Panteleimon of Neapolis
His Eminence Panteleimon of Neapolis was an archbishop of the Church of Jerusalem who was active in the United States of America during the 1920s raising funds for the Holy Land.
Life
Abp. Panteleimon, who was from Neapolis in Palestine, now Nablus, arrived in the United States as the representative of Patriarchate of Jerusalem to attend, during the early 1920s, a conference of the Episcopal Church that was held in Portland, Oregon. After the conference concluded, Abp. Panteleimon remained in the United States visiting prominent people with the goal of raising money for the Holy Land.
In December 1922, he was reported to have met the American president Warren Harding whom the archbishop made a “Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher,” and gave him a splinter of wood from the True Cross enclosed in a gold box set with diamonds. Abp. Panteleimon's actions in the United States caused complaints of his interfering in the affairs of the local church. On March 12, 1924, Patr. Gregory VII of Constantinople wrote to Patr. Damianus of Jerusalem concerning Abp. Panteleimon's meddling. In September 1924, the Greek Bishop Philaret of Chicago complained to his superior, Abp. Alexander (Demoglou) of America, of his trespassing.
Abp. Panteleimon also ordained as a priest the young Greek man John Nicholaides who later returned to Greece and became the Athonite ascetic, Elder Joachim of St. Anne’s Skete.[[1]]
Abp. Panteleimon remained in the United States for a number of years. In January 1931 he was recalled by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
