A New Book written by Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea on the Apostolic Church of Laodicea
A new book written by His Eminence Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea, Director of the Representative Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Athens, was released recently, which refers to the ancient Church of Laodicea and its historical aspects.
The book is dedicated, by Metropolitan Theodoritos, “to the holy memory of the late Metropolitans Dorotheos of Laodicea, who became Metropolitan of Princes’ Islands and Maximos and Iakovos of Laodicea, who later became Metropolitans of Princess Islands.
His Eminence Metropolitan Theodoritos Polyzogopoulos of Laodicea was born in Athens in 1948. He studied Theology and literature at the University of Athens. He was ordained a deacon on 9 September 1972 by His Eminence Metropolitan Georgios Pavlidis of Nicaea, and a Presbyter on 17 September 1972, by His Eminence Archbishop Athenagoras of Thyateira and Great Britain.
He served for 21 years as Professor of Philosophy and Christian Ethics at the College of Athens. In 1979 he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Manchester. On March 18, 2000, he was ordained, in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George at the Phanar, titular Bishop of Nazianzos, Assistant Bishop of the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.
The ordination was performed by the Late Archbishop Grigorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, who was joined also by the Metropolitans, Iakovos of Laodicea and Dimitrios of Sevasteias. For ten years, Metropolitan Theodoritos was the Dean of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom of God in London. In 2009, for health reasons, he settled in Athens where he continued his ministry as Hierarch of the Ecumenical Throne. On August 29, 2018, he was elected titular acting honorary Metropolitan of Laodicea. On February 11, 2022, he was appointed Director of the Representation Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Athens.
We recall, on this occasion, two literary works of Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea: “Patriarchs and Hierarchs of the Ecumenical throne in the 20th century” and “The path towards Theosis – The contribution of Saint Diadochos of Photiki to Orthodox Spirituality”.
The book “The Path towards Theosis” (Publications of the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, 2021), is the Greek translation of His Eminence’s doctoral thesis submitted to the Department of Classical Studies of the University of Manchester, which is a systematic study of the ascetic-mystical experience, as experienced by Saint Diadochos of Photiki, a distinguished ecclesiastical man of the 5th century. It is an ascetic form that left its indelible stamp on the Orthodox ascetic tradition.
The study “Patriarchs and Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne in the 20th Century” (Eptalofos, 2021) was edited by Metropolitan Theodoritos of Laodicea with portraits, photographs and short biographies of twelve Patriarchs of Constantinople, from Constantine V to the late Patriarch Dimitrios, and one hundred and seven Hierarchs of the throne, who played a leading role in the historical course of the Great Church of Christ in the past twentieth century. Almost all of them were graduates of the famous Theological School of Halki, which, from the academic year 1844 to 1971, was the spiritual nurturer of all these eminent Hierarchs.
These emblematic personalities were distinguished for the sanctity of their lives, for their excellent education, for their brilliant ministry and, finally, many of them, for their martyrdom, during the period of the Bulgarian aggression in Macedonia and during the Asia Minor catastrophe. Many of them now belong to the choir of Saints and as Ethnomartyrs of our Church. The choice of these eminent Hierarchs does not mean that the other Hierarchs did not minister faithfully to the Church.
Source: fosfanariou.gr
