The synod, or meeting of bishops, of the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, based in Istanbul, Turkey, has elected the Very Rev. Cleopas Strongylis Metropolitan of Sweden and all Scandanavia.
Fr. Cleopas was born in Athens, Greece on August 20,1966. Following his primary and secondary education, he enrolled and subsequently graduated from the School of Theology of the University of Athens. Thereafter he studied at the University of Durham, England where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1992.
After coming to America he studied at and later graduated from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, earning the Master of Theology degree. After taking courses at Boston University and Harvard Divinity School, Fr. Cleopas earned a Doctorate degree from the University of Thessaloniki in 1994.
He is the author of several books including his latest, “Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis and the Rizareios Seminary of Athens (1984-1908), published in 2008. The tome was presented late last year at a special ceremony in Athens attended by the author and more than 400 clergy and laity, including His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos and professors from various universities and colleges.
Prior to his appointment at the Boston Greek Orthodox Cathedral, he served as the Director of Greek Education of the Metropolis of Boston, and parish priest at the Holy Trinity Parish in Lowell, MA since August 2004.
His official title will be His Eminence Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia and Exarch of the Northern Lands. There are an estimated 20,000 Greek Orthodox Christians under the jurisdiction of the Metropolis, in parishes in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The headquarters of the Metropolis are in Stockholm, Sweden.
