Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos

Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) (Ιερόθεος Βλάχος; born Γεώργιος Βλάχος; Georgios Vlachos) is a Greek theologian.

He was born in Ioannina, Greece in 1945. He graduated from the Theological School of the University of Thessaloniki and was ordained deacon in 1971 and priest in 1972.[1] He served in the Archdiocese of Athens as a preacher and Director of the Youth Section from 1987 to 1995. He taught Greek and lectured on Orthodox Ethics at the St. John of Damascus Theological School of the Patriarchate of Antioch in northern Lebanon for several semesters. He was elected bishop of Nafpaktos and Hagios Vlasios in 1995.

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Work

A prolific writer, Hierotheos has published more than 60 books in Greek. Several of them have been translated into other languages, including English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Chinese.

His studies are based on patristic theology and extend it to issues of contemporary interest. His readings of the hesychast Fathers of the Philokalia and his long association with present-day hesychasts at the Holy Mountain and elsewhere have led him to the conclusion that Orthodox theology is a science of the healing of man. This is a topic explored in his innovative book on "Orthodox Psychotherapy" (1986). Other topics analyzed in his works include the teaching of Saint Gregory Palamas, orthodox monasticism, and pastoral care. His most recent book deals with issues of genetics and bioethics, viewed from an Orthodox Christian perspective.

Works translated into English include: "A night in the desert of the Holy Mountain", "Orthodox Psychotherapy", "The illness and cure of the soul in the Orthodox Tradition", "Orthodox Spirituality", "A visual catechism of the Orthodox Church", "Life after Death", "Saint Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite", "The Feasts of the Lord", "The human body: Ascesis and Exercise", "The Person in the Orthodox Tradition". The latter book was awarded the first prize for the "top theological work written in Greece in 1991-96" by the Academy of Athens.

In spring 2010 he published in his diocesan leaflet reasoned arguments against changing the wording of the Liturgy. A review in 'Orthodoxos Typos' endorsed the view that Latin Catholics had been slow to express support for the Greek Independence Movement.

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Bibliography

References

  1. ^ http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b0niben.htm