Chrysanthus

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Chrysanthus was a Greek clergyman, a long-time Metropolitan of Trapezus and the Archbishop of Athens during the beginning of World War II and the German occupation.

Chrysanthus was born Charilaos Filippidis in Komotini, Thrace in 1881. He studied at the Theological School of Chalki, furthering his studies in Leipzig and Lausanne. He became Metropolitan of Trapezus in 1913 and served in that post until 1938 when he was named Archbishop of Athens and all Greece.

Chrysanthus was elected a member of the Academy of Athens in 1939.

When Greece capitulated in the Second World War in April 1941, Chrysanthus refused to bless the swearing-in ceremony for quisling Prime Minister Georgios Tsolakoglou. For this action, he was dethroned on July 2, 1941 and replaced by Archbishop Damaskinos.

He died on September 28, 1949 in Athens.