His Eminence Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia

His Eminence the Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Exarch of Lydia and President of Venice, Meliton (Karas), was born in 1951 in Agridia of Imbros. He studied in the Lyceum section and in the first year of the Academy of the Theological School of Halki and, after its closure, at the Theological School of Thessaloniki, from which he graduated with highest distinction in 1974. In the same year he was ordained deacon and was appointed at the same time as Codicographer (the person in charge of the manuscripts) of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, remaining in that position until 1984, when he was promoted to Assistant Secretary. During 1977–1978 he pursued further studies in Grenoble, France and Nottingham, England. For many years he served as the personal secretary of the revered Metropolitan of Chalcedon, Meliton, accompanying him on numerous ecclesiastical missions, including those connected with the Pan-Orthodox preparatory commissions and pre-conciliar conferences convened between 1976 and 1983 (and thereafter until 1999) for the preparation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, gaining deep experience from observing the handling of matters by the unforgettable late Elder until 1984, when the venerable hierarch fell seriously ill. In 1985 he obtained his PhD at the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and in 1987 he was promoted to Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. From this position he chiefly accompanied the late Patriarch Dimitrios on his many journeys around the world to strengthen relations among the local Orthodox Churches. After his election as Metropolitan of Philadelphia on 2 October 1990, he continued to perform the duties of Chief Secretary until 2005, when he was entrusted with responsibility for coordinating the Patriarchate’s secretariates until 2008. On 25 February 2008 he submitted his written resignation from that responsibility for personal reasons. From the aforementioned posts, by virtue of his experience, he contributed decisively to the cultivation of inter-Orthodox relations, especially with the Church of Russia, and to efforts to reconstitute the Orthodox Churches of Albania and Estonia. As a member of exarchal missions he contributed to addressing sensitive matters concerning Mount Athos. He also served in many other ecclesiastical sectors and handled a multitude of church affairs, serving with rare self-denial and devoted fidelity the Mother Church and its prerogatives. He likewise contributed significantly to the promotion and handling of issues concerning the Greek Orthodox communities within Constantinople (Istanbul) during 2002–2008. Owing in large part to his sacrificial efforts was the restoration to the ownership of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the communities of the Greek Orthodox minority of a large number of properties contested since 1936 and thereafter, as well as the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in favor of returning to the Ecumenical Patriarchate the ownership of the historical property on the island Prinkipo, on which stands a wooden building which was formerly an orphanage.