[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 18, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S10868]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                  ENTHRONEMENT OF ARCHBISHOP SPYRIDON

Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, as a member of the Greek Orthodox 
faith, I would like to join my colleagues and so many other Americans 
in honoring the enthronement for His Eminence Metropolitan Spyridon to 
become the fifth Archbishop of America since the establishment in 1922 
of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America. The 
Christian Orthodox faith, under the spiritual guidance of the 
Ecumenical Patriarch, is one of the world's great religions. It traces 
its roots to the original Holy Apostles, and today includes over 250 
million faithful worldwide.
  Archbishop Spyridon's enthronement this Saturday, September 21, at 
the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City, is an 
historic occasion. This event, coming after the long and venerated 
reign of Archbishop Iakovos, is a hallowed symbol of the Church's 
continuity in the Americas under the spiritual guidance and 
jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. At the same time, this 
sacred event demonstrates the growth and maturation of the Greek 
Orthodox Church in our hemisphere, with the enthronement of the first 
Archbishop born and raised within the Archdiocese of North and South 
America.
  Archbishop Spyridon, the son of Clara and the late Dr. Constantine 
Papageorge, was born in Warren, OH, on September 24, 1944. He attended 
school in the United States, and graduated from high school in Tarpon 
Springs, FL.
  Archbishop Spyridon then went on to study at the renowned Theological 
School of Halki in Turkey, where he graduated in 1966 with highest 
honors. Until closed by the Turkish Government in 1971, this was the 
only theological school maintained by the Christian Orthodox Ecumenical 
Patriarchate. The Halki Theological School, if it were still in 
operation, would last year have celebrated its 150th anniversary. 
Archbishop Spyridon undertook subsequent postgraduate studies at the 
University of Geneva in Switzerland and at the Bochum University in 
Germany.
  Since finishing his education, Archbishop Spyridon undertook high 
religious missions in a variety of locales. Early in his career, he 
served as secretary of the Ecumenical Patriarchate delegation to the 
World Council of Churches, as secretary of the Orthodox Center of the 
Ecumenical Patriarchate at Chambesy in Geneva, and as dean of the Greek 
Orthodox Community of St. Andrew in Rome. In 1985 the Ecumenical 
Patriarchate selected him titular bishop of Apamea and assigned him as 
the auxiliary bishop to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Austria and 
Exarchate of Italy. In 1991 the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical 
Patriarchate elected Spyridon as the first Metropolitan for the newly 
created Archdiocese of Italy and Exarchate of Southern Europe.
  Mr. President, these are just the highlights of service so far of 
this tremendously skilled, youthful and devoted man of faith, a man who 
is fluent in Greek, French, Italian, German, and, of course, English. 
Now he will bring his energy and experiences to his new calling as 
Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South 
America, where, in America alone, he will preside over 550 Greek 
Orthodox parishes, with over 1.5 million members.
  I again wish to add my voice to all those honoring Archbishop 
Spyridon at the time of his enthronement. This is, of course, a time 
for celebration and prayer. But it is also a time for welcoming the 
Archbishop home after his decades of service to the faith throughout 
the world.

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