Greek Orthodox Metropolis ofItaly | |
|---|---|
| Orthodox | |
 Cathedral church ofSaint George of the Greeks in Venice | |
| Location | |
| Country | Italy andSan Marino |
| Headquarters | Venice |
| Statistics | |
| Parishes | 80 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Eastern Orthodox |
| Rite | Byzantine Rite |
| Established | 1991 |
| Cathedral | San Giorgio dei Greci |
| Secular priests | 50 |
| Language | Greek and Italian |
| Current leadership | |
| Parent church | Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople |
| Governance | Episcopal |
| Patriarch | Bartholomew I of Constantinople |
| Metropolitan | Polykarpos Stavropoulos |
| Auxiliary Bishops |
|
| Vicar General | Archimandrite Vissarion Vakaros |
| Website | |
| ortodossia.it/ | |
TheGreek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy (and Malta from2005[citation needed] until the creation of theExarchate of Malta in 2021),[1] officially theSacred Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Exarchate of Southern Europe (Italian:Sacra Arcidiocesi Ortodossa d'Italia ed Esarcato per l'Europa Meridionale), is adiocese of theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with itssee inVenice.[2] The diocese was created in 1991.
The current archbishop and exarch isPolykarpos Stavropoulos.[3]
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The Italo-Byzantine Monastery of St Mary ofGrottaferrata, 20 kilometers south ofRome, was founded by Saint Nilus the Younger in 1004.[4]
After thefall of Constantinople, many Greeks sought refuge in Italy and theEcumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople appointed a series ofmetropolitans, who resided inVenice from 1537 to 1797. But it was not until 1539 that theGreek community of Venice was authorised to begin building the church of San Giorgio dei Greci which still stands in the centre of the city on the canal known as theRio dei Greci [it].[5] The church was completed in 1573 and is the oldest of the churches of the Greek diaspora in western Europe.[6]
In 1557, Venice's Greek community had nominated Pachomios, bishop of Zante and Cephalonia, to act in their church as bishop, which he apparently did for one year only.[7] In 1577 a Greek Orthodox archbishop resided in Venice and was recognized as the religious head of the Greek Orthodox community in Venice, though with the non-Venetian title ofArchbishop of Philadelphia.[8]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| Patriarchates | |
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| Autocephalous churches | |
| Autonomous churches | |
| History | |
