His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of the Greek Orthodox Church passes away in the Lord

Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece died on January 28, 2008, at the age of 70 after a serious and prolonged illness. A three-day mourning has been announced in Greece. Farewell to the deceased Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church will be bidden in the Athens cathedral for three days. The time and place of his burial will be announced later.

His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos (Paraskevaidis) was born in 1939 in Xanthi, northern Greece. He was a graduate of the legal and theological departments of Athens University and Doctor of Theology. In 1961 he was ordained deacon and in 1965 presbyter. During ten years he served as preacher and spiritual director of the Church of the Dormition in Palio Phaliro, Athens. For seven years he served as general secretary of the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church. In 1974 he was elected Metropolitan of Dimitrias. He participated on many occasions in various conferences both in Greece and other countries. He is the author of many books and articles in periodicals. He was elected head of the Greek Orthodox Church in 1998. The primatial ministry of His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos became in many ways the starting point for a new epoch in the life of the Greek Orthodox Church, a time of her more dynamic presence in the modern world. The work of the Holy Synod was raised to a new level. Many synodal committees were reformed and new ones were set up. The Church has become an active participant in social diakonia. The Primate of the Greek Church founded Solidarity, a non-governmental organization, which has given a good account of itself as a large-scale charity for victims of various disasters including that in Beslan.

DECR Communication Service

• Moscow Patriarchate delegation to attend the funeral of the Greek Orthodox Church leader
• Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church condoles over the demise of His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece
• Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad condoles over the demise of the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church
• His Beatitude Archbishop Christodoulos of the Greek Orthodox Church passes away in the Lord