Bishop Ihor Rantsya

Bishop Ihor Rantsya was born on 8 March 1978 in Opilsko, in the Lviv region, Ukraine, into a Greek-Catholic family. From 1995 to 2003, he studied at the Ivan-Franko National University of Lviv, where he obtained the degree of Candidate of Geographical Sciences and taught for five years. From 2008 to 2014, he studied at the Holy Spirit Seminary in Lviv and at the Ukrainian Catholic University, where he obtained a canonical bachelor's degree in theology in 2013.

In February 2014, at the invitation of Bishop Borys Gudziak, then Eparch of Paris, he moved to Paris to pursue his theological studies and serve in pastoral ministry. He was ordained a priest in Paris on 29 March 2015 by Bishop Ihor Vozniak, Metropolitan of Lviv.

He was a vicar of the Cathedral of St Volodymyr the Great (2015–2019), a pastor of the new All Saints parish in Vincennes (2017–2019), the president of the Ecumenical Commission (2018–2021), an administrator of the cathedral (2019–2022), and then protosyncellus of the Eparchy of St Volodymyr the Great from 2022. At the same time, he obtained in 2018 a canonical license in ecumenical theology at the Catholic Institute of Paris, where he is pursuing a doctorate in ecclesiology.

On 1 October 2025, on the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, Pope Leo XIV approved his election by the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church as Bishop of the Eparchy of St Volodymyr the Great of Paris. His episcopal ordination and enthronement took place on 18 December 2025.