Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow & All Russia
Name's Day: May 11/24 (Biography)
Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York
Name's Day: Feb 3/16 (Biography)
His Grace Bishop Spyridon -
Bishop of Chicago and the Midwest
Name's Day: Dec 12/25
Biography of His Grace Bishop Spyridon
Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago & Mid-America
Bishop Spyridon was born Sergey Valentinovich Gusakov on May 25, 1959, in the city of Kropotkin, Krasnodar Region, Russia, into a military family. He was baptized in July 1959 with the name Sergiy in Kropotkino.
From 1966 to 1975, he studied at Secondary School No. 25 in the village of Loza, Sergiev Posad District, Moscow Region. From childhood, he attended services at St. Sergius/Holy Trinity Lavra. In 1975, he enrolled in Rostov Maritime College, graduating in 1979, and subsequently worked until 1988 at the Northern Shipping Company in Arkhangelsk in various command positions. In 1985, he married Tatyana Alexandrovna Lashchenyk and began living in Zaporizhiye (they divorced in 2012). In 1988, he entered Zaporizhiye State University, graduating in 1993, and worked until 2001 in the administration of the Zaporizhiye Ship Repair and Shipbuilding Plant.
On September 7, 2001, he immigrated to Canada. For several years, his first church in Canada was Holy Trinity Church (Canadian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) in Vancouver. After moving to Canada, he began to consider leaving worldly affairs behind to grow in spiritual life. A meeting in 2006 at Holy Trinity Lavra with Archimandrite Naum (Baiborodin), who became his spiritual mentor and blessed him on the path of monasticism and priesthood, had a significant influence on him.
Since 2008, he regularly attended services and served in the altar of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Montreal. From 2009, he regularly visited the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY. In November 2010, he was ordained as a reader and subdeacon. In 2012, he entered the Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, graduating in 2016.
On November 20, 2016, he was ordained to the rank of deacon, and in December of the same year, he was tonsured a monk. His service as a hierodeacon took place at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Montreal, where he assisted Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada during pastoral visits to the parishes of the Canadian diocese.
On August 26, 2018, he was ordained to the rank of hieromonk and assigned as rector of the Church of St. John, Archbishop of Shanghai, Wonderworker of San Francisco, in Calgary, Alberta. In January 2020, he was awarded the right to wear a nabedrenik. On April 8, 2022, he was tonsured into the Lesser Schema with the name Spyridon, in honor of St. Spyridon, Bishop of Trimythous. On June 15, 2024, he was awarded the right to wear a gold pectoral cross by the Synod of Bishops of ROCOR.
At the Calgary parish, Fr. Spyridon conducted regular catechism classes, established a parish school for children, maintained the full daily cycle of services, and organized regular pilgrimage trips to holy sites in Russia, Italy, Greece, and Mount Athos.
On December 11, 2025, he was nominated Bishop of Toronto, Vicar of the Canadian Diocese. On Sunday, February 8, 2026, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. On Thursday, February 12, 2026, on the Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs, his episcopal ordination as Bishop of Toronto, Vicar of the Canadian Diocese, was performed at the Holy Trinity Monastery.
On May 4, 2026 the Council of Bishops appointed Bishop Spyridon as Ruling Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago & Mid-America.
Our Departed Hierarch - His Eminence Archbishop Peter, of Blessed Memory
His Eminence Archbishop Peter of Chicago and Mid-America of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia reposed in the Lord on November 8, 2024.
His Eminence Archbishop Daniel of Chicago and the Midwest expresses his condolences to His Eminence Metropolitan Nikolai, First Hierarch of the Church Abroad, Archpriest Gregory Joyce, Secretary of the Mid-American Diocese, and all of the clergy, monastics, and faithful of Mid-American Diocese.
In a memo to diocesan clergy, the Archbishop reflected on the good relationship that the Diocese of the Midwest shared with the reposed hierarch, “Vladyka Peter has been a constant friend and supporter to me, to my predecessors and to our diocesan clergy. I ask that he be remembered in your prayers, both privately and liturgically.”
A memorial service was held at the Diocesan Cathedral, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Chicago, IL, shortly after the news was received.
May the Lord grant His servant, the newly-reposed Archbishop Peter, rest with the saints in the Kingdom of Heaven and memory eternal!
