Athens, February 2, 2023
Romfea
Hierarch and noted theologian Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon of the Patriarchate of Constantinople reposed in the Lord today, February 2.
According to Romfea, the 92-year-old hierarch was hospitalized in Athens for the last few days with COVID.
He served as a hierarch for the last 36 years of his life. He is perhaps best known for his work on ecclesiology, though his views aren’t without controversy.
May Met. John’s memory be eternal!
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Met. John was born in Katafygio, Kozani, Greece, on January 10, 1931.
He was a student of the noted Russian Orthodox theologian Fr. Georges Florovsky.
He studied theology at the universities in Thessaloniki and Athens. In 1965, he received a doctorate for his thesis on “The Unity of the Church in the Divine Eucharist and the Bishop During the First Three Centuries.”
He also received a Master of Theology from Harvard. He was a professor of dogmatic and systematic theology in Greece and at universities throughout Europe for many decades.
He was ordained to the diaconate on June 14, 1986, and to the priesthood the next day. And just a week later, he was elected Metropolitan of Pergamon by the Holy Synod of Constantinople.
On October 3, 2014, he was elevated to the rank of Elder Metropolitan.
In 1993, he was elected a member of the Academy of Athens, and in 2002 he served as its first cleric president.
He also represented Constantinople in the dialogue with the Catholics and to several international assemblies. He was also a member of the Central Committee and the Faith and Order Committee of the World Council of Churches.
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