Background
Archbishop Stefan, whose secular name is Stojan Veljanovski (Стојан Вељановски), was born on May 1, 1955, in the village of Dobruševo, Mogila Municipality in southern Macedonia.
Archbishop Stefan, whose secular name is Stojan Veljanovski (Стојан Вељановски), was born on May 1, 1955, in the village of Dobruševo, Mogila Municipality in southern Macedonia.
In 1969, he enrolled in the Macedonian Orthodox Theological Seminary of Saint Clement of Ohrid in Dračevo, where he graduated in 1974.
The same year he went on to study at the University of Belgrade Theological Faculty, graduating in 1979. In 1980, he left for postgraduate studies at the Institute of Saint Nicholas in Bari, Italy, which specializes in ecumenical-patristic and Greco-Byzantine studies. In 1982, he received a master"s degree from this institute.
When he returned to Macedonia, Stefan became a lecturer at Skopje"s Saint Clement of Ohrid Theological Faculty.
He took his monastic vows at the Saint Naum monastery in Ohrid on July 3, 1986, and on July 12 he was named Metropolitan of Zletovo and Strumica. Shortly thereafter he was enthroned as Bishop of Bregalnica and Štip.
