abstract
| - Ambrosios was born on March 15, 1960 on the island of Aegina in Greece where he graduated from high School in 1978. In 1983 he received his degree from the School of Theology of the University of Athens. In 1985 he was ordained deacon and in 1991 presbyter. As a deacon and priest he served at the Metropolis of Nicea-Piraeus as Personal Secretary of the late Metropolitan Georgios (Pavlides) of Nicea and as Youth Director. He also served at the Metropolis of Monemvasia and Sparta. From 1988 to 1989 he worked at the renowned Library and Icon Gallery of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai in Egypt. From 1991 to 1993, through a scholarship from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, he studied at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (Brookline, Massachusetts), where he received a Th.M. in Patrology. From 1993 to 1996, under a scholarship from Princeton University, Ambrosios did postgraduate studies at Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) as well as at Princeton University where he received his second master's degree in Church History and Art History. During this time he also began work on his dissertation for his doctorate degree. During the years of his studies in the United States (1991-1996), Ambrosios served in various Greek Orthodox parishes in New England and New Jersey as visiting pastor at the Greek Orthodox communities of St. Barbara, in Tom's River, New Jersey, and Holy Trinity Church in Bargaintown, New Jersey. On December 21, 1998, he was awarded a doctorate degree with distinction by the School of Theology of the University of Athens, and on December 23 of the same year he departed to Korea to begin serving the Orthodox Church in Korea as Dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Seoul and as Chancellor of the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea. On December 21, 2005, he was elevated to the episcopacy as Bishop of Zelon by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In addition to many articles in various magazines, he has also published the following major studies and books: The Social Teachings of St. Gregory Palamas, Based on His 63 Homilies, The Contribution of St. Basil the Great to the Formation of the Monastic Ideal, Iconography in the Liturgical life of the Medieval Greek Church, and Gabriel Archbishop of Thessalonica and the Homiliarion attributed to him. Bishop Ambrosios has participated in the conference of the World Council of Churches on World Mission and Evangelism in Sao Paolo, Brazil (1997) as a member of the Patriarchal Delegation and in Athens (2005). In 1998 he participated in the Convention of Orthodox Theological Schools organized by Syndesmos in Belgrade, Serbia. The synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople elected Ambrosios as Metropolitan of Korea on May 28th, 2008 the same day it accepted the resignation of his predecessor, Metropolitan Sotirios (Trambas) of Pisidia. He was enthroned July 20th, 2008 at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Seoul, as the second metropolitan. Apart from his diakonia (service) at the Metropolis of Korea, he is also full professor at the newly established Department of Greek Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
|