The proposal by the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, to nominate the Patriarchate’s Metropolitan of Bursa, His Eminence Elpidoforos, as the new Archbishop of America, has inaugurated a new chapter for the Mother Church’s large and very significant Greek Orthodox Eparchy (Archdiocese).
The Patriarch’s nomination was confirmed by vote by members of the Patriarchate’s Holy Synod on Saturday.
Elpidoforos, who also serves as the Abbot Archimandrite of the Holy Trinity Monastery on the Princes isle of Halki, has recorded an impressive career in ecclesiastical diplomacy for the venerable Patriarchate of Constantinople, achieving noteworthy achievements for the Patriarchate and Orthodoxy, ones often considered as impossible.
The monastery is affiliated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s School of Theology, as both are located on the same small but historic Marmara Sea island.
His Eminence Elpidoforos has overseen a recent initiative to publicize, on a global level, the standing problem of the Halki Theological School. The seminary continues to remain officially closed since 1971, as per a standing order by Turkish authorities.
Elpidoforos was instrumental, along with other Patriarchate hierarchs, in creating a vibrant brotherhood of younger priest-monks, while also attracting international personalities to the cause and essentially operating the seminary in an unofficial but substantive manner.
The new Archbishop of America was also at the forefront of efforts to repurchase Orthodox churches in Turkey – which had been appropriated after 1922 – and to receive a permit allowing for a Divine Liturgy and the blessing of the waters to take place in the Tirilye township, known for centuries as Triglia, on the southeast Marmara coastline of the Bursa province – the first time in 97 years that such an Orthodox service was held there.
The Orthodoxia Νews Αgency was in Triglia for the Divine Liturgy and the blessing of the waters service on Holy Epiphany (Jan. 6), with an interview by the new Archbishop of America found today on the former’s webpages.