Metropolitan Meliton ( Gr. Μητροπολίτης Μελίτων, in the world Hadzis Sotirios, Greek. Σωτήριος Χατζής; 1913 , Constantinople - December 27 1989 , Kadıköy , Istanbul ) - Bishop of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople , Metropolitan of Chalcedon . An active participant in the ecumenical movement, the author of the term "dialogue of love."
| Metropolitan Meliton | ||
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 Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon and Metropolitan Damascus of Switzerland at the pre-Council meeting in Chambesy in 1976 | ||
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| October 25, 1966 - December 27, 1989 | ||
| Predecessor | Thomas (Savvopoulos) | |
| Successor | Bartholomew (Archondis) | |
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| February 19, 1963 - October 25, 1966 | ||
| Predecessor | Genadiy (Arambadzoglus) | |
| Successor | Polievkt (Fininnis) | |
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| November 30, 1950 - February 19, 1963 | ||
| Predecessor | Jacob (Papapaisiu) | |
| Successor | Nikolay (Kutrumpis) | |
| Birth | ||
| Death | ||
Biography
He graduated from the French Lyceum in Constantinople. In 1934 he graduated from the Theological School on the island of Halki .
In 1934, Metropolitan Maxim of Chalcedon (Vapordzisom) was ordained deacon with the name of Melito, after which he served as archdeacon of the Metropolitan of Chalcedon .
In March 1938, the Patriarch Benjamin appointed him the junior secretary of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. At the same time he becomes a preacher of the Archdiocese of Constantinople.
In 1941, he was dismissed from the post of junior secretary of the Synod, and was ordained as a priest by the Metropolitan of Christopol Meletius and elevated to the rank of archimandrite .
Since 1947, occupies the position of the Great Protosinghel of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
On November 30, 1950, he was ordained bishop of Imvrsky and Tenedsky, elevated to the rank of Metropolitan .
Since 1956 - Member of the Exarchate on the Holy Mountain.
In 1958, a member of the patriarchal delegation to the Hellas Church.
After the death of the Archbishop of North and South America, Michael (Constantinides), most of the members of the Synod of Constantinople Patriarchate wanted to elect Metropolitan Meliton (Hadzis) to the widow office, but Patriarch Athenagoras and Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis insisted on the candidature of Metropolitan Melitsky Jacob ( Cucuesus Crisis Recession ) and Greek Prime Minister Kostas Crismanis insisted on the candidacy of Metropolitan Melitsky Jacob ( Cucuesus Crisis ) . After 7 members of the Holy Synod of the 12 spoke against his candidacy, they were removed from the Synod. As a result, on February 14, 1959, Metropolitan Jacob was elected to the American department by a synod consisting of 5 members [2] .
September 24 to October 1, 1961 - Member of the Patriarchal delegation at the First Pan-Orthodox Conference on the Island of Rhodes [3] .
November 19 - December 5, 1961 participated in the 3rd Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in New Delhi and was elected a member of the Central Committee of the WCC.
From February 19, 1963 - Metropolitan of Iliopol and Firsky .
July 11–26, 1963, participated in the work of the IV World Conference “ Faith and Church Organization ” in Montreal [4] .
September 26-29, 1963 - Chairman of the Second Pan-Orthodox Conference on the Island of Rhodes [3] .
From 1 to 15 November 1964 - Chairman of the Third Pan-Orthodox Conference on the Island of Rhodes [3] .
In 1965, he presented the relevant decisions of the 3rd Pan-Orthodox Conference to Cardinal Augustin Bea , Chairman of the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Archbishop of Utrecht Andreas Rinkel .
In July of the same year, he met with Pope Paul VI in connection with the decision of the Second Vatican Council to abolish the anathema of 1054 between Rome and Constantinople.
In February — March 1966, he was a guest of the Moscow Patriarchate, “convinced of the vitality of the Russian Orthodox Church” [5] .
On October 25, 1966, he was elected Metropolitan of Chalcedon , which was a recognition of his achievements - the Department of Chalcedon was first in honor in the Church of Constantinople after Patriarchal
8–15 June 1968 [6] chaired the IV Pan-Orthodox Conference in Chambesy , a suburb of Geneva .
After the death of Patriarch Athenagoras in 1972, he was considered his possible successor, but the Turkish authorities removed his name from the list of candidates for the Patriarchal throne, along with the names of some other hierarchs.
On November 21—28, 1976, he participated in the First Pre-Council Pan-Orthodox Conference.
On June 19, 1977 he headed the delegation of the Constantinople Orthodox Church on the enthronement of the Patriarch Romanian Justin [7] .
From 3 to 12 September 1982, he participated in the Second Pre-Council Pan-Orthodox Conference.
He continued to work actively on Phanar until 1984, when he survived a stroke .
He died on December 27, 1989 at his home in Chalcedon. The funeral took place on December 30 at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Chalcedon. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Ignatius of Chalcedon near the graves of his predecessors in the department.
He was a mentor to the current Patriarch Bartholomew and other hierarchs.
Notes
- ↑ Faceted Application of Subject Terminology
- ↑ IAKOV // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church-Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2009. - T. XX. - p. 511-512. - 752 s. - 39 000 copies - ISBN 978-5-89572-036-3 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Kazan Theological Seminary of the Russian Orthodox Church / Electronic Library of the Kazan Theological Seminary / Diploma works of KDSS graduates, recommended for printing / Tryapochkin Ye.V. Borders ...
- ↑ Conferences (Inaccessible link) . The appeal date is December 27, 2014. Archived December 27, 2014.
- ↑ Filaret (Denisenko) . Stay in Moscow of the delegation of the Church of Constantinople // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 1966, No. 5. P. 12-17
- ↑ Pan-Orthodox Cathedral
- ↑ Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate
Bibliography
- Αρ. Πανώτης, "ελίτων, ο ατζής", Θρησκευτική και θική Εγκυκπ. 8, εκδ. Μαρτίνος Αθ., Αθήνα 1966, στ. 984-987
- Μελίτων, μητροπολίτης Χαλκηδόνος, εγκυκλοπαίδεαα Πάπυρος-Λαρούς-Μπριτάννικα , τόμ. 41, εκδ. Πυρος, Αθήνα 2004—2005