1. Meletius Metaxakis is the only man in the history of the Eastern Orthodox Church to serve successively as the senior bishop of three autocephalous churches.
10 Facts About Meletius Metaxakis
1. 2.
Meletius Metaxakis's father was a stock breeder, and his maternal uncle was the village priest.
3.
Meletius Metaxakis resumed his studies at the Theological School of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross at Jerusalem, when the school opened in 1893.
4.
Meletius Metaxakis founded new schools and reorganized the existing ones, while he succeeded in granting diplomas to graduates of the Theological School of Jerusalem as well, though he did not ordain any priests.
5.
Meletius Metaxakis confronted the Duchovnaye Missia a Russian organisation which practiced antihellenic propaganda; founded the Practical School in Joppa; and increased the circulation of academic books.
6.
Meletius Metaxakis organized the Statutory Charter of the Church of Cyprus and founded the periodical Ekklesiastikos Kirix, which he continued to publish later on in Athens and in New York City.
7.
Meletius Metaxakis established the Pancypriot Seminary in October of 1910, and the Commercial High School of Larnaca.
8.
Meletius Metaxakis was Metropolitan bishop of the Church of Greece in Athens as Meletius III, after which he was elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople under the name Meletius IV from 1921 to 1923.
9.
Meletius Metaxakis served as Greek Patriarch of Alexandria under the episcopal name Meletius II from 1926 to 1935.
10.
Two years later, King Constantine I was restored to the throne, Archbishop Meletius Metaxakis was ousted, and former archbishop Theocletus I was reinstated.