Athenagoras I

Athenagoras I (born March 25, 1886, Vasilikón, near Ioánnina, Greece—died July 7, 1972, Istanbul, Tur.) was the ecumenical patriarch and archbishop of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) from 1948 to 1972. Athenagoras was the son of a physician. He attended the seminary on the island of Halki, near Constantinople, and was ordained a deacon in 1910. He then moved to Athens, where he served as archdeacon to the archbishop Meletios, who later became the ecumenical patriarch. From...