Leadership and Contributors
His Grace Chorbishop +Joel E. Cycenas
President and CEO
Chorbishop +Joel Cycenas was ordained by Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger) at the Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican to the order of deacon. Cycenas completed his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the Angelicum), Rome, Italy and his pastoral and priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College under the leadership of Timothy Cardinal Dolan. Cycenas was also the founding editor of the Pontifical North American College Magazine.
Chorbishop +Joel Cycenas was ordained as a priest in 2000 by his
Excellency Archbishop Harry J. Flynn. Some of the assignments in the Conciliar Church were associate pastor at St. Peters in Mendota; Chaplain at Cretin Derham; associate pastor at Epiphany Catholic Church; Pastor at Holy Spirit Catholic Church; board member at the Catholic Spirit; spiritual director for St. John Vianney Seminary; president for TEC; and parochial administrator for St. Joseph and St. Francis Catholic Churches. After serving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in these various different positions, Cycenas personally asked to come out of the Novus Ordo Conciliar Church and was laicized (2010) and in good standings. In 2015 Cycenas was married and now has two children.
In 2019 Cycenas was received into the Orthodox Greek Catholic Church established by Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj. This is the Orthodox Greek Catholic Metropolia Province of North and South America and dependencies. In 2021 on the feast day of St. Joseph, Father Cycenas was elevated to Archpriest and appointed as Vice Rector of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies. On the Feast Day of St. Andrew, November 30, 2022, Archpriest Cycenas was appointed as the Chancellor and Vicar General of the Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Archdiocese of North and South America.
Archpriest Cycenas was elevated to Chorbishop on the Feast Day of St. Michael in 2023 with valid ordination and consecration. He was appointed Rector of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies on the Feast Day of Mary Mother of God and St. Basil the Great on January 1, 2024. On the Feast of the Holy Protection of the Theotokos 2024, Chorbishop +Cycenas was elevated as President & CEO of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies.
His Grace Chorbishop +Michael E. Wiest
Academic Dean
Chorbishop +Michael E. Wiest was ordained by Archbishop Mario Perressin of L'aquila, Italy at the Basilica of St. Apollinare in Rome, Italy on December 8, 1997.
Chorbishop +Wiest has an extensive higher education background before entering the seminary including the University of Chicago, department of Classics, Medieval studies; Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management; and Yale Law School.
After further discernment, Michael Wiest entered the seminary in Rome, Italy and studied at the Pontifical Athenaeum of the Holy Cross. He earned his STB at the Pontifical Lateran University and also studied Canon Law.
In 2025 Father Wiest was received into the Orthodox Greek Catholic Church established by Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj. This is the Orthodox Greek Catholic Metropolia Province of North and South America and dependencies. Later in 2025, Father Wiest was then elevated to Chorbishop with valid ordination and consecration and appointed as Academic Dean of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies.
Chorbishop +Michael speaks nine languages fluently.