Greek Orthodox Head Archbishop lakovos Dies

The Archbishop who led the Greek Orthodox Church in America for 37 years has died at the age of 93. Archbishop lakovos was known for reaching out to other religious groups and for his great efforts in ecumenism.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America announced the Archbishop’s death at Stamford Hospital, and it was told that he died from a pulmonary ailment.

lakovos was born in Turkey and went on to head the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America – which has approximately 2 million followers from 1959 till 1996. His was driven out of his leadership in 1996 apparently because he supported the idea of uniting various Eastern Orthodox branches into a single American Church.

He was the first Greek Orthodox archbishop to meet with a Roman Catholic prelate and always sought to bring together and unite all people of faith.

lakovos also spent nine years as a president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) – one of the world’s leading ecumenical bodies.

In 1960 he said, "Ecumenism is the hope for international understanding, for humanitarian allegiance, for true peace based on justice and dignity, and for God's continued presence and involvement in modern history."

Archbishop lakovos played a great role in setting up the dialogues between Orthodox churches and the Anglican, Lutheran, Southern Baptist and other leading world Christian denominations.

In accordance with Orthodox traditions, lakovos was also well-known for his opposition to women bishop ordination, but was equally recognised for his human rights and race-relation works.

The titular leader of World Orthodoxy, Patriarch Bartholomew came into direct conflict with lakovos in 1994, after lakovos held a meeting with 29 bishops from the 10 North American branches of Eastern Orthodoxy. He recommended placing all the churches under a single administrative system whilst allowing their ties to remain with the separate "mother churches" in Greece and Russia.

In 1996 it was widely believed that Bartholomew forced lakovos to resign as he had endorsed the idea. In the few days since his death he has been greatly testified by past and present Orthodox archbishops as well as leaders of other faith groups for his ecumenical legacy.