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Antony (Scharba) of Hierapolis

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==Life==
His Eminence Metropolitan Antony John Scharba was born John Scharba on [[January 30]], 1947, to John and Dorothy Scharba, the eldest of five siblings. He was [[baptism|baptized]] on [[March 23]], 1947, in St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Parish, Sharon, Pennsylvania. He received his elementary and secondary education in the Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, school system and his religious education in St. John Parish. Young John began receiving a call to the holy [[priest]]hood at a very young age and was involved in the youth and young adult groups in his parish, but upon his graduation from high school, he decided to test his "call" by enrolling in Pennsylvania's Edinboro State University to prepare for a worldly career as a foreign journalist. After two years our Lord made it abundantly clear to him that he was on the wrong path and led him to [[St. Andrew's College (Winnipeg, Manitoba)|St. Andrew College-Seminary]] in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada—the only Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary existing in the free world at the time. He simultaneously enrolled at the University of Manitoba, the campus of which is the location of St. Andrew Seminary. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and then in 1971 completed his studies at St. Andrew Seminary receiving a Bachelor of Divinity—the equivalent of today's Master of Divinity in most seminaries. He remained in Winnipeg, having accepted an offer to become the Dean of Residence for St. Andrew College—a residence for both theology students and Orthodox and some non-Orthodox students of the University of Manitoba.
He received his elementary and secondary education in the Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, school system and his religious education in St. John Parish. Young John began receiving a call to the holy [[priest]]hood at a very young age and was involved in the youth and young adult groups in his parish, but upon his graduation from high school, he decided to test his "call" by enrolling in Pennsylvania's Edinboro State University to prepare for a worldly career as a foreign journalist. After two years our Lord made it abundantly clear to him that he was on the wrong path and led him to [[St. Andrew's College (Winnipeg, Manitoba)|St. Andrew College-Seminary]] in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada—the only Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary existing in the free world at the time. He simultaneously enrolled at the University of Manitoba, the campus of which is the location of St. Andrew Seminary. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and then in 1971 completed his studies at St. Andrew Seminary receiving a Bachelor of Divinity—the equivalent of today's Master of Divinity in most seminaries. He remained in Winnipeg, having accepted an offer to become the Dean of Residence for St. Andrew College—a residence for both theology students and Orthodox and some non-Orthodox students of the University of Manitoba. John was ordained to the holy [[deacon|diaconate]] on [[October 1]], 1972, by then Bishop [[Constantine (Buggan) of Irinoupolis|Constantine]] at St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, Parma, Ohio, and then to the holy priesthood on November 26, 1972, again by Bishop Constantine, in his home parish of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Sharon, PA.  He was assigned to his first parish, St. Vladimir UOC, Ambridge, Pennsylvania, in December of 1972 and remained there for four years. Fr. John was then transferred to St. Michael Ukrainian Orthodox Parish, Hammond, Indiana, where he served for the next nine years. He was very much involved with the youth of his parishes and within the Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolia. He served as Spiritual Advisor for the Ukrainian Orthodox camping program at Camp Kon-O-Kwee in western Pennsylvania. He also served for ten years as the Spiritual Advisor of the Jr. Ukrainian Orthodox League of the USA and for ten years as Chairman of the Sr. Ukrainian Orthodox League's Clergy Candidate Commission, which administered the Metropolitan John (Theodorovich ) Scholarship Fund in support of the Church's seminarians.
During his pastorate at St. Michael Parish, Hammond, Fr. John continued his education in the Graduate School of Theology at Loyola University, Chicago, and at Purdue University in Indiana in the Graduate School of Educational Counseling, both of which enhance his pastoral ministry in very particular ways, providing insight into comparative theology and the very secular educational system of our nation, which has served him well in his parish and seminary education responsibilities.
At the regular Church [[Sobor]] of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in 1981, Fr. John was elected as a bishop of the Church.  In 1982 he was [[tonsure]]d as a [[monastic]], and in 1985 with the monastic name Antony (after St. Anthony the Great, whose feast day falls exactly on the Bishop's birthday) and he was then elevated to the rank of [[Archimandrite]] in May of 1983. He remained serving as pastor of his parish until October 6, 1985, when he was [[consecrate]]d as Bishop at St. Andrew Memorial Church at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's Metropolia Center in South Bound Brook, New Jersey. He was immediately assigned as Rector and Administrator of [[St. Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Theological Seminary (South Bound Brook, New Jersey)|St. Sophia Seminary]] where he served through 1989. In addition to this he assumed the Editorship of the English edition of the Ukrainian Orthodox ''Word'', the official publication of the Church, and later accepted the editorship of the finally combined Ukrainian/English publication, which exists today.
Bishop Antony was asked and agreed to fill a void in the life of the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Eparchy of Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand|Ukrainian Orthodox Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand]] in 1989 and served as Bishop there in addition to his responsibilities to his Church in the USA. He served in this capacity through 1997 when another hierarch from Europe was assigned to relieve him of this enormous responsibility. During his service in Australia, he was able to diligently progress toward and accomplish the unification of the two Ukrainian Orthodox dioceses that existed for decades into a single church. During these difficult years of constant travel, Bishop Antony was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by the Council of Bishops of the UOC of USA.

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