His Grace Stefan (Timtchenko) of Patara was born on December 22, 1898, in the village of Murafa, Kharkov Province, Russia. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the army. After having emigrated, he first worked in the mines in Bulgaria, but from 1922, he studied in the Faculty of Law at the Karlsuniversity in Prague. Five years later, he completed his studies, and in the same year, 1927, he began his studies at the St. Sergius Orthodox Institute in Paris. In 1931, he was ordaine deacon (celibate) in the Trinity Church at Chalette-Montargis by Metropolitan Evlogii, and a week later in the Church of St. Sergius in Paris, he was ordained a priest by His Eminence Evlogii. He was first rector in Belfort (France), but after a couple years, he was sent to Antwerp (Belgium) to found the Orthodox parish. After the death of Archpriest Peter Rumjantzeff, he was sent to Stockholm in February 1936 to become rector of the Transfiguration Church. In 1967, he organized the 350th anniversary celebration of the Stockholm parish. On May 5, 1972, Archbishop Georges (Tarasoff) ordained the mitre-bearing Protopresbyter Stefan Timtchenko as Archimandrite, and - after having been elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, he was consecrated on May 7 "Bishop of Patara" in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris. Since then he was one of the assistant bishops of the late Archbishop Georges of Syracuse. Bishop Stefan died in his quarters in Stockholm on January 29, 1979, and is buried in the Orthodox cemetery of Stockholm.
His successor as "Bishop of Patara" : His Grace Bishop Irenaios (Vassiliou) of Patara (1980-present).