Myanmar elects Stephen Than Myint Oo as Primate and Bishop of Rangoon

Episcopal Life Org - News Service
January 22, 2008

The Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma) elected Stephen Than Myint Oo as its Primate and Bishop of Rangoon out of a field of five nominees on January 15 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Yangon, Myanmar.

Myint, 50, has served as Bishop of Hpa'an since 2005. He will be consecrated and enthroned as Bishop of Rangoon and Myanmar's sixth Anglican Primate on February 17 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Yangon.

From 1993-2004, Myint served Holy Cross Theological College in Yangon as a librarian, lecturer, and dean of Studies. He has also served as an assistant priest and priest-in-charge of two Myanmar churches. He received his M.Th from Trinity Theological College in Singapore, where he continues his study for a D.Th.

Myint is married to Nan Myint Yi and they have three sons: Sa Sai Naw Aye, Sa Sai Luker and Michael Wyne Myat San.

According to colonial church tradition held within the Constitution of Myanmar's Anglican Church, the Bishop of Rangoon simultaneously serves as the Archbishop of the Province. There are six dioceses in the province: Rangoon, which is the former seat of the national government, Hpa'an, Toungoo, Mandalay, Myitkyina, and Sittwe.

Anglican chaplains and missionaries worked in Burma in the early and mid-nineteenth century. The Province of Myanmar was formed in 1970, nine years after the declaration of Buddhism as the state religion and four years after all foreign missionaries were forced to leave.