Pittsburgh, November 10, 2020
Photo: romfea.gr
Metropolitan Maximos, who led the Greek Archdiocese’s Metropolis of Pittsburgh from 1979 until his retirement in 2011, reposed in the Lord on November 2, at the age of 85.
On Saturday, November 7, the funeral for Met. Maximos was served at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Pittsburgh by Abp. Elpidophoros, Met. Savas, the current Greek hierarch of Pittsburgh, Abp. Melchizedek of Pittsburgh of the Orthodox Church in America, and Bp. Thomas of Oakland, Charleston, and the Mid-Atlantic of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, reports Romfea.
Met. Maximos’ body was received at the cathedral the afternoon before, where hundreds of Orthodox faithful came to bid farewell and give their last kiss to their former hierarch. A Trisagion was also served for the repose of his soul on Friday evening.
During the funeral service on Saturday, Met. Savas read a message from Abp. Demetrios, the former primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, followed by a message from Abp. Elpidophoros.
Met. Maximos was born on the Greek island of Chios in the family of a priest, the Archbishop recalled. He later moved to Istanbul and studied and taught at the Patriarchate’s Halki Seminary, together with Patriarchs and Metropolitans of Constantinople. He then continued his studies abroad, according to the wish of the Patriarch and his own elder Metropolitan Maximos of Stavroupolis, Abp. Elpidophoros continued.
Then he came to America, where he served for many years in Pittsburgh and as a teacher at Holy Cross Seminary in Boston, “giving the most beautiful lessons, which everyone remembers,” mainly for his devotion, kindness, love, and attention to all people, more than for his words.
And when it was time for him to step down from the Pittsburgh cathedra, he was not ashamed and did not hesitate to do so, the Archbishop noted, and his successor, Met. Savas, took care of him like his own father.
Met. Maximos’ life teaches that no matter what we do or how high we rise, nothing can be truly achieved without the blessing of our parents and of our hierarchs and fathers in Christ, Abp. Elpidophoros reflected.
“May your memory be eternal at the throne of the Lord, the true altar, where you will now officiate together with the holy angels and archangels. Please remember all of us here who take you as our example, and grant us your blessing and your prayers,” the Archbishop concluded.
Last month, Metropolitan Theodosius, the retired primate of the Orthodox Church in America, was laid to rest at the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City, north of Pittsburgh.
