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Nikiforos (Mikragiannanitis) of Kinshasa

(Redirected from Nikiforos (Mikragiannanitis) of Central Africa)

His Eminence Nikiforos (Mikragiannanitis) of Central Africa was the Metropolitan of the Metropolis of Kinshasa under the jurisdiction of the Church of Alexandria from 2010 to 2021.

Life

George Constantine Mikragiannanitis was born in Thessalonica, Greece in 1949. After attending school in Thessalonica and graduating from the Practical School of Thessalonica, he attended the Church Tutorial Thessalonica from 1967 to 1969. He continued his education at the Theological Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessalonica, graduating in 1975 and from which, in 1999, he received a doctorate from the Theological Faculty.

In 1971, George entered a monastic life when he was tonsured a monk with the name Nikiforos at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity near the city of Chania in Crete, Greece. On August 22, 1971, Nikiforos was ordained deacon. In 1977, Dcn. Nikiforos joined the Athonias Ecclesiastical Academy on Mount Athos as a professor and subsequently was named the assistant schoolmaster. In 1988, he was appointed schoolmaster by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In 1978, Dcn. Nikiforos was ordained priest by Bishop Chrysostomos of Rodostolou whom he had succeeded as principal of the academy. Father Nikiforos continued as schoolmaster of the academy until 1997 when he resigned to accept the position of organizing the First Ecclesiastical Lyceum in Gjirokastra, Albania, offered by the Archbishop of Albania, Anastasios. In 2006, Fr. Nikiforos participated in the establishment of the University of St. Athanasius the Athonite in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo where he also taught.

On October 7, 2010, Fr. Nikiforos was elected Metropolitan of the Metropolis of Central Africa by the Holy Synod of the Alexandria Patriarchate. He was consecrated on October 24, 2010 and enthroned in the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas in Kinshasa on December 19, 2010. [1]

Metropolitan Nikiforos ruled the Congolese bishopric for thirteen years. He reposed on July 27, 2021 as a result of complications of the coronavirus disease.

Reference

Succession box:
Nikiforos (Mikragiannanitis) of Kinshasa
Preceded by:
Ignatios (Madenlides)
Metropolitan of Kinshasa
2010-2021
Succeeded by:
Theodosios (Tsitsivos)
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