Archbishop Stylianos
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Archbishop Stylianos (
Secular name A legal name is the name that identifies a person for legal, administrative and other official purposes. A person's legal birth name generally is the name of the person that was given for the purpose of Civil registry, registration of the birth ...
: Stylianos Harkianakis, ) (b. 29 December 1935 – d. 25 March 2019) was the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Australia and Primate of 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 ...
. He served as inaugural and permanent Chairman of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Churches in Australia and Dean of
St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College is an Eastern Orthodox Christian seminary and theological college located in Redfern, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The college is a member institution of the Sydney College of Di ...
. He was a
theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
specialising in
ecclesiology In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership. In its early history, one of th ...
and also a poet.


Overview

Stylianos Harkianakis was born in
Rethymno Rethymno (also Rethymnon; ) is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 35,000 inhabitants (nearly 40,000 for the municipal unit). It is believed to have been built ...
on the island of
Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
,
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
, on 29 December 1935. He studied theology at 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 ...
on the island of Halki and graduated in 1958. He was ordained a deacon in 1957 and a priest in 1958. He completed postgraduate studies in systematic theology and the philosophy of religion at the
University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
in
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
from 1958 to 1966. His lecturers included Joseph Ratzinger, who later became
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
. He wrote his thesis on the concept that the Orthodox Church possessed infallibility when it acted together in conciliarity (e.g. the Ecumenical Councils). At that time, the idea of infallibility was thought to be an exclusively Roman Catholic idea, entirely alien to the Orthodox Church. In 1965, whilst still completing his postgraduate studies, Harkianakis was appointed Professor of Theology at the
University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...
. In 1966, he was appointed abbot of the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of Vlatodon, in
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
. He was a founding member, then became vice-president and later president, of the Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies within the monastery. From 1969 to 1975, he lectured in systematic theology at the
University of Thessaloniki The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki ( AUTh; ), often called the University of Thessaloniki, is the second oldest Tertiary education, tertiary education institution in Greece. Named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stagira (anc ...
. In 1970, Harkianakis was elected the Titular Metropolitan of Militoupolis (whilst remaining in the Holy Monastery of Vlatadon) as exarch in matters concerning Northern Greece and
Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...
.


Archbishop of Australia

On 3 February 1975, Harkianakis was elected Archbishop of Australia and Exarch of Oceania. He arrived in Sydney on 15 April and was enthroned on 26 April (Saturday of Lazarus). In this role, he engaged in many dialogues between Orthodoxy and other Christian groups, most prominently as co-chairman of the theological dialogue with the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, but also as co-chairman of the dialogue with the Anglican churches. Harkianakis taught Orthodox theology and spirituality at
Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
from 1975. In 1986 he became the inaugural dean of St Andrew's Theological College where he also served as Lecturer in Systematic Theology. Harkianakis was the plaintiff in a defamation suit against journalist Theo Skalkos and a contempt case for articles published by Skalkos which were said to amount to public vilification to deter Harkianakis from continuing to bring defamation suits. Harkianakis died following a lengthy illness in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
on 25 March 2019, on the Holy Day of the Annunciation of the Theotokos.


Awards

In 1973, Harkianakis was awarded the International Award Gottfried von Herder. A noted poet with an extensive bibliography, he was given the Award for Poetry from the Academy of Athens in 1980. In 1985 he received an honorary doctorate from Lublin University, Poland. One of his poems, "After Ephialtes", was set to music by
Costas Tsicaderis Costas Tsicaderis (6 January 1945 – 23 December 2004) was a Greek-Australian singer-songwriter. Biography Costas Tsicaderis was born in Katerini in the north of Greece in 1945, and his family migrated to Australia in 1954, when Costas was ...
.


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harkianakis, Stylianos 1935 births 2019 deaths Greek emigrants to Australia People from Rethymno 20th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops 21st-century Eastern Orthodox bishops Eastern Orthodox archbishops in Australia Religious leaders from Crete Theological School of Halki alumni 20th-century Eastern Orthodox archbishops Herder Prize recipients Greek expatriate bishops University of Bonn alumni Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Academic staff of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 20th-century Greek poets 21st-century Greek poets