Florida native Archbishop Nikitas (Loulias) has been officially enthroned as the new Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.
Nikitas’ enthronement took place on July 27 — the feast day of St. Panteleimon — at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Divine Wisdom (St. Sophia) in London, where he was welcomed by hierarchs, clergy, archons faithful and ecumenical guests.
The ceremony was attended by Metropolitan Emmanuel of France as a representative for Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with hierarchs from all over the world present.
Nikitas is succeeding Archbishop Gregorios, who retired due to advanced age, and is taking over a large diocese with more than 100 churches and monasteries in England, Scotland, Wales, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
The new archbishop has served in numerous capacities in the Orthodox Church worldwide, including his role as director of the Athenagoras Patriarchal Institute of Orthodox Theology in Berkeley, California.
In 1996, he was appointed Metropolitan of Hong Kong, a Metropolis that was created by the Ecumenical Patriachate a year earlier to help expand the Orthodox presence in Asia.
Nikitas’ enthronement completes what many in Church circles were calling the “shake up” of the three A’s, which in the Greek language refer to England (Αγγλία), America and Australia. In each region, new archbishops have been appointed unanimously by the synod of bishops at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
In Australia, Metropolitan Makarios was welcomed as the new Archbishop in June. That same month, Metropilitan Elpidophoros was enthroned Archbishop of America in New York City.
The three Greek Orthodox leaders now form part of a new, global wave of hierarchs who are vehemently loyal to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. In each of their large and powerful regions, the predecessors were advanced in age and the Metropolises or archdioceses were stagnant or mired in controversy — as was the case in the United States.
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