3. Metropolitan of Nafpaktos

On the 19 July 1995 he was elected Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St Vlassios. He was ordained on 20 July 1995 at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens, with Metropolitan Theoklitos of Ioannina as the presiding bishop, by order of Archbishop Seraphim of Athens and All Greece, and with the following Metropolitans concelebrating: Christodoulos of Dimitrias (later Archbishop of Athens and All Greece), Kallinikos of Piraeus, Hieronymus of Thiva and Levadia (now Archbishop of Athens and All Greece), Maximus of Serrai and Nigrita, Alexander of Mantineia and Kynouria, Agathonikos of Kitros, John of Pergamon, Ignatius of Arta and Panteleimon of Veria. He was enthroned in Nafpaktos on 10 September of the same year (1995).

In the Holy Metropolis of Nafpaktos and St Vlassios, apart from his ecclesiastical, liturgical, pastoral and administrative work:

• he founded ‘Charity Associations’ in the parishes of the city, which undertake significant social work
• he founded the Benevolent Fund of the Metropolis
• he has ordained and appointed new members of clergy
• he has organised parish life, inaugurating spiritual centres in central parishes.
• he has established monthly meetings of clergy
• he has taught Orthodox hesychastic monasticism, in accordance with the Orthodox tradition
• he has organised the offices of the Holy Metropolis
• he has twice renovated the building of the Holy Metropolis in Nafpaktos
• he has renovated the Spiritual Centre of the Holy Metropolis in Nafpaktos
• he has put on a legal basis and completed the building complex on St David’s Hill and established it as a ‘Cultural and Research Centre’
• he has rebuilt, inaugurated and renovated church buildings
• he has renovated and brought back into operation the summer camps and the ‘Communication Centre’ of the Holy Metropolis in St Panteleimon, Antirrio
• he takes an interest in young people and catechism. He visits schools and speaks to the pupils.
• he assisted in reviving events to mark the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the liberation of Nafpaktos from the Ottoman yoke (1829)
• he assisted in the establishment and operation for many years of a branch of the Technological Educational Institution and an evening Vocational High School in Nafpaktos
• he gives talks to teachers and students
• he organises and speaks at conferences and seminars for priests, teachers, students, academics, doctors, lawyers and engineers
• he speaks every Monday at the Spiritual Centre of the Holy Metropolis of Nafpaktos, expounding subjects from the Orthodox teaching of the Church
• he has founded a School of Byzantine Music and a choir of traditional music, which operate in Nafpaktos
• he founded a School of Ecclesiastical Iconography
• he established the publication of the newspaper of the Holy Metropolis, Ekklisiastiki Paremvasi, in which all the pastoral work in the Metropolis is recorded
• he brought the website of the Holy Metropolis into operation
• he travels around mountainous Nafpaktia and St Vlassios in the summer months
• he takes an active part in the cultural movement in Nafpaktos
• he organises events and pastoral outings

To date he has organised ten Theological Conferences in Nafpaktos, and is publishing their Proceedings.
The subjects of the Theological Conferences to date are (video, in Greek):

• ‘Theology and Pastoral Ministry (2015)
• ‘Ecclesiological Issues (2016)
• ‘Western Theology: Theory and Practice’ (2017)
• ‘Theology under Turkish Domination’ (2018)
• ‘St Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, Bearer of the Ecclesiastical Tradition’ (2019)
• ‘St Dionysius the Areopagite: Life, Work and Theology’ (2020)
• ‘The Ecclesiastical Tradition in the Writings and Works of the Pioneers of Independence of 1821’ (2021)
• ‘Ecclesiastical Tradition and Culture in Asia Minor’ (2022)
• ‘The Nafpaktian, Fr Theoklitos of Dionysiou’ (2023)
• ‘The anthropology of the Orthodox Church, preconditions for life in the Church' (2024)

(See website for the Conference)

Apart from the rebuilding and renovation of parish churches, he has renovated the buildings of the Holy Monasteries of the Dormition of the Theotokos Ambelakiotissa and the Honourable Forerunner Vomvokous, and he has overseen the renovation of the Hesychasterion of the All-Holy Virgin Gorgoepikoos, in all of which blessed communities live the ascetic life according to Christ. The first two communities were set up during his time as Metropolitan.

