Archbishop Michael (May 27, 1892 – July 13, 1958), born Thucydides Konstantinides (), in

Maroneia Maroneia () is a village and a former municipality in Rhodope regional unit, East Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Maroneia-Sapes, of which it is a municipal unit. The munic ...

Western Thrace Western Thrace or West Thrace (, '' ytikíThráki'' ), also known as Greek Thrace or Aegean Thrace, is a geographical and historical region of Greece, between the Nestos and Evros rivers in the northeast of the country; East Thrace, which lie ...

, was the Primate of 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 December 18, 1949, until his death on July 13, 1958.Biography of Archbishop Michael
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America He succeeded Athenagoras who assumed the position of Patriarch of the

Church of Constantinople 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. ...

in January 1949. He was admitted to the

Theological School of Halki The Halki seminary, formally the Theological School of Halki ( and ), was founded on 1 October 1844 on the island of Halki ( Turkish: Heybeliada), the second-largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara. It was the main school of theol ...

in 1907. Archbishop Michael was ordained to the priesthood in 1919. He was elected the Metropolitan of Corinth in 1939. Archbishop Michael would have accepted the throne as Archbishop of America earlier in 1949, but he was not the first choice to replace Athenagoras I. Archbishop

Timotheos Evangelinidis Timotheos Evangelinidis (; 23 April 1880 in Polichnitos, Lesbos – 6 October 1949 in Istanbul), was a Greek priest and Greek Orthodox bishop who presided over the Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand from 1931 to 1947, and the Metropolis of ...

was elected to replace Athenagoras in June 1949, but suffered a series of heart attacks before taking the throne in America, and chose to remain the Metropolitan of Australia and New Zealand until his death later that year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michael of America 1958 deaths Archbishops of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Theological School of Halki alumni 1892 births 20th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece Greek expatriate bishops People from Maroneia