Archbishop of Prešov
Jozef Jonáš Maxim was born in Levoča (Slovakia) on November 21, 1974. He received his formation at the Greek-Catholic Faculty of Theology in Prešov and was ordained a priest on July 11, 1998. After obtaining a Master’s degree in Theology (1998), he began his studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, where he earned a Licentiate degree (2000). From 2001 to 2004, he served as the spiritual director of the Prešov Seminary and, from 2002 to 2004, taught as an assistant in the Department of Systematic Theology at the University of Prešov. In 2004, he entered the novitiate of the Studite Lavra in Univ (Ukraine), and on May 22, 2008, he received the Lesser Schema. In 2008–2009, he served as an assistant in the Univ novitiate and subsequently as the superior of the Hermitage of Saint Andrew in Lužki. In 2010, he was appointed Novice Master, a role he held until his election as superior of the Saint Joseph Monastery in Lviv—a position he maintained until 2013. From 2013 to 2017, he completed his doctoral studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, writing a thesis on Studite monasticism. Upon returning to Ukraine, he served as superior of the Saint Michael Monastery in Lviv and as pastor of the local community. In 2020, he was elected Hegumen of the Univ Lavra. In addition to Slovak and Ukrainian, he speaks Italian, English, Russian, French, Polish, and German.