Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos has been elected the new Metropolitan of New Jersey following a decision by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
With his election, Metropolitan-elect Athenagoras assumes pastoral responsibility for the Holy Metropolis of New Jersey, which falls under the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Who is the new Metropolitan
Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos (Christos Ziliaskopoulos) was born in 1970 in Reutlingen, Germany, and grew up in Greece and Germany. He spent his young adulthood on Mount Athos as a monastic and learned to live a life devoted to Christ and the Church. He was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in 1997 and the Holy Priesthood in 1998 by His Eminence Metropolitan Augoustinos of Germany. In 1999, he was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Patriarchate by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. On May 19, 2021 he was elected Bishop of Nazianzos by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as an Auxiliary Bishop to His All-Holiness. On June 5th, 2021 he was ordained to the Holy Archpriesthood by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.
For over twenty years, Bishop Athenagoras served as a parish priest starting at the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Germany with successive appointments. He was appointed as the Hierarchical Vicar of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis for two States in Germany. A member of the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for Ecumenical Theological dialogues. In Germany, he served as a member of the Ecumenical and Interfaith Councils, the founding chairperson of the Interfaith Council of Religions, and as a chairperson for one of the Assemblies for Orthodox Clergy. He was a frequent speaker at universities, public schools, interfaith groups, cultural associations to discuss Orthodox life and spirituality.
Bishop Athenagoras established the first Orthodox Chapel in the international Frankfurt Airport and a 24-hour Orthodox crisis hotline. Founder of the first Greek Orthodox youth camp in Germany. Spearheaded a 15th-century church building’s archeological renovation, built a church and community center from the ground up, and other needed initiatives.
In 2017, Bishop Athenagoras relocated to Toronto, Canada at the invitation of His Eminence Sotirios Archbishop of Canada to serve as Dean of the Patriarchal Theological Academy of Toronto and Office Director for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada. In 2019, he transferred to the United States of America, at the request of His Eminence Elpidophoros Archbishop of America, to offer his ministry to the Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2021, Bishop Athenagoras was appointed Chief Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and as the Spiritual Advisor to the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society of America.
Bishop Athenagoras holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Theology, a Masters of Theology, and a PhD in Theology from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He also took classes in Pedagogics, German Literature, Roman Catholic and Protestant Theology, Judaism, Islamic Studies and Comparative Religious Studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Fluent in modern and ancient Greek, German, and English, proficient in Turkish and has a basic understanding of Latin, French, and Koranic Arabic.
With info from goarch.org
