Filling a void in one of the largest communities of Greek Orthodox Christians following the death of Archbishop Stylianos, the synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has elected Metropolitan Makarios of Christoupolis as the new Archbishop of Australia.
Makarios Griniezakis was born in Heraklion, Crete. He completed his early education in Crete and in the Athens Rizarios Ecclesiastical School (1987-1990). He graduated from the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens and from the University of Athens, School of Theology.
He pursued graduate studies in the field of Christian Ethics at Boston University, School of Theology, where he earned the degree, Master of Sacred Theology (STM).
He also earned a Master of Arts (MA) in the area of History of Science from Harvard University, School of Arts and Sciences. He also gained the degree Master of Bioethics from Monash University, School of Arts and Sciences. He has also attended courses in philosophy at University of Leuven School of Philosophy.
His doctoral dissertation was received and passed with an “Excellent” score from the Medical School of the University of Crete. The work was published under the title, Cloning: Social, Ethical and Theological Components.
He was tonsured a monk and was ordained deacon on October 18, 1993; he was ordained a priest on June 25, 1997; and received the title of “Archimandrite” on April 23, 1998 at the Monastery of Saint George Epanosifis by Archbishop Timothy Crete. On Easter Sunday of 2008, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew elevated him to the rank of “Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne” at the Phanar in Istanbul.
He served as deacon at the Holy Cathedral of St. Minas in Heraklion (1994-1997) and as the pastor of the parish of St Nicholas in Haraso (1997-1999) and of the historic community of St. George in Southbridge, MA (1999-2002). He was Director of the Radio Station of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete (2002-2011).
He has also served as a member of the Synodal Committee of the Church of Crete on Bioethics and Contemporary Issues (2005-2014); Chairman of the Executive Committee of the School of Byzantine Music of the Archdiocese of Crete (2006-2010); Chairman of the Office of the Ecclesiastical Education (2007-2014); and the Official Preacher of the Archdiocese of Crete (2002-present).
In March of 2011 he was appointed First Director of the newly established Press Office of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete, and the Webmaster of the local Church’s website.
His primary academic interests include bioethics and pastoral theology. He founded the publishing series Pantodapa tis bioithikis (Everything on Bioethics), which is under the auspices of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Since 2003 he has been teaching at the Higher Ecclesiastical Academy of Heraklion and has occasionally taught courses at various universities, including Hellenic College (Brookline, MA, 2000), the Medical Schools of the University of Crete (2002-2014), Thessaly (2007-2014) and Athens (2009-2014). He has also lectured at the Theological Seminar of the Autonomous Church of Estonia (2010-2014).
He was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan in 2015 by the synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
2 comments
Bioethics in his bio suggests we get Nate
His Eminence has obviously been to Australia in the past, having studied at Manash, the third largest university in the sub-continent after those of Sidney and Melbourne. No stranger to the Church “Down Under” and with academic credits and pastoral experience in his background, Metropolitan Makarios may be an appropriate successor to Archbishop Stelianos of blessed memory. Hopefully, the distance between Australia and the Phanar will allow him to be his own man, if such a thing is possible in the existing Eparchial mode of governance fostered by the Patriarchate.