Michael Staikos

Michael Staikos

Michael Staikos ( Greek Μιχαήλ Στάικος ; born November 22, 1946 in Athens , Greece ; † October 18, 2011 in Vienna , Austria ) was the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Austria and Exarch of Hungary and Central Europe .

Life

After attending the grammar school of the Catholic Marist School Brothers in Athens, Staikos studied at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and obtained a doctorate in theology . In 1964 he moved to Vienna and in 1965 became Secretary of Metropolitan Chrysostomos Tsiter in the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Region of Austria .

He was ordained deacon , priest and archimandrite on November 22, 1977 in Vienna . He held the office of vicar general of the metropolis, was pastor of the Greek Orthodox parish and director of the Greek National School in Vienna . He was ordained bishop on January 12, 1986 , after he had been elected vicar bishop on November 5, 1985 .

In November 1991 the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople elected him Metropolitan of Austria and Exarch of Hungary and Central Europe. For many years Staikos himself belonged to the Holy Synod. As the authorized legate of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I , he regularly represented the Church of Constantinople at pan-orthodox and ecumenical events as well as in the Conference of European Churches . In the international Orthodox Old Catholic working group established by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2003, he held the office of co-chair.

In Hungary, Orthodox life was successfully revived during his tenure. In Austria, the Orthodox Church became an important social and ecclesiastical entity in the country under his leadership, uniting 500,000 Christians. The Roman Catholic Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn praised Staikos as “a very large pillar of ecumenism in Austria and beyond.” From 1996 to 1999 Staikos was chairman of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Austria (ÖRKÖ). In October 2010, the Orthodox Bishops' Conference for Austria was founded under his chairmanship .

Staikos died at the age of 64 after a serious illness. He was buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery . Archimandrite Arsenios Kardamakis was elected as his successor in early November 2011 .

Other offices

• Consultor in the foundation " Pro Oriente "
• Lecturer at the Institute for Byzantine and Neo-Greek Studies and at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna

Honors

Metropolitan Michael has received awards in several countries and from several Orthodox churches for his pastoral and ecumenical work:

• 1972: Order of St. Vladimir
• 1972: Golden Cross of the Patriarch of Jerusalem
• 1994: Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
• 1993: Grand Cross of the Polish Orthodox Church
• 1999: Commander's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit
• 2008: Ukrainian Order of Merit
• 2011: Order of Honor of the Republic of Greece
• 2011: Great Golden Decoration with the Star for Services to the Republic of Austria
• Gold Medal of the City of Athens

Publications

• Resurrection. From experienced Orthodox spirituality. Ibera-Verlag, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-900436-99-1 .
• Study of the role of the laity in the Orthodox Church.

Web links

• Orthodox Metropolitan Staikos is dead. In: Kurier .
• ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Staikos' biography ) at the Greek Orthodox parish of St. Georg in Vienna

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Greetings from the Patriarch to the Orthodox Old Catholic Working Group. ) Homepage of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, accessed on June 1, 2014.
2. ^ Orthodox Old Catholic Working Group is received by Ecumenical Patriarchs. Homepage of the Union of Utrecht, accessed April 27, 2014.
3. ↑ Internet site of the ÖRKÖ ( Memento of the original from November 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ^ ORF: Orthodox Metropolitan Michael Staikos has passed away. (accessed October 19, 2011).
5. ↑ Kleine Zeitung (November 4, 2011): Arsenios Kardamakis new Metropolitan of Austria ( Memento from May 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: High Greek distinction for Metropolitan Staikos. ) July 19, 2011, website of the Archdiocese of Vienna.
7. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Biography Staikos' ) at the Greek Orthodox parish of St. George in Vienna.
8. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952. (PDF; 6.9 MB).