Elpidophoros Lambriniadis becomes head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Succeeding Demetrios Trakatellis, he is the first new US Greek Orthodox leader in two decades.
Elpidophoros Lambriniadis was enthroned as archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on June 22 at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City.
The 51-year-old archbishop was the first new US Greek Orthodox leader in two decades, the Associated Press reported. He succeeds Demetrios Trakatellis, who served in the role from 1999 until his retirement in May at age 91. A synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople then elected Elpidophoros unanimously, according to a press release from the Greek Orthodox.
Elpidophoros was born in Istanbul and studied theology in Greece, Germany, and Lebanon. Since 2011 he has been metropolitan of Bursa, Turkey, which has 1.85 million inhabitants. The Greek Orthodox in America, headquartered in New York City, includes 540 congregations in nine districts: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, New Jersey, New York, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. It has 440,000 active members, according to an analysis of different ways of counting membership done by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research.