In parallel with the weekly broadcast on the Radio Station of the Church of Greece (in greek) for the last twenty years, in 2016 he also started a weekly television programme on the Lychnos Television Channel of the Holy Metropolis of Patras under the title ‘Theology of Facts (in greek)’.

He established in Nafpaktos a shared feast of the holy Metropolitans of Nafpaktos who took part in Ecumenical Councils, the holy Bishops Kallikrates (3rd Ecumenical Council, Ephesus, 431), Irenaeus (4th Ecumenical Council, Chalcedon, 451), Anthony (8th Ecumenical Council, Constantinople, 879-880), who are commemorated together with St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, a portion of the relic of whose hand is kept in the Holy Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos Ambelakiotissa.

He has dedicated chapels in honour of St David the Elder and the newly-canonised saints Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, Paisios of the Holy Mountain, Silouan the Athonite, Sophrony the Athonite and Kallinikos Metropolitan of Edessa, the Aitolian.

In Nafpaktos, since the beginning of his episcopal ministry (1995 to date) he has been Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of the Papacharalambos Public Library in the city, which greatly assists pupils and residents of the city, and the whole of Aitolia and Akarnania, as it functions as a lending library and also organises other activities for pupils.

As Metropolitan of Nafpaktos he is Chairman of ten Foundations and Bequests in the Province: the Foundations ‘Demetrios and Vassiliki Papacharalampous’, which has a large hall for events; ‘Georgios Kapordellis - Ioannis Xykis’;  ‘Georgios and Maria Athanasiadis-Novas’; ‘Andreas Tsaras’; ‘Gabriel Oikonomou’; ‘Antonios and Panagiota Anastasopoulou’; Demetrios Asimakopoulos’; ‘Andreas Kozonis’; ‘Ioannis Vardakoulas’, and ‘Demetrios Ploumis’ (Chairman of the Committee for Awarding Scholarships).

On his initiative, a building of about 2000 square metres was constructed, with a potential capacity for sixty or more people, which will soon operate as a Care Centre for Elderly Persons (residential home for the elderly).

As Chairman of these Foundations, together with the Members of the Councils, he makes a valuable contribution to society, includes the award of scholarships to pupils and students. To date, in his time in office, scholarships have been given to the value of 1,500,000 Euros to pupils and students. In addition, various grants have been made to organisations in the city, to destitute people, to provide dowries for poor girls, and to the Papacharalambos Public Philharmonic Band of Nafpaktos.

He established the annual public review of the Foundations, at which the abovementioned scholarships are awarded, and this event is indicative of his methodical way of working and his transparency. The work that is undertaken by the Foundations is very clearly set out in the book that he published under the title The Foundations and Bequests of Nafpaktos, with the subtitle History, Administrative and Development Activities and Public Announcements during the years 1995-2020.

The Mayor of Nafpaktos, Mr Basil Gizas, notes in the Foreword to the book, in 2020:

“… Both in my capacity as a lawyer for the last twenty-one years, and in my capacity as Vice Chairman of most of the foundations, in which I have participated as Mayor of Nafpaktia for the last two years [now six years], I am firmly convinced that the administration of the foundations and the development of their financial assets take place in a clear, complete and effective manner. This is mainly due to the Chairman of the Administrative Councils of the Foundations, Metropolitan Hierotheos, but also to the members who participate in them over time. This administration is, on the one hand, a real honour to all those who made their wealth available for the benefit of all, and, on the other hand, it makes it possible to offer the greatest possible benefit to our local community, in spite of the often unfavourable circumstances of the international and national situation.

The public review, which has taken place systematically all through these years, is none other than the practical expression of respect both to the person of the benefactors, donors etc, and to the members of our local community, as it gives everyone the opportunity to know the details even of the financial state of the foundations, to express opinions and objections, or to make proposals in any direction …”