Archbishop Ezekiel Tsoukalas (; 13 May 1913 – 22 July 1987) was a Greek bishop and the first Archbishop of Australia in the

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is the Australian archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church, part of the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The archdiocese is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patr ...

. Archbishop Ezekiel was an assistant bishop in the

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (GOArch; ), headquartered in New York City, is an eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Its current Primate (bishop), primate is Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. The Greek Orthodox ...

from 1950 to 1959. He had served as a bishop in Boston and Chicago. He had been assistant director of

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (HCHC) is a private Orthodox Christian liberal arts college and seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts. Its mission is to educate individuals for life and service in the Orthodox Ch ...

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

, in 1943 and became director in 1949.

Archbishop of Australia

Archbishop Ezekiel was elected the fourth

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

of Australia and New Zealand in February 1959. He replaced Metropolitan

Theophylactos Papathanasopoulos Metropolitan Theophylactos (born Vasileios Papathanasopoulos; 1891–1958) was a Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. Biography Papathanasopoulos was born on the feast of St. Basil on 1 January 189 ...

, the third metropolitan, who was killed in a car crash in 1958. On 1 September 1959, the Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand was elevated to an Archdiocese and Metropolitan Ezekiel was elevated to Archbishop. In 1970 the Metropolis of New Zealand was created, so Archbishop Ezekiel became the Archbishop of Australia. During his service in Australia, 53 Greek Orthodox Communities and Parishes were established across the country. In August 1974, the

Ecumenical Patriarchate The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen Autocephaly, autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. ...

promoted Archbishop Ezekiel to the Metropolis of Pisidia where he remained until 1987. He died in Athens in July 1987. On 3 February 1975, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate unanimously elected the Metropolitan of Miletoupolis, Archbishop Stylianos, a lecturer at the University of Thessaloniki, as the new Archbishop of Australia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsoukalas, Ezekiel 1913 births Clergy from Brookline, Massachusetts Eastern Orthodox archbishops in Australia Australian people of Greek descent Greek Orthodox bishops of Boston 1987 deaths 20th-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops Greek expatriate bishops