New Primate and Archbishop of the Church of Myanmar, enthroned 17 Feb 2008

The Most Revd Stephen Than with Archbishop John Chew and other leaders from Southeast Asia

The Rt. Rev. Stephen Myint Oo Than, Bishop of Hpa’an, was enthroned on Febuary 17, 2008 to be the 6th Primate and Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Myanmar and the 13th Bishop of the Diocese of Yangon.

Many visitors from other Anglican Provinces were present. Amongst them were Bishop Michael Scott-Joynt (Winchester, UK, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury) and Archbishop John Chew (Southeast Asia).

He was elected from amongst a field of five candidates at a meeting of General Synod on Jan 15 2008 at Holy Trinity Cathedral. Elected Bishop of Hpa’an in 2005, Bishop Than was educated at Trinity Theological College in Singapore and served as a parish priest before taking up the post of lecturer, then dean of Holy Cross Theological College in Rangoon in 1993. As Archbishop of Rangoon, he will serve as Primate of the Province and metropolitan of the Church’s five other dioceses: Hpa’an, Toungoo, Mandalay, Myitkyina, and Sittwe.

In his message during the Enthronement Service, he said “… I am fully convinced that it is God’s Will and His Providence for me to be elected as the 6th Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Myanmar and the 13th Diocesan Bishop of Yangon. That is why, I will seek God’s will and purpose first rather than my individual concepts, vision, and personal feeling in accomplishing His mission (or) goal that is set before me. For that I will obey Him and go forward without turning to the right or to the left. At this point, we may need to ask some questions: such as, what is God’s ultimate goal and purpose for the whole creation?  And how will we serve to accomplish this goal?  In other words, how are going to accomplish God’s purpose in this modern world which is so complicated? What will be our norms and basic source for us to follow? There are many human reasons, traditions, practices and experiences which have been changed throughout the human history but the only thing that has not changed is the Word of God which is the Bible and its truth. For that reason, for me and my family, for me and my co-workers, we will choose the Bible to answer the above questions. By this choice, we can’t do as we like but to fulfill God’s will and His purpose…”

Archbishop Stephen also mentioned that “… Among many other things, there is one important thing that our Province needs to do and that is to become self-supporting. If we can’t support ourselves how can we support others?  We need to realise that the God who is blessing others can also bless us if we will wait upon Him …” Archbishop Stephen highlighted to his Province that “… for more than 200 years, we have failed to proclaim it (Good News) to all our brothers and sisters in our country. This reason is because we Christian are living like aliens among other brothers and sisters in our land …” He therefore encouraged his Province like their forefathers through FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. “… to make more effort for proclaiming the Good News so that others will really understand the Good News … “

Global South Anglican News