Greek Orthodox parishes across Philadelphia, its suburbs, South Jersey, and Delaware have a new metropolitan following the election of Athenagoras of Nazianzos to lead the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey.
The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected Athenagoras on Thursday, October 1, from a three-person slate submitted by the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The Patriarchate’s official communiqué says the election took place at the Phanar, where Athenagoras then completed the traditional Small Message.
Despite its name, the Metropolis extends well beyond New Jersey. Its 55 parishes include communities across Greater Philadelphia, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia as well as New Jersey.
Athenagoras will be enthroned on Saturday, November 7, at 11 a.m. at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. John the Theologian in Tenafly, according to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He is scheduled to celebrate his first Divine Liturgy there as Metropolitan the following morning.
On October 2, he delivered the Great Message at the Patriarchal Church of St. George at the Phanar, the formal declaration that follows a metropolitan’s election.
The New Jersey seat became vacant in July when Metropolitan Apostolos was elected Archbishop of Canada. Archbishop Elpidophoros of America was appointed locum tenens while the Archdiocese began the process of selecting a successor.
On September 12, the Holy Eparchial Synod met in Boston and selected Athenagoras, Bishop Anthony of Synada, and Archimandrite Bartholomew Mercado for the required three-person slate. Each received five votes in the secret ballot. The slate was then sent to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy and Sacred Synod for the final election.
Athenagoras, whose secular name is Christos Ziliaskopoulos, was born in Reutlingen, Germany, in 1970 and grew up in Germany and Greece. He spent part of his early adulthood in monastic life on Mount Athos before beginning more than two decades of parish and administrative service in Germany.
He moved to Toronto in 2017, where he served as dean of the Patriarchal Toronto Orthodox Theological Academy, and came to the United States in 2019 to serve at Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate elected him Bishop of Nazianzos in May 2021. Since then, his roles within the Archdiocese have included chief secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod, director of the Department of Religious Education, spiritual adviser to the National Philoptochos Society, and Archiepiscopal Vicar of the Hellenic Orthodox Community of Astoria. He holds a doctorate in theology from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
His November 7 enthronement in Tenafly will mark the formal beginning of his tenure as Metropolitan of New Jersey.