His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.
Archbishop Elpidophoros Lampriniadis was born in Istanbul in 1967. He attended the Urban School of Makrochori, Istanbul and completed his basic education in Thessaloniki, Greece. Afterwards, he attended the 1st High School of Kallithea, Athens and he successfully took entrance examinations for the School of Pastoral and Social Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in academic year 1987 – 1988.
In July 1991 he graduated cum laude (8.89) and in September of the same year he was admitted as a graduate student in The School of Byzantine Literature at the University of Bonn in Germany. In October 1993 he completed his postgraduate studies. In April 1994 he was ordained a deacon at the Ecumenical Patriarchate and named “Elpidoforos”. In the same month he was appointed scribe of the Holy and Sacred Synod. From August 1994 until March 1995 he served his military service. During the academic year 1996 - 1997 he was sent, by decision of the Congregation, at the Theological Faculty of St. John of Damascus in Balamand, Lebanon to further improve his knowledge of the Arabic language, where he attended theology classes under Professor Father John Romanides. In December 1995 he was appointed Undersecretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, a position he held until February 2005, when he was promoted to the Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod. He was ordained on the 20th of March 2005 by His All Holiness, Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch and was awarded the title of Archimandrite of the Great Church of Christ.
Concurrently, since 1994 he was a graduate student and PhD candidate at the School of Pastoral and Social Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and in 2001 he submitted his doctoral thesis on “The stand of Severus of Antioch against the Synod of Chalcedon”. The summer semester of 2004 he taught as a visiting professor at the Theological School of the Holy Cross of Boston, USA a class on “The position of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Orthodox Church". Since the 25/1/2011, he has undertaken duties of Associate Professor in the Department of Pastoral and Social Theology at the Theological School of Aristotle University and teaches Symbolics, Interorthodox – InterChristian Relations and Ecumenical Movement. 03/20/2011 Consecration to Bishop of Bursa and from August of 2011 he is the Abbot of the Monastery of Holy Trinity in Halki.
