His Eminence, the Most Reverend Saba Isper, is the Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East and the Holy Synod of Antioch elected His Eminence to lead the Archdiocese during its extraordinary session on Feb. 23, 2023, in Balamand, Lebanon.

His Eminence will lead and oversee the Archdiocese's parishes, missions, departments, institutions and organizations in the United States and Canada from the headquarters in Englewood, New Jersey. The auxiliary bishops aid him in his administration across the continent.

For more information on Metropolitan SABA and his writings, see his page on the Antiochian Archdiocese website.

Bishop Anthony was born Richard Anthony Michaels on the feast day of St. Anthony the Great (January 17, 1956) to parents Anthony and Gertrude Michaels and was baptized at St. Symeon the Stylite (also St. Simon the Zealot is commemorated) Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Ironwood, Mich. Rick was raised with his sister, Joanne, and brother, Craig. The Orthodox church in Ironwood is pan-Orthodox and thus included all ethnic Orthodox communities in the city. Bishop Anthony's father is Lebanese and his mother is Serbian. As a teenager he was active in all varsity athletics at Ironwood High School, including his role as the starting quarterback of his football team.

Bishop Anthony attended the University of Michigan, where he received his B.A. in Literature, Science and the Arts, earning a double major in History and English Literature. Following his university degree, he attended St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., where he earned a Master of Divinity degree and graduated as Valedictorian of his class. Besides English, he has a reading knowledge of biblical Greek and continues to learn Arabic, at the request of His Eminence Metropolitan Philip of blessed memory.

His Grace taught modern philosophy at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood, Mich., before becoming a pastoral assistant and youth director at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Montreal, Quebec for two years. He and fellow seminarian Fr. Patrick Kinder of blessed memory held positions of youth coordinators at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Akron, Ohio, while they toured the country giving concerts and retreats as part of the musical group KERYGMA. Fr. Anthony also spent two years based in Nashville, Tenn. at St. Ignatius Antiochian Orthodox Church in Franklin, recording for KERYGMA with Fr. Patrick and Fr. Michael (Alan) Shanbour. He lectured extensively in North America, speaking to youth groups and church retreats for various jurisdictions besides his own.

His Grace was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on September 18, 2004. The next day he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood on September 19, 2004 at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in West St. Paul, Minn., under the pastorate of the Very Rev. John Khoury of blessed memory, and by the laying on of hands of Bishop Antoun. He was able to serve his home parish for seven months before being assigned to lead the faithful of St. John Chrysostom Church in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Bishop Anthony inspired and oversaw the design and construction of the new church facilities at St. John Chrysostom Church in Fort Wayne. On the sixth anniversary of his ordination to the Holy Priesthood, he had the great honor of hosting Metropolitan Philip for the consecration of the new church on September 19, 2010, at which time he was elevated to the dignity of Archimandrite by the laying on of hands of the Metropolitan. He was subsequently appointed dean of the Indiana Deanery by Metropolitan Philip. 

On Sunday, December 11, 2011, Bishop Anthony was consecrated as Auxiliary of the Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest for the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. The consecration took place at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, Balamand, Lebanon. After over twelve years of faithful ministry overseeing the Diocese of Toledo, His Eminence Metropolitan Saba announced on June 10, 2024 that Bishop Anthony had accepted a new assignment to serve as the Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles and the West, beginning August 1, 2024.

His Grace has done numerous lectures and retreats across the country. He is frequently asked to speak to clergy, laity and leadership in our Archdiocese as well as many other Orthodox jurisdictions. Favorite topics include: How Christian thought became secular thought, how we went from thinking about God to no God, dealing with today's culture as it affects our parish families, cultivating an understanding of our faith in today's world, pastoral skills for future priests, having an antenna rather than an agenda, and social skills for lonely times. Understanding the needs of today's clergy and their families is of great importance to him. He is currently in the process of writing: Between Utopia and Despair: A Study of the West and the Advance of the Secular World View. 

