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Meletius Metaxakis

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'''Meletius Metaxakis''' served as Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church from 19211922-1923.
His given name was ''''Emmanuel Metaxakis'''. He was born on [[September 21]], [[1871]] in the village of Parsas on the island of [[Crete]]. He entered the Seminary of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem in [[1889]]. He was tonsured with the name Meletius and ordained a hierodeacon in [[1892]]. He completed the theological courses at Holy Cross and was assigned as secretary to the Holy Synod in Jerusalem by Patriarch Damianos in [[1900]]. Meletius was evicted from the Holy Land by Patriarch Damianos, along with the then administrator Chrysostomos, later Archbishop of Athens in [[1908]] for "activity against the Holy Sepulcher." Meletius Metaxakis was then elected Metropolitan of Kition in [[1910]]. In the years before the war Metropolitan Meletius began successful talks in New York with representatives of the Episcopal Church of America, with the intention of "expanding relations between the two Churches."
When Meletios was elected '''Ecumenical Patriarch Meletios IV''' in January, [[1922]], one of his first official decrees on March 1st of that year was to restore the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This was formalized on [[May 11]], [[1922]] when Patriarch Meletios declared the Church of America as an Archdiocese appointing the Rt. Rev. Alexander Titular Bishop of Rodostolon , as his Patriarchal Exarch.
 
Under pressure from Meletius, the Patriarchate of Constantinople accepted the validity of Anglican orders in 1922 — an act which even Rome protested against. Then, in [[1923]], Meletius initiated the "Pan-Orthodox" Congress (May 10–June 8). On June 1st, clergy and laymen dissatisfied with the innovating Patriarch held a meeting which ended in an attack on the [[Phanar]] with the goal of deposing Meletius and expelling him from [[Constantinople]]. On [[July 1]], [[1923]], on the pretext of illness and the need for medical treatment, Meletius left Constantinople. On [[September 20]], [[1923]], under pressure from the Greek government and through the intervention of Archbishop Chrysostomos of Athens, Meletius retired as Patriarch.
'''Meletius Metaxakis''' died on [[July 28]], [[1935]], and was buried in Cairo, Egypt.
 
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{{succession box|title=[[Ecumenical Patriarch]]<br>1921-1923|before=[[Germanos V]]<br> 1913-1918|after= Gregory VII'''<br> 1923-1924}}
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[[Category:Ecumenical Patriarchs|Metaxakis,Meletios]]

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