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HIS EXCELLENCY MOST REV. DR. PHILIPOS MAR STEPHANOS
Bishop of the Eparchy of St Mary, Queen of Peace, USA & Canada
Most Rev. Philipos Mar Stephanos, was born on 9 May 1952 hails from Karimpinamkuzhy, Ranni, Kerala, India in the Archieparchy of Tiruvalla. His parents are Philip and Mariamma. After High School education in Ranni he joined the Infant Mary Minor Seminary of Tiruvalla. He studied at Papal Seminary Pune and completed a bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Theology at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth Pune. He was ordained priest for the then Eparchy of Tiruvalla on 27 April 1979 by Most Rev. Isaac Mar Yoohanon. He also completed his Masters Degree in Theology from Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth Pune. After a few years of pastoral experience he did his Doctorate in Moral Theology at the Academia Alfonsiana Rome. Besides his ministry as Parish Priest, he served the Eparchy of Tiruvalla as the Rector of the Minor Seminary, Director of the Malankara Catholic Youth Movement and Associate Administrator and later Director of Pushpagiri Hospital. He also served the Archieparchy of Tiruvalla as its Administrator when the See was vacant in the year 2003. From 2003 to 2006 he was the Protosyncellus of the Eparchy. Fr. Stephen Thottathil who was the Rector of the St. Mary’s Malankara Seminary during years 2000-03 is presently serving the same seminary as the Dean of the Faculty of Theology. Besides Malayalam and English he knows Italian, German and Syriac.
He was appointed the Auxillary Bishop of the Archieparchy of Tiruvalla on 25 January 2010. He was ordained Auxillary bishop on 13 March 2010. He was appointed as the Bishop of the Eparchy of St. Mary, Queen of Peace, USA-Canada on 28 October 2017.