Metropolis of San Francisco

The Metropolis of San Francisco is a metropolis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in the United States of America, under the jurisdiction of the Church of Constantinople. The metropolis includes the states of the extreme western United States.

History

The origin of the Metropolis of San Francisco is traced back to the formal organization of the parishes in the Americas by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the mid twentieth century. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America was formally established in 1921 and came under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1922 with jurisdiction over Greek Orthodox parishes in the Western Hemisphere. At that time Ecumenical Patriarch Meletius created the sees of San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and New York. 

The Archdiocese of North and South America activated the see in San Francisco in 1927 with the installation of Bishop Kallistos (Papageorgapoulos) as Bishop of San Francisco. At times the see was moved to Los Angeles. Before 1968 when the archdiocese was partitioned into archdiocese districts the see of San Francisco included the Rocky Mountain area. In 1979, when the archdiocese was re-organized under a decree of the Ecumenical Patriarchate into a number of dioceses, the see of San Francisco was established as the Diocese of San Francisco. The area of the diocese included the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington[[1]].

In 1996, the Archdiocese of North and South America was split into four separate archdioceses: those of America, Canada, Central America, and South America. With the establishment of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the title of the dioceses was changed to metropolises and the Diocese of San Francisco became the Metropolis of San Francisco. Subsequent hierarchs are titled Metropolitans of San Francisco.

Parishes and Monasteries

There are 57 parishes and eight missions, two chapels, and three monasteries within the metropolis. The monasteries are:

• Monastery of St. Anthony - Florence, Arizona
• Monastery of the Theotokos the Life Giving Spring - Dunlap, California
• Monastery of St. John the Forerunner - Goldendale, Washington

Ruling Hierarchs

• Bishop Kallistos (Papageorgapoulos) of San Francisco 1927-1940
• Bishop Eirinaios (Tsourounakis) of San Francisco 1941-1944
• Vacant 1944 -1950
• Bishop Athenagoras (Kokkinakis) of Elaia (titular) 1950-1955
• Bishop Demetrios (Makris) of Olympus (titular) 1955-1968
• Bishop Meletios (Tripodakis) of Christianoupolis (titular) 1968-1979
• Bishop Anthony (Gergiannakis) of San Francisco 1979-1997
• Metropolitan Anthony (Gergiannakis) of the Dardanelles and Exarch of all Hellespont - remained in San Francisco 1997-2002
• Metropolitan Anthony (Gergiannakis) of San Francisco 2002-2004
• Metropolitan Gerasimos (Michaleas) of San Francisco 2005-Present

Sources

• About the Metropolis of San Francisco
• The Annunciation Cathedral: Its Past and Its Future