LAST UPDATE: 13:00
The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected Metropolitan Emmanuel of France was elected Elder at the Metropolis of Chalcedon. In addition, Bishop Kyrillos of Abydos was elected Metropolitan of Krini and was appointed Patriarchal Exarch of the newly-established Exarchate of Malta.
Moreover, Metropolitan Athanasios of Chalcedon was removed from his position due to his contumacy and disrespectful behaviour towards the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Holy and Sacred Synod. He was also classified among the hierarchs who do not serve the Ecumenical Throne anymore as he is a former metropolitan.
In addition, Assistant Bishop Eirinaios, who has been serving at the Metropolis of France, was elected as temporary Patriarchal Vicar at the Metropolis of France.
It is recalled that Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was meeting today and the meeting would last from the 16th until the 18th of February 2021. The meeting is chaired by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and held at the katholikon of the Monastery of the Mother of God at the Spring in Balikli.
Metropolitan Emmanuel (Adamakis) of France was born in Agios Nikolaos, Crete on the 19th of December 1958, where he completed his studies. He studied at the Pedagogical Academy of Heraklion, Crete and completed his studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic Institute of Paris in parallel with his theological studies at the Theological Institute of Saint Sergius in Paris. In 1984, he was awarded a Master’s degree from the Ecumenical Institute of the Catholic University of Paris, and the following year a bachelor’s degree from the Sorbonne University (Paris IV) in History of Religions. He was ordained a Deacon and a presbyter in 1985.
In 1987 he received a Master’s degree from the School of Theology of the Holy Cross of Boston and assumed the duties of Protosyggelos of the Holy Diocese of Belgium, where he served as Head of the Parish of Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Brussels. For twenty years (1994-2014) he headed the Office of the Orthodox Church in the European Union.
On the 5th of September, 1996, he was unanimously elected Bishop of the Diocese of Regio by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, as Assistant Bishop of the Metropolitan of Belgium. On the 20th of January 2003, he was unanimously elected Metropolitan of France by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, while he was also assigned to represent the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Theological Dialogue of Orthodoxy with the Ancient Eastern Churches. He is the Chairman of the Board of the KAICIID Interfaith Foundation in Vienna, the Co-moderator of the International coalition Religions for Peace and the President of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). He participated in many ecumenical and scientific conferences.
The Bishop of Abydos, known as Evangelos Katerelos, was born in 1956 in Lamia. He studied Law, Classical Philology and Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He was then awarded a master’s degree from the University of Strasbourg. He holds a PhD in Theology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the University of Freiburg in Germany. He is a tenured Professor at the Theological School of the University of Athens.
In the period 2007-2009, he was President of the Department of Social Theology of the University of Athens. He was ordained a Deacon and an Elder by the Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolis and Preveza. He has served as a priest in the Metropolis of Nikopolis and Preveza, the Metropolis of Thebes and Levadia and the Metropolis of Germany. On the 7th of February 2008, the Holy Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate unanimously elected him Bishop of the Diocese of Abydos.
His ordination as a Bishop took place on the 24th of February 2008, at the Holy Patriarchal Church of Saint Georgios which was led by the Metropolitan of Nikopolis and Preveza. He is the author of many books and has published articles in the daily and church press. He was elected President of the Department of Social Theology and Religion of the Theological School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, on the 27th of July 2020.
