Very Rev. Chorepiscopus John Peter Meno

Second son to John Victor and Margaret Meno, Very Rev. John Peter Meno was born on Saturday, August 22, 1942 in Carlinville, Illinois. Coming from a Christian family very much attached to the Church. Father John served as an alter boy from the age of seven. His paternal grandmother had come to the United States from Mardin, Turkey in 1895. From an early age, Fr. John had felt the calling to serve the Church as a priest. Having finished his elementary schooling, he left for seminary in 1956 at the age of fourteen. In 1965, he graduated cum laude from St. Meinrad College of Liberal Arts, St. Meinrad, Indiana, with a Bachelor of Arts’ Degree in History. In 1966 he left to further his theological studies in Lebanon, where he met his wife, the former Miss Rolanda Abdallah Abyad, whom he married in Beirut on September 14, 1968. In 1969, he received his Master of Arts’ Degree in Middle Eastern history from the American University of Beirut. From 1969 to 1971, Fr. John continued his theological studies at the University of the Holy Spirit in Kaslik, Lebanon. In December of 1970, Fr. John was ordained to both rank of Chanter and that of Reader.

In April of 1971, Fr. John returned to the United States and was ordained Sub deacon and Deacon by His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Yacoub III, the late and blessed Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, at St. Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Cathedral in Hackensack, NJ. In 1972, he graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York City with a Master of Sacred Theology Degree in Church history and liturgics. The subject of his Master’s thesis was The Rite of Christian Burial in the Syrian Churches. On October 1, 1972, Fr. John was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by His Eminence Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, the late and beloved Primate of the Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the United States and Canada, at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Hackensack to assist the Very Reverends Abdelahad Sarkar and Albert Samuel, both of blessed memory. The same year, he was appointed the General Secretary of the North American Archdiocese. On June 18, 1975, the late Archbishop Samuel officially appointed Fr. John as the Dean of St. Mark’s Cathedral. May 16, 1982, a son, Peter James, was born to Fr. John and Rolanda Meno.

On Sunday, October 2, 1983, with the approval and blessings of His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syrian Orthodox Church, Fr. John was elevated to the rank of Chorepiscpus by His Eminence Archbishop Y. Samuel at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Hackensack. In 1989, he was appointed Co-Chairman of the official US Roman Catholic-Oriental Orthodox Consultation. Since 1973, he has also served as the Co-Secretary of the Standing Conference of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in America. In recognition of his many years of dedicated service to the North American Archdiocese, Fr. John was awarded the Golden Cross of the Archdiocese, on August 8, 1992 by his Eminence Archbishop Samuel.