His Eminence [[Metropolitan]] '''Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos''' and Agios Vlasios (also ''Ierotheos'') serves the [[Metropolis of Nafpaktos|Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios]] in the [[Church of Greece]]. He has been Metropolitan of Nafpaktos since 1995.

==Life==
He was born Georgios S. Vlachos in Ioannina, Epirus, Greece, in 1945 and graduated from the theological school of the University of Thessaloniki. He was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[deacon]] in 1971, taking the monastic name Hierotheos, followed by his ordination as a [[priest]] in 1972. He served at the [[Archbishop]]'s House of Offices in Athens, as a preacher and Youth Director. He was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] [[bishop]] on [[July 20]], 1995, and elected Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St. Vlasios in the same year.

He taught Greek for several semesters and gave lectures on Orthodox [[ethics]] to the students of the [[St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology (Tripoli, Lebanon)|St. John of Damascus Theological School]] at the University of the Patriarchate of Antioch, in northern Lebanon.

Already in his youth he was particularly interested in the [[:Church Fathers|Fathers of the Church]], working for a time in the [[monastery]] libraries of [[Mount Athos]], on the recording of the codices. He was especially interested in the teaching of St. [[Gregory Palamas]].

The influence of Fr. John Romanidis, the study of the patristic texts and particularly those of the [[hesychast]] Fathers of the ''[[Philokalia]]'', many years of studying St. Gregory Palamas, association with the [[monk]]s of the Holy Mountain ([[Mount Athos]]), and many years of pastoral experience, all brought him to the realisation that Orthodox [[theology]] is a science of the healing of man and that the [[nepsis|neptic]] fathers can help the modern restless man who is disturbed by many internal and existential problems.

Within this framework he has written a multitude of books, the fruit of his pastoral work, among which is ''Orthodox Psychotherapy''. Some of these books have been translated into various languages, such as English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic. With these books he conveys the Orthodox spirit of the ''Philokalia'' to the restless and disturbed man of our time. This is why they have aroused so much interest.

==Books==
*''Hesychia and Theology: The Context for Man's Healing in the Orthodox Church'' (2007). ISBN 9789607070609
*''The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition'' (1993). ISBN 9607070186
*''Life after Death'' (1996). ISBN 9607070348
*''Orthodox Psychotherapy'' (1994). ISBN 9607070208
*''Orthodox Spirituality'' (1994). ISBN 9607070208
*''The Person in the Orthodox Tradition'' (1999). ISBN 9607070402

{{start box}}
{{succession|
before=[[Alexander (Papadopoulos) of Mantineia|Alexander (Papadopoulos)]]|
title=Metropolitan of Nafpaktos|
years=1995 - Present|
after=—}}
{{end box}}

==Sources==
*[http://www.ecclesia.gr/English/EnDioceses/Nafpaktos.html Holy Metropolis of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios]
*[http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/hierarchs/greece/bios/bio_ierotheos_vlachos_nafpaktos.htm ORI:Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos and Agios Vlasios]

==External links==
*[http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/resources/hierarchs/greece/current.htm#ierotheos_metr_nafpaktos Listing] at the Orthodox Research Institute
*[[w:Hierotheos (Vlachos)|''Hierotheos (Vlachos)'' at Wikipedia]]

===Writings===
*[http://www.pelagia.org/htm/index.htm Birth of the Theotokos Monastery]
*[http://www.romanity.org/cont.htm The Works of Metr. Hierotheos S. Vlachos]
*[http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/fasts_feasts/hierotheos_vlachos_annunciation.htm "The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary"]
*[http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/pastoral/hierotheos_vlachos_secularism.htm "Secularism in Church, Theology and Pastoral Care"]

[[Category:Bishops]]
[[Category:20th-21st-century bishops]]
[[Category:Modern Writers]]