR clergy and laity of North-America (United States and Canada), held on November 16^th, 2007 in the city of Trenton (New Jersey, USA), Hieromonk Stefan (Sabelnik), pastor of the Church of the Holy Assumption in Trenton, was consecrated to the episcopacy for the North-American Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. 

The consecration was held at the Church of the Cathedral of St. John of Kronstadt (in the city of Odessa) in the Odessa-Kharkov Eparchy of the Russian True-Orthodox Church, following the decision of the ROCOR clergy of North-America under the hierarchy of the Synod of the RTOC. 

            The consecration of Hieromonk Stefan was performed by the president of the Synod of the RTOC, Archbishop Tikhon of Omsk and Siberia, and by Bishop Germogen of Chernigov and Gomel.

In the evening of Sunday, December 17^th, in the presence of Archbishop Tikhon, the deputy of the synod Archbishop Veniamin, and Bishop Germogen, the establishment of Hieromonk Stefan to Bishop of Trenton took place, and in the morning of December 18^th was the consecration during the Divine Liturgy.  

            Clergy from the Eparchies of Odessa-Kharkov and Kuban and the Black Sea concelebrated.  At the Divine Liturgy, in addition to monastics and parishoners of Odessa, were guests from Kharkov, Chernigov, Donetsk, and representatives of the women’s Lesna Convent in France.  The consecration took place in the presence of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, which belongs to the Russian True-Orthodox Church.

As it was agreed during the meeting of the clergy and laity of ROCOR of North-America, the title for the first bishop to be ordained after the union of ROCOR (L) with the MP would be Bishop of Trenton and North-America of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

Most notably, the candidacy of Bp. Stefan for the episcopacy was first put forth by the First-Hierarch of ROCOR, Metropolitan St. Philaret (Voznesensky) as well as by Archbishop Anthony (Medvedev) of San-Francisco and was approved by the Synod of Bishops of ROCOR in 1985.