top

San Francisco Chronicle - December 27, 2004

ANTHONY GERGIANNAKIS: 1935-2004
Greek Orthodox church loses 'building bishop'

By Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Greek Orthodox Christians in the Bay Area and beyond are mourning the death on Christmas Day of Metropolitan Anthony Gergiannakis [...]

[ ... ]

Metropolitan Anthony could also be forceful in his beliefs. He was among a group of U.S. bishops who in 1999 requested that international church leaders replace Archbishop Spyridon, who was accused of autocratic rule and not respecting democratic reforms in the American church. Spyridon later resigned.

In a final encyclical, or letter, to fellow clergy and parishioners, Metropolitan Anthony wrote of standing at the "threshold between the old and new," melding Orthodox tradition with progressive ideas such as the use of the English language in parishes.

"From the very beginning, I have felt my episcopal ministry to be a calling to stand at the frontier of faith, refusing to retreat into the well- trodden paths of religious convention and formalism," he wrote in a letter dated Dec. 22 [...]

[ San Francisco Chronicle - December 27, 2004 - p. B1 ]