Thomas (Joseph) of Charleston and Oakland

His Grace the Right Reverend Bishop Thomas (Joseph) of Oakland and the East is a diocesan bishop of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

Life

Of Arab-American extraction, Bp. Thomas hails originally from Paterson, New Jersey. Before his consecration in Damascus, Syria, to the episcopacy on December 5, 2004, Thomas served as a public school teacher and also as a youth minister and priest at parishes of the Antiochian Archdiocese in several locations, including St. Petersburg, Florida, and Houston, Texas.

Bp. Thomas was enthroned as Bishop of Oakland and the East at St. George Cathedral in Pittsburgh (Borough of Oakland), Pennsylvania, on May 6, 2005. His Grace's residence is at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, where he served as one of the original camp counselors in the late 1970's.

External links

• Diocese of Oakland and the East
• The Road From Damascus: A Report from the Delegation to Damascus to Consecrate Three New Bishops for North America (at which Bp. Thomas was consecrated), by Fr. John Oliver
• Bishop of Oakland, East to be enthroned tonight, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (May 6, 2005)
• Antiochian Orthodox bishop will be enthroned, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (April 15, 2005)