Juan Čobrda

Rev. Juan Čobrda was born in Príbovce, near Martin, Slovakia on the 11th of August 1930. After World War II his family emigrated to Argentina. He was ordained by the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina in 1958 and served as that church's bishop from 1966 to 1976.

Between years 1993 - 2002 served Rev. Juan Čobrda as bishop of the Slovak Zion Synod. He succeeded the Rev. Kenneth E. Zindle. In 1993 he was one of the last ELCA bishops to serve a four-year term. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) 1993 Churchwide Assembly extended the term of a bishop's service to six years. In 1997, on June 28, he was re-elected.[1] The election took place during the Slovak Zion Synod Assembly, June 27-29, at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania. He decided to resign on the 31st of August 2002, one year before the end of his second term.[2]

In the city of Rosario in 1960 he met his future wife Žofia. In 1975 he was forced to leave Argentina and returned back again in 1978.