Damaskinos Anastasios of Jaffa and Arimathea
His Eminence Damaskinos Anastasios of Jaffa and Arimathea is an archbishop of the Church of Jerusalem and a member of the Holy Synod of Jerusalem.
Life
He was born Anastasios Gaganiaras in 1952 in Agia, Larissa in Greece. In 1968, he was tonsured a monk at which time he received the name Damaskinos, followed, in 1970, with his ordination as a deacon. In 1977, he was ordained a priest. In 1980, he was raised to the dignity of archimandrite and, in 1998, Fr. Damaskinos was consecrated a bishop.
Bp. Damaskinos attended and graduated with degrees from the University of Bethlehem and the University of Thessalonica. Since 1984, he has been a member of the faculty of the University of Thessalonica. He was enthroned Archbishop of Jappa in 2000.
In 2002, Abp. Damaskinos was appointed Epitropos (administrator) of the parishes of the Jerusalem Patriarchate in the United States of America. On April 1, 2008, at a meeting between His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, it was agreed that those Palestinian and Jordanian communities of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem within the ecclesiastical territory of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in the United States belong under the jurisdiction of the Eparchy of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and that the Patriarchate of Jerusalem surrendered all jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere. To administer these communities, a vicariate named the "Vicariate for Palestinian-Jordanian Communities in the USA" was established directly under the Greek Archbishop of America.[[1]]
Damaskinos Anastasios of Jaffa and Arimathea | ||
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Preceded by: ? |
Archbishop of Jappa 2000-Present |
Succeeded by: — |