His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea, Hypertimos and Exarch of Japan.
His Eminence Metropolitan of Korea, Hypertimos and Exarch of Japan, Ambrosios (in the world: Aristoteles) Zographos was born on the island of Aegina on March 15, 1960, where he also completed his secondary education. In 1983 he received his degree from the Theological School of the University of Athens. He was ordained Deacon in 1985 and Presbyter in 1991. As a clergyman he served in the Holy Metropolis of Nikaia (as director of the Youth Office and the private office of the late Metropolitan of Nikaia, George Pavlidis) and in the Holy Metropolis of Monemvasia and Sparta. During 1988–1989 he worked at the renowned library and art gallery of the Holy Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai.
During 1991–1993, on a scholarship from the Holy Archdiocese of America, he pursued postgraduate studies at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, USA, from which he received a Th.M. (Patristics). During 1993–1996, on a scholarship from Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS), he attended postgraduate studies at that seminary and at Princeton University, receiving a Th.M. (Church History and Art History), while simultaneously working on his doctoral dissertation. During his postgraduate years in America (1991–1996), he served both as a traveling preacher to the Greek Orthodox Communities of the New England area, sent by the Holy Metropolis of Boston, and as parish priest of the Greek Orthodox Communities of Saint Barbara (Toms River, New Jersey) and Holy Trinity (Bargaintown, New Jersey).
On December 21, 1998, he was awarded his doctorate with distinction from the Theological School of the University of Athens, and on December 23 of the same year he traveled to Korea to serve as a missionary in the Orthodox Church in Korea, where he served as Presiding Priest of the Cathedral Church of Saint Nicholas in Seoul and as Protosyngelos of the newly founded Holy Metropolis of Korea. On December 21, 2005, he was elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as Auxiliary Bishop to the Metropolitan of Korea, with the title of the once-illustrious Bishopric of Zilon.
In addition to articles and studies published in various journals, he has authored the following works: “The Social Teachings of St. Gregory Palamas, Based on his 63 Homilies,” “The Contribution of St. Basil the Great to the Formation of the Monastic Ideal,” “Iconography in the Liturgical Life of the Medieval Greek Church,” and “Gabriel of Thessaloniki and the Unpublished Homiliary Attributed to Him.”
The aforementioned Bishop also participated as a member of the Patriarchal Delegation at the Assemblies of the World Council of Churches (Conference on World Mission and Evangelism) in São Paulo, Brazil (1997) and in Athens (2005), and at the Conference of Orthodox Theological Schools of “Syndesmos” in Belgrade (1998). Alongside his ecclesiastical ministry in the Holy Metropolis of Korea, he also serves as Professor in the newly established Department of Greek and Balkan Studies at HUFS (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies). On May 28, 2008, he was elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod as Metropolitan of Korea.
Name day: December 7.
His Eminence Metropolitan Sotirios of Pisidia, Hypertimos and Exarch of Side and Attaleia.
His Eminence Metropolitan of Pisidia, Hypertimos and Exarch of Side and Attaleia, Sotirios (Trambas), was born in Arta in 1929, where he received his primary and secondary education. He studied at the Theological School of the University of Athens, receiving his degree in Theology in 1951. He was ordained Deacon in 1956 and served as a preacher of the Holy Metropolis of Methymni. In 1960 he was ordained Presbyter and elevated to Archimandrite. During 1965–1968 he served as a military chaplain. He was subsequently appointed Protosyngelos of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens, until December 1973.
In November 1975 he was seconded to Korea and appointed Presiding Priest of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Seoul and General Archdiocesan Vicar of the Far East. He worked for the reorganization of the Orthodox Mission and the Orthodox Community there, and took care to extend the missionary effort to other regions of South Korea. In 1982 he was appointed Director of the Theological Seminary “Saint Nicholas” in Seoul, and in 1986 President of the missionary organization established by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and recognized by the Korean Authorities under the name “Orthodox Eastern Mission.” In 1993 he was elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as Auxiliary Bishop to the Metropolitan of New Zealand, with the title of the once-illustrious Bishopric of Zilon.
In 1995 he was appointed Director of the newly established missionary institution “Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Korea.” In 1999 he was proclaimed Honorary Citizen of Seoul for his 25 years of service in Korea, and in 2000 Honorary Citizen of Papagou, Athens. He has received the Priest’s Award of the “Georgis and Katigko Laimou” Foundation and has also been awarded the Bronze Medal of the Academy of Athens. On April 20, 2004, he was elected Metropolitan of the newly established Holy Metropolis of Korea. On May 27, 2008, he was elected Metropolitan of Pisidia.
Mailing address: Metropolitan Sotirios Trambas, Orthodox Monastery of Metamorfosis, Gyonggi-Do, Gapyong Gun, Sang Myeon, Deok Hyeon-Ri 610-3, Korea. Tel.: 0082-31-584-4376. Fax: 0082-31-585-2278.
Name day: August 6.
Source: http://www.ec-patr.org/hierarchs/show.php?lang=gr&id=46
