Monk Seraphim (born Kenneth William Storheim; 25 January 1946) is a defrocked

hierarch An ordinary (from Latin ''ordinarius'') is an officer of a church or civic authority who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute laws. Such officers are found in hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ...

for the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA is partly recognized as autocephalous and consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions i ...

. During 1990-2010 he served as head of the Archdiocese of Canada with the title Archbishop of Ottawa and Canada

Life

Kenneth William Storheim was born in

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of Norwegian and Scottish ancestry, and was raised as a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

. Receiving his undergraduate degree from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Ruth ...

, Storheim also studied at the

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and was ordained as an Anglican priest. He converted to

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonica ...

in 1978, taking the name of Saint

Seraphim of Sarov Seraphim of Sarov (russian: Серафим Саровский; – ), born Prókhor Isídorovich Moshnín (Mashnín) �ро́хор Иси́дорович Мошни́н (Машни́н) is one of the most renowned Russian saints and is vener ...

. He then attended St. Vladimir's Seminary in

Crestwood, New York Crestwood is a neighborhood in Yonkers, New York. Located in northeastern Yonkers, Crestwood is separated by the Bronx River from the village of Tuckahoe. Because the majority of Crestwood is served by the Tuckahoe post office, many residents id ...

, where he was ordained in 1981. Storheim lived at New Valamo Monastery in

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and spent several years serving as an OCA parish priest throughout Canada and

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. He was consecrated as auxiliary bishop of Edmonton in 1987, and became Bishop of the Diocese in 1990. He was elevated to the rank of archbishop at the 2007 meeting of the

Holy Synod In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod. For instance, the Holy Synod is a ruling body of the Georgian Orthod ...

. As secretary of the Holy Synod of the OCA, Storheim served in a number of administrative capacities for the Holy Synod, and also traveled extensively in

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, and Europe. On September 4, 2008, the Holy Synod of the OCA named Storheim the administrator of the Metropolitan's See, assisting the

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, Metropolitan Dmitri.

Sexual abuse and defrocking

On 5 October 2010, Seraphim Storheim stepped down for three months pending an investigation by Winnipeg police. The New York headquarters of the church issued a press release in October 2010 saying that Storheim was being investigated after a complaint of "misconduct" from about 25 years earlier was registered with the Manitoba police. It is also reported that Storheim had sent a letter of apology to the mother of the boys involved asking her what he might have done wrong. She had previously refused to take the several calls he made to her after she had claimed he had talked about "dirty stuff" with her boys. The trial evidence showed conclusively that Storheim had talked about puberty with one of her boys and a visiting teen from

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who had previously been studying under his guidance. During a special meeting called by Metropolitan Jonah Paffhausen on November 30, 2010, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America decided to suspend Archbishop Seraphim. This decision was reached after careful deliberations and in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Orthodox Church in America mandated in cases of allegations of sexual misconduct. A preliminary hearing was held on 17 November 2011 to determine whether there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial; Storheim pleaded not guilty. A court-ordered ban prevented specific details from being published. On 24 January 2014, Storheim was convicted of molesting only one of the boys. In July 2014, he was sentenced to eight months imprisonment. In passing sentence, Judge Christopher Mainella said, "The conduct of the accused was a deplorable and gross breach of trust. The sexual assault has caused permanent emotional trauma to the child who is now 40-years-old, who lives with the effect of the accused behaviour to this day and will live with that emotional trauma well after the expiry of the court's sentence." Just over a week later, Storheim's lawyer filed an appeal to the Manitoba Court of Appeal. Storheim was freed on bail while his appeal was heard. The appeal was rejected on 5 February 2015, whereupon he immediately began serving his prison sentence. Following his release from prison, members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America on October 19–23, 2015 canonically deposed the retired Archbishop Seraphim from the status and all sacred functions of the episcopacy, removed him from the ranks of the clergy, and returned him to the status of a lay monk. In its statement on the decision, the Synod said:

The Holy Synod made this decision with much sorrow, but with the conviction that it was a necessary action both for the salvation of the now Monk Seraphim and for the preservation of the good order and stability of the flock of Christ. At the same time, we offer our prayers for the victims, their families and all those who have been affected by the events surrounding this case.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Storheim, Seraphim 1946 births Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America Canadian people convicted of child sexual abuse Canadian people convicted of rape Canadian people of Norwegian descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian rapists Child sexual abuse scandals in Christianity Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Lutheranism Eastern Orthodox clergy convicted of crimes Living people Members of the clergy convicted of rape People from Edmonton Rape in Canada Violence against men in North America