The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected the Director of the Archbishop Iakovos Library and Learning Resource Center of the Hellenic College Holy Cross, Archimandrite Ioakeim Kotsonis, as Assistant Bishop to Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. The new hierarch will be the Bishop of Amissos.
The newly elected Bishop Ioakeim of Amissos was born in Athens on June 7, 1954. His father was the first cousin of the late Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Ieronymos Kotsonis, and Ioakeim Kotsonis was the first cousin of the late Metropolitan of Fthiotida, Nikolaos, who passed away recently.
He was awarded a BA from the University of Maryland in 1976, a Master of Divinity from the Hellenic College Holy Cross in 1979. He received his PhD in Byzantine Art History from the Pennsylvania State University in 1992.
He was ordained deacon on December 9, 1979, at St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Washington and then presbyter on December 23 of the same year at the Transfiguration of Christ Greek Orthodox Church in Corona, New York. He was ordained Archimandrite on May 16, 1998. He has been Director of the HCHC Library since 1997. He was a visiting professor at the Christ the Saviour Seminary in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1996-1997. He has been a priest at the Transformation Parish in Corona, New York, St. Spyridon Parish in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and Holy Trinity Parish in Altoona, PA. He specializes in religious iconography of Byzantine lead seals.
