Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens - Tenure As Archbishop

Tenure As Archbishop

Christodoulos succeeded Archbishop Seraphim to the seat of the Prelate of the Greek church in 1998. At 59 years of age, he was the youngest archbishop to head the Greek Church. His chief rivals in ballot were Metropolitan Anthimos of Alexandroupolis and Metropolitan Ieronymos of Thebes. The latter would eventually succeed him in 2008.

Supporting the existing Church social services, he launched new services to face social issues such as the welfare of drug addicts and immigrants, the support for single mothers and abused women, the care for the victims of trafficking, the establishing of a chain of nurseries and infant schools, the provided assistance to poor families and families with many children. He also established "Solidarity", a NGO of the Church of Greece, which allowed a humanitarian intervention of the Church on an international level in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. "Solidarity" caused several controversies, such as the case where it received 5.6 million Euros from the Greek State in order to send humanitarian relief to Iraq. Instead, "Solidarity" only spent 740 thousand Euros to buy food, which it kept in storage houses without ever sending it to Iraq, and kept the rest in a bank account. After the death of Archbishop Christodoulos, the Greek Church started an investigation of the financial activities of "Solidarity" and found gross irregularities.

In 2003, he fell out with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew over who should have the final say in the appointment of bishops in northern Greece. As a result, Christodoulos' name was stricken off the Diptych of the Church as a punishment. He was reinstated three months later, as the conflict seemed to be coming to a resolution. The rift was mended a month later.

The visit of Pope John Paul II in Athens and Archbishop Christodoulos' visit to Pope Benedict XVI in Rome were significant steps towards the cause of Church unity.

On May 20, 2001, Konstantinos Poulios (Κωνσταντίνος Πούλιος in Greek), an Old Calendarist, attacked Christodoulos and slapped him in the face, while the Archbishop was giving an interview to a TV crew outside the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. The attack was broadcast on live television; Poulios was arrested by Christodoulos' police bodyguards, but in the end he faced no charges.