Nabil Lotfy Ragheb Hanna was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1960. He emigrated to the United States, with his parents and two sisters, in 1968. He was then raised in Portland, Oregon, and attended schools there. He was graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland with a degree in chemistry in 1981 and worked as an engineer for the Intel Corporation for the next five years.

In 1986, Nabil began theological studies at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York. He was ordained to the diaconate on January 29, 1989, and served as deacon at St. George Church in Little Falls, New Jersey. He completed his masters’ degree (M.Div.) at St. Vladimir’s and was graduated in May, 1989. His emphasis was on Scripture and biblical languages, and his thesis was entitled, “Exegesis of John 9.1-38: The Healing of the Man Born Blind.”

Upon graduation Dn. Nabil was assigned as Assistant Pastor for St. Luke’s Church in Garden Grove, California, where he was ordained as a presbyter by Archbishop Philip on July 30, 1989. Fr. Nabil then served as pastor of St. John of Damascus Church in Dedham, Massachusetts, and of St. George Cathedral in Toledo, Ohio, before beginning his pastorate of St. George Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, in August of 1995. He was honored with the dignity of protopresbyter in September of 1999.

Fr. Nabil led the many wonderful members of St. George—who shared the vision and worked and sacrificed for it to become a reality—in the construction of and relocation to a new church temple in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers in 2013. The new church building features a traditional Byzantine architecture, with a large central dome and iconography that conveys the understanding that “Christ is in our midst.”

After completing twenty-five years in Indiana, Fr. Nabil was assigned by Metropolitan Joseph to serve as Dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Los Angeles, California, in August, 2020.

In July, 1987, he married Elaine Gounaris, who also holds an M.Div. as a graduate from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and who has served the Church in various national and parochial capacities. She has researched the role of deaconesses in the early Church, with its implications on the role of women in the Church today and she participated in the International Orthodox consultations on the role women in Rhodes (1988) and Crete (1990). Kh. Elaine has written articles, led retreats, given lectures and taught various classes. She has also worked on the reading and writing sections of various standardized exams for elementary, middle and high school levels, including college entrance exams.

Fr. Nabil and Kh. Elaine have three grown children, Anastasia, Basil and Gregory.

The Rev. Fr. Paul Olson who serves in our Spanish Ministry spent his early years in an Evangelical Protestant Church in downtown Los Angeles. Later his family moved to Orange County where he spent his youth mostly at another large Evangelical Church in Santa Ana where he and his wife Laurie met and were married. From there he and his wife Kh. Laurie were sent as missionaries to Colombia for 4 years. There he learned to read and write Spanish fluently as well as to teach and preach publicly. After 5 years in inner-city ministry with Cambodians and Hispanics, they and their three daughters became Orthodox at St. Barnabas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Costa Mesa where he served as head chanter for over 10 years. In 2003, he began the St. Stephen’s course and came to St. Nicholas to do his directed projects with the Spanish ministry here. After a short time, Fr. Paul and Kh. Laurie felt so at home at St. Nicholas that they moved their membership and began attending both the Spanish as well as the English and Arabic Liturgies while teaching a Bible Study and Sunday School class in Spanish between the services. They continue to do this until the present. Fr. Paul dedicated himself to God’s service from a very early age as had Kh. Laurie, earliest as short term missionaries, even before they married. Later, Fr. Paul ministered as a musician and later as a missionary, teacher, preacher and leader of an extension Bible institute.
After 13 years, he began the St. Stephen’s course, still feeling unworthy and uncertain that ordination was a possibility. Through the leadership of Fr. Michel Najim under then-Bishop JOSEPH, he was brought soon into the sub-deaconate and 3 years later to the deaconate and 2 years after that into the priesthood. A priest since 2008, Fr. Paul is grateful to God for this priesthood and offers thanks daily to God for the privilege to serve Him and His Church in this way. Fr. Paul is the father of three beautiful daughters all married in the Orthodox Church to pious Orthodox men raising their 5 grandchildren (with one on the way at this writing) in the Church. His daughters are active chanters and choir members in their respective parishes.