Bishop Erik Varden

Erik Varden (Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO), born in 1974, is from Degernes in Østfold. He was received into full communion with the Catholic Church by Dom Markus Bernt Eidsvig (now Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Oslo) at Klosterneuburg in June 1993. Varden holds a doctorate in Church History from St. John's College, Cambridge. He undertook studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome starting in October 2009, obtaining a Licentiate in June 2011 with the thesis *The Ascesis of Compassion in the Vita Hypatii of Callinicos*. 20 April 2002: Entered Mount Saint Bernard Abbey; received the monastic habit on 15 October of the same year. 1 October 2004: Professed temporary vows. 6 October 2007: Professed solemn vows. 9 September 2010: Ordained deacon at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, England, by Malcolm McMahon OP, Bishop of Nottingham. 16 July 2011: Ordained priest at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, England, by Bishop McMahon. 16 April 2015: Elected Abbot of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey. 1 October 2019: Appointed Bishop-Prelate of Trondheim by Pope Francis. 3 October 2020: Ordained Bishop of Trondheim. 4 October 2020: Celebrated his first pontifical Mass at St. Olav’s Cathedral, Trondheim (see photo gallery). 31 August 2023: Appointed Apostolic Administrator (*sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis*) of the Diocese of Tromsø. 7 May 2026: Honorary Doctorate in Theology from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore.