EDITOR’S NOTE. Bishop Sevastanos, born in “the Island of Saints”, Cyprus, was supported by his predecessor Alexios, the priests of the Metropolis, and many clergy-laity associations and organizations. He is known as a hierarch of low profile and humility. He will be enthroned on January 25th. Axios!
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Bishop Sevastianos of Zela is the new Metropolitan of Atlanta
The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has elected Bishop Sevastianos of Zela as the new Metropolitan of Atlanta.
Bishop Sevastianos, Protosyncellos of the Metropolis of Atlanta, was elected unanimously following the presentation of a Triprosopon prepared during an extraordinary session of the Holy and Sacred Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese of America held last night.
The Triprosopon list was formed by the vote of the Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese of America as follows:
- Bishop Sevastianos of Zela with 8 votes;
- Bishop Anthony of Synada with 5 votes;
- Archimandrite Dionysios Anagnostopoulos with 4 votes;
This list of candidates was afterward submitted to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy and Sacred Synod, together with an accompanying letter from the Archbishop requesting that the election of the new Metropolitan proceed based on the Triprosopon.
Announcement of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
The Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate continued its work on Monday, December 2, 2024, under the chairmanship of His All-Holiness, considering the matters listed in the agenda, for which appropriate decisions were made.
During this session, the Holy and Sacred Synod, on the basis of the Triprosopon presented by the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese of America, unanimously elected His Eminence Bishop Sevastianos of Zile, Protosyncellos of the Holy Metropolis of Atlanta, as the new Metropolitan of Atlanta. The previous Metropolitan, His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios, voluntarily submitted his resignation for health reasons.
Biography
Sevastianos Skordallos was born in 1955 in Ano Zodia, Cyprus. He graduated from the Athens School of Theology in 1978. He was ordained a deacon by Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Morphou on January 17, 1974, and a priest by Bishop Gregory of Tropea on March 4, 1978.
He served as a deacon under Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Morphou (1974), at the Church of St. George in Akademia Platonos, Athens (1975), at the Church of St. Nicholas in Kato Patisia, Athens (1976-1978), and as a priest in Nottingham, England (1978-1979). He also served at the Church of the Holy Trinity and Holy Cross in Birmingham, Alabama (1980-1982), the Church of Sts. Constantine and Helen and Holy Cross in Huntsville, Alabama (1982-1984, 1989-1993), the Metropolitan Church of Panagia Katholiki in Limassol, Cyprus (1984-1988), the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Marietta, Georgia (1993-2004), and the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Tarpon Springs, Florida (2004-2006).
On June 1, 2006, he was appointed Chief Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese of America.
On December 17, 2011, he was consecrated Titular Bishop of Zela, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of America, at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan, New York.
Archbishop Demetrios of America performed the ordination.
Unfortunately, there are too few good men to be declared truly axios to lead the Greek Orthodox. Hopefully Bishop Sevastianos is one of those few.
So he’s 69 years old…At 70, we are usually forced by the government to take social security…So what happened to those Elpidophoros’ proposals for mandatory retirement for all hierarchs at 74-75 (except for Bartholomew, of course)?…if he and others REALLY believed in these convictions, they would never include a soon to be 70 year old in a “triprosopon” to be a metropolitan, only to force him to retire a couple years later…on the other hand, maybe if he lasts 5 years serving as a metropolitan, he’ll be added to the list of those who enjoy “full retirement benefits” (including that “healthy” metropolitan’s salary…)
Many other things are also not adding up very well with this decision. For those with good short-term memory, Sevastianos was the one that the local Goarch Eparchial Synod voted to take over the Chicago Metropolis, only to be coldly rejected by Bartholomew, who instead insisted they enthrone Nathanael (who was just recently thrown out of the Synod of Constantinople)… If Sevastianos was rejected back then by the Patriarch as not being worthier than a 30something-year-old, why is he suddenly considered “acceptable” now?
Anyone care to speculate? Perhaps the rumor on the street that Alexios refused to resign unless there were guarantees in place in an effort to preserve his hard-fought legacy via Sevastianos for a few years has merit…Either way, it is almost certain this will be a shorter term tenure than the one Alexios enjoyed…
Also, we can raise this important question once again…why is the Laity excluded from the process of electing a bishop? Is a request that the laity say “Axios” really only a ceremonial step at the time of enthronement”? That is not canonical, and contrary to our Tradition if we look at our Church history…There has been a lot of talk in secular politics about “rigged elections”, but when we compare what used to be the election process for a bishop to what goes on today, the term “rigged election” reaches astronomical altitudes above what has been debated in the secular political media…it is not clear why the Laity continues to accept this travesty of deception and corruption.
Professor Trempelas wrote an excellent article on this topic back in the day (because this corrupt election process is a couple hundred years old at least)…it’s worth a read:
https://www.osotir.org/product/i-symmetochi-tou-laou-en-ti-eklogi-ton-episkopon/
To avoid misunderstandings, I actually do hope he succeeds in his mission (maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised), and hopefully he doesn’t expand upon pre-existing damage to Orthodoxy during his tenure, but this election process is terrible, the messaging from the top is inconsistent and confusing, and continued erosion of public trust towards GOARCH governance and transparency is a de facto outcome of this process.
Markos – these are all valid points. However, in this case it seems that he had support from the clergy and laity even though the rules for laity participation are non-existent or violated. If anyone in the audience has information on this please help.
“…the messaging from the top is inconsistent and confusing, and continued erosion of public trust towards GOARCH governance and transparency is a de facto outcome of this process. ”
Well said.
If one were to ‘boil down’ a job description for our hierarchs, building trust of the laity for their Church, demonstrating clarity and consistency of the mission of the Church, and competent management of the human resources (aka manpower) and finances would be top priorities.
Only a fool would think they are accomplishing those tasks well. The contrary is easy to argue: abolishing the Charter unilaterally, no transparency of Finances, inconsistent and erratic shuffling of clergy, self-important posturing on controversial politics…..
The status quo begs for a ‘flushing of the stables’ –from the top– to stem the sinking of the ship.
May God grant him wisdom! I hope Bishop Sevastianos will make the Greeks and all Orthodox Christians proud. God intervenes in these elections, too. He doesn’t let only men make decisions, so I say to give him a chance and not speculate. His bio is impressive.
Metropolitan Theodosy from Ukraine speaks about the danger of a possible schism as big as the one in 1054. This will be devastating for Universal Orthodoxy. Any good Hierarchs, anywhere in the world, that can bring us unity and hopefully prevent a catastrophic break in the Church are a blessing from God. The age is not that important. He can accomplish a lot of good things in 5 years, even if he will be required to retire early. The schism is what we should be worried about, especially now, when Patr. Barto is planning a “parade” with the pope in 2025.
Metropolitan Theodosy’s appeal to Patr. Bartolomew:
https://orthochristian.com/165168.html
I’m in the Atlanta Metropolis and we are ecstatic that Bishop Sevastianos will be the new Metropolitan.
We understand that because of his age, he will not be our Metropolitan for long. But after such a faithful servant to the Church as His Eminence Alexios is/was, there is no one that could step in and fill the gap like Bishop Sevastianos. He has faithfully served as Metropolitan Alexios’ Auxiliary Bishop for years and knows the faithful in the Metropolis.
I’ve personally witnessed a miracle take place with Bishop Sevastianos due to his humility. The Greek churches in the South are thriving because of Metropolitan Alexios and Bishop Sevastianos’ leadership. While other Metropolises in GOA may be leaving for other jurisdictions, the Atlanta Metropolis is growing.
I’ve considered these two faithful men to be bastions of light in the face of darkness.
I pray this continues when Bishop Sevastianos is enthroned.
AXIOS!!!!