HTOS Faculty Member Consecrated as Bishop of San Francisco and the West for the Orthodox Church in America

On Saturday, August 16, 2025, His Beatitude, The Most Blessed TIKHON, Archbishop of Washington and Metropolitan of All America and Canada, presided over the episcopal consecration of Bishop VASILY (Permiakov) to serve as the new ruling Bishop of San Francisco and the West for the Orthodox Church in America. The Divine Liturgy and Ordination were celebrated at San Francisco’s historic Holy Trinity Cathedral. His Grace Bishop JAMES of Sonora, the vicar bishop of the Diocese of Western America of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia was the only non-OCA hierarch to participate in the event.

At the banquet following the consecration, Bishop JAMES conveyed greetings on behalf of Archbishop Kyrill of Western America and San Francisco (ROCOR). Representing Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary, Protodeacon Andrei Psarev, Professor of Russian Church History and Canon Law and Director of Undergraduate Studies, read the following address from the seminary’s Rector, Bishop LUKE of Syracuse:

“Your Grace, Bishop Vasily,

You have with all humility answered the call of the Lord to serve him with fear and trembling.

May the mission entrusted to us by the Lord to save souls be ever before your eyes and may it always be the one and only one, despite all the distractions the Devil may place in your path.

Let us remember and keep in our hearts the words of the great hierarch and guide in pastorship, Metropolitan Anthony Krapovitsky, ‘Do not tell me my clergy are good administrators, I want to hear that they are men of prayer.’

With love in Christ,

Bishop LUKE of Syracuse

Abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery”

From 2011 to 2020, before his episcopal election, Bishop VASILY (nee Dr. Vitaly Permiakov) served on our faculty of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, NY (ROCOR). Residing in the precincts of Holy Trinity Monastery, he taught courses in liturgical theology, dogmatics, comparative theology, apologetics, and the New Testament. He also served on the Curriculum Committee, assisted in the preparation and approval of the seminary statute, and contributed to the establishment, accreditation, and launch of the seminary’s M.Div. program.

During this time, he prepared a bilingual (English–Slavonic) edition of the Divine Liturgy of St. James and co-edited liturgical volumes in English for the Orthodox Church in America, including the Small Book of Needs (2012) and the Hieratikon (vol. 1, 2014; vol. 2, 2017, 2020).

In 2020, Dr. Permiakov accepted a faculty appointment as Assistant Professor of Liturgical Theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, his alma mater.

Over the past several years, under the guidance of His Beatitude, the Most Blessed Metropolitan TIKHON and His Eminence, the Most Rev. BENJAMIN, former Archbishop of San Francisco and the West, he became well known to the Diocese of the West through retreats, parish visitations, and meetings with clergy and faithful. With Archbishop BENJAMIN’s impending retirement, the Diocesan Council, with his blessing, began a process of discernment. In April 2025, the Council unanimously encouraged the nomination of then-Archimandrite Vasily.

On July 16, 2025, a special nominating assembly convened in Phoenix, Arizona, and formally nominated him for consideration by the Holy Synod. That same evening, the Holy Synod of Bishops, under the presidency of Metropolitan TIKHON, elected him Bishop of San Francisco and the West.

Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary's community rejoices in the consecration of Bishop Vasily, who continues to hold close ties to the institution. This fall, he has rejoined the seminary's faculty as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Liturgics, Sacred Arts, and Music. His Grace will teach Liturgical Theology (remotely), thereby continuing to contribute to the life of the seminary and the formation of its students.

For more information and photos of His Grace's nomination and episcopal consecration, whichj took place on Friday-Saturday, Auguse 15-16 visit the OCA's website: Episcopal Ordination of Bishop Vasily as Bishop of San Francisco and the West