Greek Orthodox leader to speak here

Today, Feb. 20, at 5:30 p.m., His Eminence Archbishop Spyridon, primate of the Greek Orthodox church in America, will present “Healing the Cosmos: How Faith Can Inform Science and Medicine” in the Gazes Auditorium of the Gazes Cardiac Research Institute. The archbishop is spiritual leader of the 1.5 million Greek Orthodox Christians in America.

The lecture is part of the James W. Colbert Jr. Distinguished University Lecture series honoring the late Dr. Colbert who served as vice president for academic affairs at the Medical University prior to his death in 1974. Dr. Colbert played a major role in the development of South Carolina’s statewide system of health education and the Medical University’s growth in the early 1970s.

The archbishop will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters from the Medical University. The citation for the honorary degree will be read by Peter C. Gazes, M.D., clinical distinguished university professor of cardiology.

Gazes met the archbishop several years ago in Venice when Gazes was a delegate to the Ecumenical Patriarch visit to Italy in 1995, and the Archbishop was metropolitan of Italy. At the time, he told Gazes that he would like to attend the dedication ceremony for the Gazes Cardiac Research Institute. But when he became archbishop of America on July 30, 1996, his new duties prevented his coming to Charleston for the October dedication ceremony.

As a lay member of the Archdiocese Council, comprised of representative from all over the United States, Gazes participated in the ceremonies in New York when the archbishop was enthroned. He also was called upon as a physician to attend to the archbishop’s mother who had chest pains at the time of the ceremony.

Born in Ohio, the archbishop is the first American-born archbishop of America. He studied at the famed Patriarchal Theological School of Halki where he graduated with honors. He subsequently pursued graduate studies in Switzerland, specializing in the history of Protestant churches. He studied ecumenical theology and Byzantine literature at Bochum University in Germany.

After being ordained a deacon and later to the priesthood, the archbishop was elected a bishop and assigned to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Austria and Exarchate of Italy. In 1992, he was elected as the first metropolitan for the newly created Archdiocesan See of Italy. During the course of four years as metropolitan of Italy he created various auxiliary departments and increased the number of parishes and provided them with a more sound structure.

The archbishop is known for his open-minded and modern mentality in addressing timely needs and problems of the Orthodox Diaspora. He is also know for his contributions to unity between the Orthodox Church and other religious bodies. In 1992, he was appointed chairman of the Inter-Orthodox Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Lutheran World Federation.

He also successfully represented the Ecumenical Patriarchate in various inter-church missions and international meetings. He was Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s delegate to the Special Synod of the Roman Catholic Bishops in Europe held in Rome in 1992. He helped to establish a dialogue and strengthen ties between the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church.

Fluent in Greek, English, French, Italian and German, the archbishop is also computer literate.

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