Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia

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Bp. Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia

His Grace, the Right Reverend Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia (b. 1934, also known by his lay name, Timothy Ware) is an auxiliary bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Great Britain. From 1966-2001, he was Spalding Lecturer of Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford University, and has authored numerous books and articles pertaining to the Orthodox Christian faith.

Life

Born Timothy Ware in Bath, Somerset, England, Bp Kallistos was educated at Westminster School (to which he had won a scholarship) and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took a Double First in Classics as well as reading Theology. In 1958, at the age of 24, he embraced the Orthodox Christian faith (having been raised Anglican), traveling subsequently throughout Greece, spending a great deal of time at the Monastery of St. John in Patmos. He also frequented other major centers of Orthodoxy such as Jerusalem and Mount Athos. In 1966, he was ordained to the priesthood and was tonsured as a monk, receiving the name Kallistos.

In the same year, he became a lecturer at Oxford, teaching Eastern Orthodox Studies, a position which he held for 35 years until his retirement. In 1979, he was appointed to a Fellowship at Pembroke College, Oxford, and in 1982, he was consecrated to the episcopacy as an auxiliary bishop with the title Bishop of Diokleia, appointed to serve as the assistant to the bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. Despite his elevation, Bp Kallistos remained in Oxford and carried on his duties both as the parish priest of the Oxford Greek Orthodox community and as a lecturer at the University.

Since his retirement in 2001, Bp Kallistos has continued to publish and to give lectures on Orthodox Christianity throughout the world. He additionally leads annual pilgrimages to Iona and is the chairman of the group Friends of Orthodoxy on Iona.

Bp Kallistos is perhaps best known as the author of the book The Orthodox Church, published when he was a layman in 1963 and subsequently revised several times. The book is still in print and, along with a second book, The Orthodox Way, is considered by many to be among the best introductions to Orthodoxy in the English language. In addition to these he has spent many years in preparing an important translation of the Philokalia, four volumes of which have so far been published. He is also a translator of the Lenten Triodion and the Festal Menaion.

Writings

A partial bibliography:
  • The Orthodox Church, 2nd ed. (Pelican, 1993 ISBN 0140146563)
  • The Orthodox Way (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995, ISBN 0913836583)
  • The Inner Kingdom: Collected Works, Vol. 1 (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2000, ISBN 0881412090)
  • In the Image of the Trinity: Collected Works, Vol. 2 (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2006, ISBN 0881412252)
  • Communion and Intercommunion (Light & Life, 1980, ISBN 0937032204)
  • How Are We Saved?: The Understanding of Salvation in the Orthodox Tradition (Light & Life, 1996, ISBN 1880971224)
  • Praying with Orthodox Tradition (Abingdon, 1990, ISBN 0281044317)
  • Eustratios Argenti: A Study of the Greek Church under Turkish Rule (Clarendon, 1964, ASIN B0006BMI94)

He has also co-authored, edited, and translated other works.

External Links