Emilianos (Zacharopoulos) of Kos

Metr. Emilianos

His Eminence the Most Reverend Metropolitan Emilianos (Zacharopoulos) of Kos is a diocesan bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate serving on the Greek island of Kos.

Metr. Emilianos, né Emilianos Zacharopoulos was born in 1915 in Halki, Turkey. In 1936, he successfully graduated with a Master degree in Theology at the Theological Institute of Halki. In 1937, he was ordained deacon for the Parish of Ss. Constantine and Helen in Constantinople. He later served as a deacon in the Patriarchate. Patriarch Athenagoras I named him Great Chancellor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and ordained him to the priesthood.

In 1959, he was unanimously elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Metropolitan of Selevkia. Some years later, he became a member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate, until April 21, 1964, when he was exiled from Turkey. When the Patriarchate created the Archdiocese of Belgium and Exarchate of the Netherlands and Luxemburg in 1969, he was elected its first metropolitan. In December 1982, he he was transferred by the Holy Synod to the Metropolis of Kos.