Seraphim, Archbishop

▪ 1999

      Greek religious leader (b. Aug. 15, 1913, Artesianon, Greece—d. April 10, 1998, Athens, Greece), served as the head of the Orthodox Church in Greece from 1974. Conservative and anti-intellectual, he had a common touch that brought him great popularity. After receiving a degree in theology from the University of Athens in 1941, Seraphim was ordained a priest in 1942 and became active in the Greek resistance to the Nazi occupation. He established soup kitchens and orphanages and later fought with the Greek Democratic National Army resistance group. Seraphim became bishop of Arta in 1949 and of Ioannina in 1958. In the latter post he took up the cause of the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania, whose religious practices were being suppressed by the government. He also supported guerrillas fighting for the union of Cyprus with Greece in the 1950s. Even though Seraphim was chosen archbishop in a controversial election during the final months of the military dictatorship in Greece, he was able to keep his post when democracy was restored. In the years that followed, he clashed with government leaders in his attempt to resist changes in society brought about by a lessening of the church's influence. Though his efforts were generally futile, he achieved a notable victory in the mid-1980s when he helped prevent the government from expropriating church landholdings. Seraphim's last years were marked by his opposition to Roman Catholic missionary activities in Eastern Europe and to other Orthodox leaders and by his resistance to his bishops' requests for his resignation.

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