Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos

Metropolitan Hierotheos S. Vlachos was born in Ioannina, Epirus, Greece, in 1945 and graduated from the theological school of the University of Thessaloniki. He has been a priest since 1971. He served at the Archbishop's House of Offices in Athens, as a preacher and Youth Director. He was elected Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St. Vlasios in 1995. He taught Greek for several semesters and gave lectures on Orthodox ethics to the students of the St.John of Damascus theological school at the University of the Patriarchate of Antioch, in northern Lebanon.

Already in his youth he was particularly interested in the Fathers of the Church, working for a time in the monastery libraries of Mount Athos, on the recording of the codices. He was especially interested in the teaching of St.Gregory Palamas.

The study of the patristic texts and particularly those of the hesychast Fathers of the Philokalia, many years of studying St.Gregory Palamas, association with the monks of the Holy Mountain, many years of pastoral experience, all brought him to the realisation that Orthodox theology is a science of the healing of man and that the neptic fathers can help the modern restless man who is disturbed by many internal and existential problems.

Within this framework he has written a multitude of books, the fruit of his pastoral work, among which is "Orthodox Psychotherapy". Some of these books have been translated into various languages, such as English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic. With these books he is conveying the Orthodox spirit of the Philokalia to the restless and disturbed man of our time. This is why they have aroused so much interest.

source: www.pelagia.org

Metropolitan Hierotheos' writings can be found at www.pelagia.org and www.romanity.org