Seraphim of Athens
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Seraphim (Greek, Σεραφείμ) - born Vissarion Tikas (Greek, Βησσαρίων Τίκας) was Archbishop of Athens and All Greece from 1974 to 1998. He was born in the village of Artesiano, Karditsa in August 1913.
He enrolled in the Theological School of the University of Athens in 1936 and graduated in 1940. During his second year (1938), he became a monk in the Pendeli Monastery. He was ordained a deacon by the then Metropolitan Bishop of Korinth and by Archbishop Damascenus of Athens, and served at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Neo Iraklio.
In 1942 he was ordained a priest and an archimandrite, also by Archbishop Damascenus and served at parish priest of in the Church of St Luke in Patisia. During the Axis occupation of the Second World War, he joined the ranks of EDES under general Napoleon Zervas.
He served as secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, and in 1949, was elected Metropolitan Bishop of Arta and in 1958 was transferred to Ioannina.
He was elected Archbishop of Athens and All Greece on January 13, 1974, succeeding Hieronymus Kotsonis.
As prelate of the Church of Greece, he visited the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Moscow, Sofia and Belgrade.
Serapheim had been a church leader for 24 years. He swore in 6 Presidents of Greece and numerous Prime Ministers. He died in Athens on April 10, 1998.
