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[[Image:ArchOfAthens.jpg|frame|right|His Beatitude Christodoulos of Athens]]__NOTOC__His Beatitude '''Christodoulos (Paraskevaides), Archbishop of Athens and All Greece''' (1939-2008) was the [[primate]] of the [[Church of Greece]] from 1998 until his deathin 2008.
Christodoulos was born at Xanthi in 1939. In 1962 he graduated from the School of Law and in 1967 from the School of Theology. In 1961 he was [[ordination|ordained]] [[deacon]], and [[priest]] in 1965. He served as a preacher and senior spiritual father at the church of Assumption of the Virgin Mary at Palaio Phalero for nine years, and, for seven years he served as a Secretary of the [[Holy Synod]]. He took part in many religious missions abroad. He is a Doctor of Theology, he has a degree in French and English, and he also speaks Italian and German. He is the author of many scientific and constructive books. He has been writing articles in religious press and in dailies.
He was elected [[Metropolitan]] of Demetrias in 1974 and [[Archbishop]] of Athens and all [[Church of Greece|Greece]] in 1998.
:''"Christodoulos [has] often stirred controversy with politically tinged statements. He was instrumental in attempts to improve ties with the [[Roman Catholic|Catholic Church]]; in 2001, Christodoulos received in Athens [[Pope]] [[John Paul II]]—the first pope to visit Greece in nearly 1,300 years—ignoring loud protests from Orthodox zealots. He followed up last year [2006] with a historic visit to the Vatican, where he and Pope [[Benedict XVI]] signed a joint declaration calling for inter-religious dialogue and restating opposition to [[abortion]] and [[euthanasia]]. In Greece, politicians accused the archbishop of meddling in their affairs, angered by his vocal criticism of everything from [[homosexuality]] and globalization to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union and a recent government effort to tone down nationalism in school history books."'' {{ref|1}}
In June 2007 the Archbishop was diagnosed with liver and colon cancer after undergoing intestinal surgery in Athens. He then waited 50 days in Miami , Florida for a compatible liver to become available, however the transplant was halted in October 2007 after tumors were found in the archbishop's abdominal cavity. He died from the spread of cancer on [[January 28]], 2008.
