Greek Orthodox Metropolis of France

The Metropolis of France, or the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of France (French: Métropole grecque orthodoxe de France, Greek: Μητρόπολη Γαλλίας, romanized: Mitropoli Gallias), is a diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople established in 1963. It comprises the Eastern Orthodox parishes and monasteries in France.

Greek Orthodox Metropolis of France
St. Stephen's Cathedral, Paris
Location
TerritoryFrance
MetropolitanDimitrios (Ploumis)[1]
HeadquartersParis
Statistics
Parishesc. 60
Information
DenominationEastern Orthodox Church
RiteByzantine
Music: Byzantine chant, Russian chant
Calendar: Revised Julian, Julian
Established1963
Website
https://mgro.fr

Historically, its congregation mainly consisted of people of Greek descent, but following the disestablishment of the Paris-based Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenicl Patriarchate in November 2018, a significant number of the parishes of the former Exarchate have joined the Metropolis while retaining their Russian liturgical tradition.[2][3]

History and organisation

The diocese was established on 5 February 1963 and at the time comprised the Greek Orthodox parishes in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, and Portugal. Metropolitan Meletios Karabinis (1914–1993) was appointed as its primate on 22 October 1963 and remained in charge of the Metropolis until his resignation for health reasons on 9 June 1988.

In August 1969, the Greek parishes in Belgium and Luxemburg were incorporated into a newly established Metropolis of Belgium. Likewise, in 2003 the parishes in Spain and Portugal were incorporated into the Metropolis of Spain and Portugal.

Metropolitan Emmanuel Adamakis has been in charge of the Metropolis since 20 January 2003.

The diocese currently has two assistant bishops: Irineos Avramidis and Maxim Paphilis.

Vicariate of Russian tradition of the Metropolis of France

In November 2019, it was officially re-affirmed that the parishes and communities, formerly in the jurisdiction the disbanded Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox churches in Western Europe (the Ecumenical Patriarchate), which had joined the Metropolis of France, would be grouped into the "vicariate of Russian tradition of the Metropolis of France" in January 2020.[4][5][6]

Primates
  • Mélétios (Karabinis) (22 October 1963 - 9 June 1988)
  • Jérémie (Calligiorgis) (9 June 1988 - 20 January 2003)
  • Emmanuel (Adamakis) (20 January 2003 - 16 February 2021)
  • Dimitrios (Ploumis) (since 25 July 2021)

Structure

The metropolis is organized in three geographical entities:

  • the Northern Episcopal Vicariate (Paris),
  • the Central Episcopal Vicariate (Lyon),
  • the Southern Episcopal Vicariate (Marseille).

References
  1. ANNONCE: Intronisation du nouveau Métropolite | Metropole Grec-Orthodoxe de France – Ιερά Μητρόπολις Γαλλίας
  2. Ivshina, Olga (13 November 2019). ""Видимость великого воссоединения": что происходит с русскими церквями в Европе". BBC Russian Service (in Russian). Retrieved 2019-11-16.
  3. "Visite pastorale à Rennes à l'occasion de la fête paroissiale". Metropole Grecque Orthodoxe de France – Ιερά Μητρόπολις Γαλλίας (in French). 10 November 2019. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  4. "France : le métropolite Emmanuel annonce la création d'un vicariat de tradition russe". Orthodoxie.com (in French). 29 November 2019.
  5. "La Lettre du vicariat - N° 1" (PDF). Orthodoxie.com (in French). November 2019.
  6. "Parution de la "Lettre du Vicariat"". Orthodoxia.info (in French). 2 December 2019.
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