Archbishop Job (Gecha) is appointed as co-chairman of Orthodox-Catholic Commission on Theological Dialogue instead of Metropolitan John (Ziziulas)

Archbishop of Thelmessos Job (Gecha) succeeded hierarch of the Constantinople Patriarchate Metropolitan of Pergamon John (Ziziluas) as a co-chairman of the United International Orthodox-Catholic Commission on Theological Dialogue. It is reported by Blagovest-Info.

Metropolitan John (Ziziulas) was born in 1931 in Greece. He is one of the most famous contemporary Orthodox theologians. He has chaired the commission since 2006 when its meeting was held in Belgrad after a long recession. The previous session took place in 2000 in Emmitsburg (USA) and was dedicated to the Uniate issue.  

Archbishop Job (Gecha) was born on 31 December in Montreal to the family of ethnic Ukrainians – descendants of Galicia, according to Wikipedia. He was a parishioner of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (taken on 1990 under jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate).

He defended his doctoral thesis in a Parisian St. Sergius Institute. He participated in the work of some commissions, taught at a range of higher educational establishments. In 2013 he was elected head of the Western European patriarchy. Archimandrite Job’s ordination of an archbishop was led on 30 November of the same year by Patriarch Bartholomew in St. George Cathedral on the Phanar (Istanbul).   

As the portal reports, the office of Archbishop Job as an episcopate’s head continued for 2 years. He tried to introduce radical reforms, yet encountered the believers’ protests who accused him of being authoritarian. On 29 November 2015 he was transferred to a position of the Constantinople Patriarchate’s representative of the World’s Church Council in Geneva.  

It will be reminded that Archbishop Job was one of the main speakers at annual briefings with the press during the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete.

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