The Right Reverend Andrei, Hoarste, PhD, Vicar Bishop

His Grace, Bishop Andrei (Hoarște) was born in 1982 in the city of Făgăraș, Brașov, Romania into an Orthodox Christian family.  The education received from his parents and his grandparents played a significant role in encouraging his love for God and the Church.  At the age of 14, in September 1996, he began studies at the “Holy Brâncoveanu Martyrs” High School Theological Seminary in Făgăraș, Romania.  However, just one year into his studies, in June 1997, his family decided to move and to begin a new life in the United States.

In September 2004, with the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Nathaniel, he entered Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts to continue his theological studies that had been interrupted seven years prior.  While at Holy Cross, in addition to educational studies and spiritual formation, he was appointed as Ecclesiarch of the Holy Cross Chapel, worked in the office of the Dean of Students as Events Coordinator and Student Liaison with the faculty, was elected Class President, and was actively involved in the organization of retreats, conferences and projects for helping the needy.  In 2006, he was blessed with the experience of participating in an OCMC mission trip to the African nation of Tanzania, where he assisted in providing catechetical instruction for young Orthodox faithful of the diocese of Bukoba.  He graduated from Holy Cross in May 2008, earning a Master of Divinity degree with highest distinction, ranking 2nd in his graduating class.  He remained at the school for further studies until December 2008.

On October 13, 2019, he received the monastic tonsure at the hand of Archbishop Nathaniel, under the mantia of Archimandrite Joseph (Morris), Superior of St. Gregory Palamas Greek Orthodox Monastery in Perrysville, Ohio, and was given the name Andrei, after the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called and the Holy Hierarch Andrei (Șaguna), Metropolitan of Transylvania, both commemorated on November 30.

Then, in its session on Tuesday, November 12 the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America canonically elected Fr. Andrei as “Bishop of Cleveland, Auxiliary Bishop of The Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America” and elevated him to the rank of Archimandrite.

Archimandrite Andrei was ordained into the Holy Episcopacy on Saturday, February 1, 2020 at St. George Romanian Orthodox Cathedral in Detroit/Southfield, Michigan.