Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, a distinguished theologian and hierarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, reposed in the Lord on Wednesday night, around 01:00 hours.
He was born with the name of Timothy in Bath, Great Britain, in 1934, and studied at Westminster School and the prestigious Magdalen College in Oxford. He discovered Orthodoxy while he was still a schoolboy and became a member of the Orthodox Church in 1958.
He travelled to North America, Jerusalem, the Holy Mount Athos and to “St John the Tehologian” Monastery on Patmos Island, Greece. He was also involved in academic research.
In 1963 his classic work, The Orthodox Church, was published; in 1964 Eustratios Argenti: A Study of the Greek Church under Turkish Rule appeared, and in 1965, the year in which he was ordained deacon, he completed a doctoral thesis for Oxford University on the Ascetical Writings of St Mark the Monk.
As a deacon, he served at the monastery on Patmos Island and with Archbishop Athenagoras II of Thyateira and Great Britain. In 1966 he was appointed Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Christian Studies at the University of Oxford.
He was ordained to the priesthood and tonsured as a monk, taking the name Kallistos, at this time, and was tasked with establishing a Greek Orthodox Parish in Oxford. Together with the local Russian parish, the Greek community in Oxford built a new church, which served both parishes in equal partnership.
He was elected and consecrated Bishop of Diokleia in 1982.
“Many of us still remember Fr Kallistos from this time, and how the rigours of his academic work were combined with his parish duties. His teaching in sermons and talks, his love shown in Confession and pastoral care and above all his prayer with and for his people will be abiding memories,” wrote on Facebook Father Ian, from Oxford’s “Holy Trinity” Greek Parish.
“It was always a joy to be with him as he served the Holy Liturgy,” added the monk. “In his essay, ‘Go Joyfully’: The Mystery of Death and Resurrection, Metropolitan Kallistos reminds us that “Death is a separation which is no separation… The chasm of death is not impassable, for we can all meet around the altar of God”.”
Sursa foto: Pappaspost.com
Urmărește-ne pe Telegram: t.me/basilicanews
