Theophylactos Papathanasopoulos

Last updated February 28, 2019

Metropolitan Theophylactos (born Vasileios Papathanasopoulos 1891-1958) was a Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is the Australian archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church, part of the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity. The archdiocese is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As of 2015, there were over 120 parishes and eight monasteries in the four diocesan districts of the archdiocese.

Biography

Papathanasopoulos was born on the feast of St Basil on 1 January 1891 and was baptised Vasileios (Basil). He was born and raised at Pyrgos, Greece, son of Demetrios Papathanasopoulos and his wife Kaliopi. He studied theology at the Theological School of Halki and began his novitiate at the monastery of Stavronikita, Mount Athos, Greece. He made his vows as a monk on 2 December 1917 and took the name Theophylactos and then was ordained priest. After graduating from the theological faculty of University of Athens, he taught at the Rizareios Ecclesiastical School.

Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country located in Southern and Southeast Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2016. Athens is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki.

Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in northeastern Greece and an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism. It is governed as an autonomous polity within the Greek Republic. Mount Athos is home to 20 monasteries under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

In February 1928, following the dismissal of Metropolitan Christoforos Knitis, Father Papathanasopoulos was sent to Sydney as administrator until a new bishop arrived. He served as a parish priest for five years in Sydney and for fourteen in Melbourne until he was appointed the third Metropolitan of Australia and New Zealand on 22 April 1947.^[1] He was consecrated in Greece on 24 August and spent some time at the monastery of Stavronikita, Mount Athos. He proceeded to his new post, reaching Perth on 19 April 1948. He was enthroned in Sydney on 13 June, in the presence of a congregation that included Greek, Russian and Syrian clergy.

Christoforos Knitis was a Greek priest and Greek Orthodox bishop in the Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand from 1924 to 1928.

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis.

His reign was cut short when he died on 2 August 1958 in the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, from injuries received in a car accident two days earlier.^[2]

His funeral service was presided over by Archbishop Athenagoras of Thyateira at the Cathedral of St Sophia, Darlinghurst, Sydney. He was buried at Botany Cemetery. To date, he is the only Greek Orthodox bishop to be buried in Australasia. Now rests in the Orthodox section of Rookwood Cemetery in an area for clergy, just behind the sanctuary of Saint Athanasius Chapel.^[3]

Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney.

Rookwood Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating cemetery from the Victorian era. It is close to Lidcombe railway station about 17 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

In February 1959, Ezekiel Tsoukalas of Nazianzos was elected the fourth Metropolitan of Australia and New Zealand.

Ezekiel Tsoukalas was a Greek priest and the first Archbishop of Australia in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.

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References

↑ Listing at the Orthodox Research Institute
↑ History of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia Archived 2014-09-27 at the Wayback Machine .
↑ Simmons, H. L. N. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 8 September 2016– via Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by Metropolitan Timotheos	Metropolitan of Australia and New Zealand 1947-1958	Succeeded by Metropolitan Ezekiel

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[1] Listing at the Orthodox Research Institute

[2] History of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia Archived 2014-09-27 at the Wayback Machine .

[3] Simmons, H. L. N. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 8 September 2016– via Australian Dictionary of Biography.